Do You Buy Speakers Without Hearing Them?

My way of thinking 50-50 is stupid odds and buying on total magazine opinions can only make a loss feel worse. 

Cheers 

Bought pair of Dynaudio Evoke 10s without audition But I had Audition other Dynaudio at RMAF and new they were good and what I liked.  Hooked them up to my AV system and thought they sounded a bit thin. Moved them to my main system where there is a Quad Atera amp and realized the issue was the Denon Av amp. 

Before the Evokes I had a pair of Gallo Classico book shelf speakers in the AV system that I bought purely on reviews and they were cheap on Craigslist.  

Although the Evokes are certainly better but at 2X the cost it made me realize how good the Gallo's were for the $$ and were a better bang for buck solution.  I need a better AV amp to make the Evokes do their thing.   The gallos masked the inadequacies of the amp or were a better match. 

Bought a pair of Quad S-5 based on reviews (again, smoking deal off craigs)  and ran them head to head against my Focal 926s.  Sold the quads but a year later I wish I had kept the Quads as my music taste changed to favor the Quads.  

Just recently I bought a pair of Quad Z-5s again off craigs for a good deal but totally based on how much I like the Quad S-5.  Ran those against the Focal 926 and ultimately sold the Focals but I really liked those speakers.   Wish I could have kept them both but I need a new espresso machine so they had to go. 

There is no substitute for listening IMHO.  I auditioned many box speakers, but once I heard Maggies I was sold.  I have had good success with electronics, buting McIntosh used.  If I wanted to sell, I could always get all my money back.  My tube preamp bought 17 years ago is worth more than I paid, same for my mono bloc amps.

I understand the issues with travel, but before spending serious $$ I would go on a road trip.  I am a buy and hold kind of guy, so the effort becomes an adventure with a long term reward.

I have a found a way to listen to speakers for my main system before making a purchase. I think speakers are the most important component, so I have insisted on hearing speakers before I buy and comparing choices. I wouldn't say I will always do that because it does limit Your choices, but so far that's been my practice. I have not always auditioned speakers for a secondary system, with mixed results 

Magazine reviews? They are ALWAYS positive, when have you ever seen a negative review from stereophile? TAS? Hifi+? If every product review is positive, which it can’t be, there is always a product that comes in second/3rd, etc.

Sound thru YouTube sucks, even going thru a good audio system.

The best bet is to go listen to speakers at an audio show, fly to a city to a dealer that has them, or buy online with a 30 day money back guarantee. I have multiple friends fly across the country to hear some speakers, both dealt with buying $100,000+ speakers and they wanted to hear them. If I would want to buy their speakers, I would just fly to their house for a listen.
For speakers $10k or less, I would buy them and if I didn’t like them send them back or resell them. I went to many audio shows to listen to My last couple of pairs of speakers because if they sounded good in a hotel room, I can get them to sound better in a custom built dedicated room.