Would you buy speakers with out first listening ?

Cool Pete..I'll be ready. I will bring the Clari T Amp up for an audition as well. I've been told it's a match made in heaven! We shall see.
I agree with ya Pete..the only way to truly know what sound your looking for, is to listen to as much gear as possible in your own home.
It can cost you but it sure is fun to do.

Good Listening!

After reading reviews for 6 years, I bought a pair of nOrh speakers without hearing them. They're more placement senstive in my room than some others claimed, but I'm quite happy with them.

I live in a smaller city and had just brought home a pair of the new B&W 805S to demo. I had listened to them for 8 hours and was ready to buy the next day. I happened to look on Audiogon that same day and saw an incredible deal on Focus Audio FS688 that were not even broken in. I had not heard them (but had read and done much research) and bought them immediately. This may sound cheesy, but I really felt bad telling the dealer here what I had done. They're great people and I know a lot of retailers are being hurt by internet sales.. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and it was to good a deal to pass up. I was lucky.. these speakers are the nicest monitors I have heard and far exceeded my expectations.

All the time. Probably a dozen or more pairs.
If you don't like them, move them on. That's why we love Audiogon.

I have now bought 4 pairs of speakers and a sub through mail order without listening to them first, and none have let me down compared to the speakers I auditioned in their respective price ranges through B&M stores.

I agree that if you *can* audition speakers before paying any money for them, then that is best... I am a calculated risk taker, however, and I think that in most cases, ordering speakers built to order direct over the net with a 21-30 day money back guarantee home trial (with the potential to get much better bang for the buck than buying through brick and morter stores) makes a lot of sense... especially when the return costs are minimal.

---Dave