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

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.

I just purchased a pair of Heco Aurora 1000 towers from Audio Advice in the US. I was not able to listen to them prior to purchasing. They meet and even exceed my expectations for sound quality and esthetics. 

One tower suffered a small area of damage on the rear corner around the mid point during transit. Audio Advice apologized for the damage even though it wasn't their fault.  They shipped out a new tower less than 24 hours after learning about the damage from the contact support form on the website. They also emailed a pre-paid return shipping label for the damaged tower. What excellent customer service.

I still have the 30 day return available if I decide I don't like them.  I am 100% sure I will be keeping these gems.