Do You Buy Speakers Without Hearing Them?

I ordered my last two sets of towers WITHOUT hearing them first.  My first ones I went with Greg Belman's Bache Audio Tribecca-001's by just talking with him and going by the specs... They turned out to be fabulous speakers for $6000 and play way above their price point.  They were custom painted and I love them.

Second pair I ordered were the Focal Aria 938's since Crutchfield was blowing them out for $3000 a pair or something crazy like that.  Unfortunately the left side tweeter was not working once hooking them up, but no foul:  Crutchfield sent me a replacement and I was back in business.  LOVE the bass response and both sets of speakers REALLY cater toward highs and voices.. .LOVE THEM BOTH, NOT disappointed.

Yes, multiple times. I have bought usually with a right to test and return, and fortunately have not needed to do so. Most have been standmounts, so shipping could have been done without freight shipping with crating and palleting. In each case purchase was preceded by searches and reading. Were I in the market for very expensive speakers (I'm not) I would travel to have a demonstration before buying.

I feel your pain.  I'm an American living on a Pacific island.  The nearest hifi showroom is 3000 miles away.  So for decades, I've had to buy every speaker system, audio component, even cables, without the benefit of auditioning them first.

I really hate that, but I've learned to live with it.  The last few years, I've prefaced any major purchase with lots of researchm including enough questions on Audiogon & similar forums to make myself a real PITA! (Actually, I hope not, but I bet I have.)

And even so, about 1/4 or my purchases were disappointing.

D

Only once but it was a good buy. A great review in IAR that sounded (SQ) fine.

More telling is the homemade pair.

My two main pairs were acquired after schlepping the same records to dealerships.

Four of the last six were bought without hearing them.  One was returned (Walsh Ohm Tall).  For the other three I read or watched every review and looked at user comments in the forums about the speakers/manufacturer.  Two of the three (Volti and Coherent Audio) had something similar I could listen to (Klipsch/Tannoy) so those were not completely blind.  The third was Tekton which was completely unique.  Those three also had some type of custom finish which was important to me as well.

My next pair will probably be direct since it I am looking at open baffle - PAP or Caladan?

Good luck.