Auditioning gear for purchase.. not in town

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.

i rarely visit dealers, as i realize that a demo at a dealer does not eliminate any risk that i won't like a component in my own system.

thus, it pays either not to buy that component or buy it used, with the hope of reslling it if i don't like it. in either case, a dealer does not get a sale.

there are some exceptions, when a dealer's ears are trusted and there is an attractive discount.

Getting something used is good.

It is also a good way to find a wife. If you don't like her you can put her back on the used market and not take to big a "hit".

Thanks for all the responses.

Sounds-real-audio: thanks for the laugh!