New buy, no return policy

Yeah, that would be ideal, your  own room and electronics. But if the dealer’s room is very similar  it might be alright. Besides, you might move to another room next year. Are you going to replace speakers each time you move your system?  My current speakers have played music in five quite different rooms and they have done it  well enough,, better in bigger rooms, I do mostly listen almost near field, though.

     An honest dealer cannot take back a trial speaker and then sell it as new.  The cost of a returned item is high.  Most dealers don’t stock such expensive items so a return becomes a very expensive part of inventory that may take a very long time to sell, particularly if the item comes with a variety of colors/finishes.  There is also a risk that the item does not sell before a new model comes on the market.  
     Risk of damage in moving and setting up speakers for a home demonstration, particularly with large and heavy speakers is another disincentive for home trials.

Yes, I understand the dealer, I understand the buyer as well. And he is a small dealer, he can't afford it really. I simply would not think that if I were buying $48k speakers I would be entitled to free or almost free home audition, set up, huge gratitude and a bottle of 100 years old single molt. But again I would want to hear the speakers with electronics, cables and the source they would be used with. Now, taking heavy turntable anywhere would be a big pain, digital source no problem. But if I  still insisted on my own analogue source, I would buy reel to reel tape deck, say, Otari in good condition, make a few recordings off the vinyl and take the deck to the dealer. After that I would either keep the deck or sell it quickly with some loss perhaps. We are talking about very expensive system, so extra couple of thousands dollars should not be a problem. Sounds complicated, but if you want a great sound you got to work on it too !

I don't understand how a speaker has to be marked down so much once it's taken out of the box. I know "when you drive off a car from a dealer". But it's not a car. The difference between inside or outside the box is the tape. It has been plugged in and ran at the factory already. 

It's the same inside or outside the box. It has no damages, scratches, etc. same warranty. Maybe a few % mark down. 

In this case apparently the dealer had a demo model on the floor that the OP was able to hear so there was no need to use new speakers for the OP to be able to hear them at home.  The dealer missed out on a $20k or so payday.  Good call. 🙄