Store auditioning and then buying on-line from others. How do you feel about it ?

Prof- with respect to your hypothetical about whether you are ethically bound to purchase a product from the B&M store when you liked the product but not the audition experience, I'd say no.  When you buy B&M, a portion of the "value" you get in exchange for the higher price you pay includes customer service.  If the service (e.g., the way you were treated) is poor before the sale, imagine how it will be AFTER they have already have your $!  Your decision process w respect to the A/N's was way more than that store deserved, IMO.  In that case, they did not earn your business.  If I ever got treated that way, you can bet I'd never be back.

Right.  If they're jerks, no problem at all.  Or, if they're idea of level-matching is giving the one that's in stock or has a higher margin a couple db cushion.  Same guy who trashes everything you and competitors have and even his own product if it's not in stock.  Same guy who won't stfu while one tries to listen to the wonderfulness he kept describing.  Go somewhere else.  No problem.

I’m in sales and I buy from my customers. Think about that. I.....buy.....from.....my......customers! When I need something that one of my customers sells, I buy from them. I don’t care what the price is. They support me and therefore I support them. It boils down to, what comes around goes around. If you’re going to visit a local store that offers you some form of service you should buy from them if you decide to purchase that product. When you do, those dollars go back into the local economy and will come back to you in some small way. Obviously I am a huge proponent of buying local. Do you want that store to be there? Then buy from them! Generally speaking I bet the service you receive is far better then your online source.

$5800 sale is next to nothing for Goodwin's High End. $58000 - they might pay attention. Just as in NYC area, Boston area is full of people living in a totally different economic reality than most of us. What are the formal rules, by the way ? Do dealers have to allow the audition regardless of anything if the customer insists ? Or there are no rules ?  

By the way, I would pay them for the audition not because I care about them, which I don't, but because I would want to buy an hour for serious listening without any interference.