What speaker could safely be ordered without hearing it first?


Hi everyone,

I’m in the midst of my speaker search and curious about something.......as noted above. There are some brands I would be interested in based on reputation, reviews, looks etc but may never be able to hear first.

I’m curious what the collective group thinks would be a safe choice having never heard them first. I know there are variables as in size of room, current gear etc. Just want to see what people would suggest. The one I would note based on what I have read is Joseph Audio. I’d also be curious if people would say the same about Borresen.

So it may be a frivolous exercise but I’ll ask the question anyway. Let me know your thoughts.

128x128mtbiker29

@8th-note

Bottom line, there is no way I’m going to restrict my audio purchases to gear that I can audition at home. I just bought a Jay’s Audio CDT3 Mk III transport that was shipped from China. There is simply nothing else on the market like this transport and I was willing to believe the reviews and take a chance. I totally love this thing. If I restricted myself only to gear that I could audition I would have missed out on this incredible component and many of the best components in my system.

"The best transport" is an ongoing thread-theme, here, and there are a handful of other highly-regarded transports that are mentioned repeatedly.

In fact, I bought one of them, the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 from TMR and ended up returning it due to the ergonomics. At that point, the best alternative unit fitting my budget was not available for purchase with a return policy and in a rare exception, I opted to break my own self-imposed rule.

This nearly turned into a disaster as the unit was quite forward sounding in my system. Fortunately, I was eventually able to tame the sibilance and fatiguing highs via cable and footer swaps. BTW, my speakers, DAC and integrated are all on the the warm side of neutral and none of the various reviews I’d read mentioned the forward quality of the unit in question. I only came across references to this "after the fact", courtesy of a forum member who happens to be a dealer.

You must naturally follow whichever path works best for you but in my case, the experience I’ve described underscored two things; 1) buying gear I can demo at home and return if necessary is the best way to go and 2) reviews cannot be wholly relied upon. 

 

@kokakolia I spent hours to find Castle prices. There is nearly zero current pricelist or seller contact, and the ones I found are 2 years old from Australia. Castle's map on the web site for where you can buy it is completely broken. It's a joke in terms of how and where to buy them. Have a freaking link that works!

You can make a car better than a Porsche for half the price, if you don't have a "buy" button, it doesn't exist

Yes, kinda, as in you're rolling some dice.  It may work out grear or at least very good.  People do it a lot and have verygood luck very often.  But it isn't quite as certain as hearing them first.

Important to remember, though, that even hearing them in a shop is not a guarantee.  As has been pointed out, different setting, electronics, cables (even though they don't matter at all) etc.

Polk R-700 from Crutchfield... if you don’t like ’em, you can send ’em back! Yes, they have easy return policy.

With caveats and a basic understanding for room size (no LS3/5a in large rooms) placement (no Magnepans up against the wall), and power (MAs are esy to drive, moderately efficient, Maggies need more) I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with Monitor Audio's current line up, especially the Silver series or Magnepans. The Wow/$ ratio is just too much in thri favor.