Most of the electronics I've bought were either borrowed from the dealer for home audition, or purchased with a right to return the item if I did not like what I heard. Speakers were only auditioned in the store even when a home audition was offered (to much risk of damage in transportation/setup), and again, I had the right to return the speakers if they did not work in my setup.
When I went on a search for a high end turntable and tonearm, I knew that home audition was not all that practical, so I asked a friend who was in the audio industry for advice. He has heard hundreds of setup ups in shops and in people's home and he gave me a recommendation that had nothing to do with the company he represented. I went with that table/tonearm even though I had only casually heard it in a system I was not familiar with. That was my one big, mostly blind, purchase.
