Buying Without Audition

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!

That's why if I'm buying something used I will be patient and try to find a local sale where the seller is willing to demo......I did this with my speakers not too long ago.    Fortunately they sounded better with my gear than what I originally heard them with.  

I bought my preamp and DAC new,  luckily I heard them with some serious associated equipment , so I knew they would not be the bottleneck in my system.  I felt that if they sounded great in a mega buck system they would be a good foundation in my humble set up.  

My system is at the point where I'm afraid to make any changes because everything gels and sounds great together...so now I focus on the music and not the gear.

I think shows are great and can be fun but it's hit or miss.  Sometimes you walk in a room with $200k worth of equipment and it sucks,  other times you are blown away by a modest setup.....it really depends on a lot of variables. Of course if you are shopping for speakers it's tough when you are not listening in your room or at least a room with similar dimensions.

If you buy smart and buy used you can use Audiogon as an in-home audition service basically, keeping stuff you like and selling stuff that doesn't suit you. I've done that countless times over the years to arrive at the system I have now, and have generally at least broken even on gear I've ended up selling. It's a somewhat labor intensive but very fun way to build a system over the long term.

Larstusor-

Your ears are your own best guide and decision maker.
I,too, do not have any Audio representation in my immediate areas.
If you must road-trip it, then do so. The experience is wonderful and you will audition the gear of interest. Audio shows, now back in heavy rotation, are another excellent point.

Keep me posted & Happy Listening!