Buying Without Audition

Going to shows is good But usually the rooms are not too good. That said if you are looking to replace existing speakers the best thing to do is explain the sound you would like get and what you're looking to change with your existing speakers. Of course most folks will tell you what they own is the best. So take inputs with a grain of salt. Because everyones expectations of what they want to hear is different. But also make sure to mention your current electronics and your room size and speaker placement. 

I bought speakers without an audition since dealer closest to Chicago was in Pennsylvania.  I based my decision on the glowing reviews (many years in the row) as well as the warm natural sound I was looking for.  In addition it was 6 month old dealer demo for a little bit more than half of the price (small reselling loss).  It all ended up good and bad.  Good because speakers are absolutely wonderful and bad because lack of dealership base made manufacturer go bankrupt - hence no support. 

You have to find a way to listen.

Plan a three or four day weekend around attending a show or traveling to a city where there are some dealers.

Good luck!

Matching speakers to your room should be #1. There are many members with a great deal of experience here. Perhaps you could give some specifics on your room size, current equipment, what you like and dislike about your current system and what direction you wish to go in. Then some reccomendations could be made. At that point, like many others have suggested, it would be advisable to do a road trip and listen to the prospective candidates. This way you could narrow the field to speakers that actually would have a good chance of performing well in your environment and to your taste. FWIW

Larstusor - 

While I agree with most that you need to audition I am was in the same boat (or is it boonies) as you.  The one component that varies the greatest in sound are the speakers - 95% of the time if I had to guess.  But I didn't have a dealer near me, so I did my research and read the reviews and made sure whomever I bought from had a return policy. That happen to be Crutchfield and they happen to be selling the Thiel CS2.4's - the speakers I was interested in. So I took the plunge. 

All the the rest of my system other than the BAT preamp and Parasound JC3+ Phono pre was bought direct from authorized internet dealers with return policies. And I did use them. Though it was a pain, in the end I made it all work. 

So it can be done. The upside (and downside) is since you probably don't have any reference systems to listen to, you have only "you" to judge when good sounds "good" - and that's all that really matters!