Went to the jeweler Friday... advice?

OK... overview:

I am searching for an Emerald Cut e-ring.  I have a jeweler that I would like to do the work.  We are trying to decide between a setting from Whitehouse Brothers and a custom design by him (oversight by me ).  It will more than likely involve some sapphire baggets or something.  My budget is around $7k max.

ANYWAY, he has been very helpful, and has ordered a number of stones that he (obviously) would like me to choose from.  I spoke to him about getting the stone myself online, and he is, of course, trying to convince me not to.  He sites a number of shortcomings with online dealers (no face to face advice, no guarantees of quality, no personalized service, etc, etc) none of which I give any value to, except ability to see the stone in front of you, and speed of getting the stone set.

He has one stone I am particularly interested in, and has dropped the price considerably for me (has now reached what he says is the "best he can do").  It seems like a decent price, but I need advice on whether I can do considerably better online. 

Carat: 1.18
Color: H
Clarity: VS1
Table: 58%
Depth 53%
Polish Ex
Symmetry: Vg
Dem: 7.41 x 5.40 x 3.10
Price: $5600

This stone is very eyeclean and looks just about as big as the 1.3ct he had.

Additionally, he says he will charge $400-$500 more for the setting if I don’t buy the stone from him (sounds reasonable to give a discount for both), and I value the ability to see it in person, have him do everything (including financing), and not feel guilty about cutting him out, at about $500-700 more.

That leaves us with whether I can get a comparable or better stone for more than about $1k less?  Whatcha think?

Thanks a lot.

There's never a crowd when you go that extra mile.

Sorry... I believe they were all GIA (is that what youre looking for?)

Thanks for the responses.  The jeweler seems like he runs a kind of a high end custom shop (which is why I was surprised he was willing to work with me and drop the price of his stones).  It is a family business (his sibling is his stone supplier).  I deal personally with the owner/CEO/designer and his wife, who seem like stand up people.  He did mention that he wanted me to get the most for my $$, and that if I decided to get the stone online, he would like to see the specs first, and advise me further.  He claims he will give me non-biased advice on how to get the best price (although he puts much more weight behind the value of his B&M store that I do).

I was a little concerned about the depth too, but it seemed just as brilliant as the other stones he had available to view (and looked much bigger than a 1.2ct he had).

Thanks.