Auditioning gear for purchase.. not in town

JMc has my philosophy. I refuse to victimize dealers when I intend to buy from A'gon and I'm at a point where I just can't afford most of the stuff that I want at new prices.

Also, Audiogon is the only place where I can check out synergies: unfortunately, it's a "buy it and try it" method. Buy in right, A-B it and keep the one that works. I'm willing to lose $100-200 for that privilege, as I've found some really good stuff that I've heard at shows and in other systems just plain didn't work in my "system".

My so-called system used to be a cludge of nice, expensive parts, limited by what my local three state shopping area had to provide and dependent on my retailers own appropriate motives for price points and margins. Now, with some exposure to poorly or even unmarketed, but excellent, products and tweaking them with what I already have that I intend to keep, I have a "system", where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Sort of like my parents: when they had twins, they couldn't afford to keep both me and my brother. They decided to drown the ugly one. That's how I learned to swim.

I call it Audio Darwinism :). Aren't most Agoners like that?

Jeffb28451

You are my new best friend, I think. I have been victimized a number of times.

Mr. Tennis, (is he a tennis player?) My shop is in my home. When you listen at my place you will leave knowing that you will keep this equipment for a long time. Or you won't like it at all. Simple.

I know that in most shops you really can't tell much. It is confusing. They throw on these SACD demo's that I couldn't listen to for 10 minutes.

Well I am ranting here. I totally disagree with buying stuff on audiogon just to compare. As audiophiles we can do better then that. At the RMAF a couple of years ago a guy came by shaking his head. I asked him what was the problem. He said he bought all this stuff and then came to the show and listened, and found so many better sounding pieces of gear.

Go to the show first. Narrow it down. Know the type of music you like. My preference for speakers lean toward vocals and instrumentals. Others prefer Orchestral. Beware of looking for bass. Go for midrange, midrange, midrange.
You would think that would be easy but it is not. Get the midrange right. Then decide whether you would pay an extra 10K to get the bigger speakers that go lower. A sub may be the better choice.

hi sounds real audio:

i appreciate your salesmanship and confidence, but there is no way to know in advance whether you will want to keep a component until you have auditioned it in your own system, for some period of time. i don't think this principle is open to discussion. to insist otherwise, is unrealistic.

you should checkout some dealers that work online with money back guarantees on stuff. ...and not full retail prices..

Todd the Vinyl Junkie is one of them.

I've both purchased and kept as well as purchased and returned from him. He provides reasonable discounts on new gear, so at least you know you're not paying crazy new prices for stuff, and the difference between used prices and his prices have proved to be worth the expense for the privilege of the in home audition.

FYI - Other than dealing with him, i have no affiliation.

Mr. Tennis

In a perfect world you would love to have about 3 or 4 of the speakers that you think you might like to hear. Then about 3 or 4 amp/preamp combos, plus a good number of CD players. Then try the different combos until you are happy ( at least for a while ) .

In my shop if someone is serious about a product and they are local I will let try it at home. Out of state buyers are difficult however. You can see the dilemma about long term listening. If I have three sets of speakers out on demo for a couple of weeks. Then I have to open up new boxes for my demo room and break them in for walk in customers. Ouch! Then some speakers come back. Now I have 6 pairs of demo's or used speakers. Then some of those returns are damaged in shipping, and FedEx takes about six months to pay a claim. Ouch!

This is why I suggest that people come to a show or go to a town where there are plenty of dealers and really listen before they even consider what to buy. It has been my experience that you may not be able to choose a speaker to live with for 10 years but you can sure eliminate a lot of speakers that you could not live with for 10 minutes.