Buying Without Audition

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!

Sometimes you just have to jump in with both feet and take your chances. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. I’ve come to learn that it takes weeks to figure out how I really feel about a speaker - you have to listen to it with all types of music material.   And your own personal physiological state will help determine, in no small part, how music will sound to you.   A pair of speakers may leave different impressions on you, depending if you're tired, or fresh, in a good mood, a bad mood, stressed, relaxed, etc.  A three-hour audition at a dealer is better than no audition, but it’s no guarantee of happiness, and it goes both ways - a speaker that may not seem great in the dealer’s space may sound really enjoyable in your own space. Like many have said before me, you MUST listen to the speakers in your own space, and for more than just hours. You have to spend days or weeks with them and let your ears acclimate to them. Like jond above, I use Audiogon as an in-home audition service, keeping what I like and selling what I don’t like as much, and it’s worked out great.