Seeking tales of speaker demos

Same for me limo. I have done in store demos a few times. I bought the Vandersteen 3A Sigs when I had actually come to listen to other lines and they left me in a room with those while they prepped the room with the others. The others left me unimpressed while the vandys impressed but had not been on my radar. Just listened to the B&w 800d3s and purchased after listening. The rest were all bought based on reviews and reading online. 

Thanks, guys.
@b_limo How does one own 50 pairs of speakers? Do you like to change them like shirts? Are you a perfectionist? Do you have a speaker for every room of your house? Do you just have a choice process that is full of errors? I cannot fathom owning 50 pairs in a lifetime. ;-)

I tend to keep speakers about 15 years and did in store demos. It worked well for me even though the store and my listening room are different.

Thanks for the history, b_limo. I was curious just because I imagined that it would not be so difficult (50 pairs) to arrive at a speaker one likes enough to settle down. But if it’s fun, well, that’s what hobbies are for!

As for myself, I’m genuinely curious about people’s processes — not just to instruct me, though there there is that aspect, but also because I’m learning about the hobby by learning about the hobbyists.

Regarding my own situation, I have *not* decided whether I will or won’t like the Salks. Why wouldn’t I just want to wait? Because they are close to $4k and I only have a month to decide.

And decide based on what? My personality needs and wants to compare. I think I will learn by at least trying a few of the other kinds of speakers (towers, with Amt tweeters, electrostatic or planar). If I learn, say, that I really like passive towers, then I can think within that category. Or electrostatic, etc.

Ultimately, this won’t go on for months; I’m not going to listen to a dozen speakers at my home; I can’t. But I can do more than simply wait for another good bookshelf to try if I can try others for little or no money before I have to send back the Salks.

The other way would be to buy, live with, get curious or dissatisfied, sell, shop, buy again. There's a lot of effort and time in that sequence, and so I am merely trying to save effort and advance the process a bit in the initial phase. Will I wind up with my "final" speaker? Probably not. But if I can learn processes from hobbyists and get speakers to try from shops, I can at least get something I’ll have for several years or more.

And will it be fun? In a time of lockdown and with very little cost to me -- you bet.