Have you ever wondered why speaker manufactures do not consign speakers to dealers?

Also consider the dealers dilemma.Besides knowing that even the best customers will shop price as well as selection, he is competing in both the real and virtual sales world.He accepts this and keeps the store open. So maybe he selects three speaker brands four at the most. He does not have unlimited room and the room he has can properly place maybe 2 pair of speakers properly.Faced with three brands he would like to display three models in each line to hit popular price points. Also as an attraction and possible sale 1-2 pair of top line models. Right you are if you are spending 5k-20k or more on a pair you would like to hear them.The dealer demos from stock. If he can place say 2 pair of 15k-20k he is looking at a bit of a money in demo. When the year ends those demos no longer bring the same retail and often are sold at deep discount. This l is tough for the small or moderate location. You may think there is big profit but remember all the hours those sales guys are sitting waiting for you to come in, they get paid and the lights stay on. Store owners accept all this.There is no good solution. I have been there on both sides. Customer comes in you judge him a sale not a looker. Make an appointment and you set up his requested speakers best you can. He listens and goes away. You repack 20k-30k of goods and chalk it up to you did your best. When I was in the sales side we tried to resolve some of this by offering in home demo. With the condition that if the customer did not like it he would not get a refund but credit. This qualified the customer as real and they got what sounded best to them. A compromise for sure.

As a former store owner, I have a lot to say on this but am too busy to comment now.  Suffice it to say that manufacturers set dealer allotments based on many variables.

As for the HD story above, this is why HD and Walmart and others have ruined everything about quality manufacturing and made the world into a "worst case" in every item due to one and only one reason:

INSATIABLE GREED.  Period.

I had the same experience with Klipsch. They wanted me to travel 3 hours to demo a pair of speakers.  Ended up with the Focal Kanta 2's.  Klipschs' loss.  Focal has a markup of 47%, the retailers take, as I assume most others do as well.  Why they can't buy them, demo them, then re-sell them and still make a profit is beyond me.  Happy with the Kanta's as my L/R/C.

One often has to travel to be able to experience expensive boutique products. Nothing special about home audio there. It goes with the turf. These days smart vendors focus on facilitating in-home demos or audition periods. Always better to hear thing s in your own room if really serious about something.   

Having said that, I always try to check out B&B audio shops that sell things I might be interested in when I travel, but I generally don’t travel more than 60 miles or so just to audition something. I live only 60 miles or so from DC metro area so there are multiple shops not too far away when needed. Not all have that luxury though I am sure.