2. speakers
  3. 188342-21233

Do You Buy Speakers Without Hearing Them?

In the 'good old days' there were a lot of hifi stores around so there was plenty of opportunity to go in and listen to various brands and models of speakers.  With the continuing disappearance of audio shops, I'm wondering if more people are making the leap to buy speakers they've never heard in person, or just limiting their purchase options to the brands they can hear locally?  If you are buying a speaker that you haven't heard, how do you get comfortable with that?  Magazine reviews?  YouTube demos?  

I've mostly heard any speaker I ended up buying, but in two cases I bought speakers that weren't available in my area.  I made my decision based on reviews.  In one case the speaker was really nice, but in the second case, the speaker was well-reviewed but ended up being disappointing.

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

Ag insider logo xs@2xazkeith
deep_333
849 posts
 

It all comes down to IQ level of the engineer...

If it's a high IQ engineer behind the speakers, for example,

Andrew Jones 

Michael Borresen

Shinji Tarutani et al

Yoshiyuki Kaku

Greg Timbers

Peter Comeau

Masahiro Tobise

Akira Nakamura,

etc

you can buy it without hearing it...if these kinda guys were given a enough of a budget to work with it.

 

On the other hand, If a low IQ dude is designing your speakers...yeah, it's imperative that you hear it and decide if you wanna run away (as fast as you can) or not...In general, you can throw all kinds of cash on a low IQ engineer and he'll still come up with crap because cash never created aptitude/brain cells.

james633
904 posts
 

I do, I bought a pair of Revel 228be (in fairness I head the 328be before buying) and JBL 4367 unheard. Both have been exceptional. I also listen to anything I can. Locally I have access to the Kef Blade, Revel Salon 2, 802D4, Sonus Faber Olympica, Martin Logan, magnepan, entire Klispch line, etc. This I all in suburbia mid west. The only dealer that is now a bit of a drive for me is wilson audio.


When it is all said and done I am glad I went with the unheard JBLs as I think they are a step above these other speakers in key areas (dynamics, tonal balanced, as detailed as anything). So don’t be scared to trust measurements if you understand how to read them. Estimated in room measurements are the key. 

mark200mph
72 posts
 

Crutchfield and others offer returns my guess have to pay shipping .I do buy a lot of opene box that people must not have liked.other dealers offer same thing wish Mac did that more for people like me in small area.the music room did that but must have had a taken advantage of because now charge 10% return.

erik_squires
15,772 posts
 

Not never.... but rarely.  If I'm familiar with the brand and they are utility speakers, then yes.  My current surround speakers for instance.  I wouldn't do this for main L and R.

berner99
214 posts
 

Depends.

I buy used gear and use reviews e.g here, YouTube (Thomas, Jay, audio excellence in Canada), etc and if they all say the same thing, and you know what you like you can have good results.

I just bought Gresham Studio II (50lb bookshelf) speakers which will arrive this week. 

More to discover