How to meaningfully audition speakers??

Is suspect most people are quite happy listening to whatever it is they are listening to for whatever reason. Only audiophiles are "smart" enough to let it bother them.

Hey, wait a minute.....

I think the discussion about so called "live" music being a gold standard reference is ok by me and I find the discussion interesting. So by all means, please continue. But since I am the OP, I would like to add my thoughts and then "seg" back to the original topic.

As far as MY personal home audio is concerned, I am looking for a musical experience that I find satisfying and enjoyable. The standard I used to judge whether the experience is satisfying and enjoyable -- simply put -- is whether or not it is.

Now, going back to the original topic, it seems to me that whether one wants to judge any particular piece of equipment by this or that standard is ok. But isn't the real issue as it pertains to speakers, or pretty much any item, is how can one meaningfully audition the speaker of interest or other item??

My sense of the early responses is that many members expressed similar frustration as me. Yeah ...., sometimes one can luck out and a dealer will arrange for a home audition. But most times, many just do the best they can by way of research, perhaps an occasional visit to a B&M store, and so forth. After all of that, in the end, they buy and if they like what they picked up, all is well. If not, hope to sell the piece at not too great a loss, and then try something else.

Thanks,

BIF

Sorry about that dyslexic first sentence. As I read it now....

This is a huge problem in today's audio world.

Decades ago I used to invite customers to bring their amp, their old speakers, anything they wanted into my room for demo.

I would loan out speakers if someone was serious. I used to go there to help carry big ones and set them up. It was work but my success rate was very high, so it was a viable business model.

Certainly I would move speakers to a different smaller demo room in my place of someone had a much smaller room than my main demo room.

I have no idea if any dealers at all do this these days.

For myself, a show can certainly show if there is promise in a speaker, and I will buy used at market value to try, then sell if I don't like them. If I love them and want used ones I just sell again at market value and buy new ones.

Nothing worthwhile is accomplished without putting out effort, risk. So be as smart as you can about demoing, borrowing, buying used at market value to eval, then sell what you don't like.

Getting to a show is a lot better than taking someone's word on a forum. Try to find someone who agrees with your taste when discussing equipment or when they describe their system. Then at least you know you roughly line up with their evaluation ability / alignment with yours.

Hi Frogman,
I always appreciate your well reasoned and insightful contributions on this
site . I'd like your perspective as a professional musician concerning
recording quality as related to genres. Jazz recordings with rare exception
are much better sounding than most pop and rock recordings. Are jazz
musicians more demanding and insistent of good sound or is it a case of
more respect and effort from the recording engineers?

It seems regardless of the era or the label jazz is produced to a much
higher standard(both studio and live venues), they're more natural and far
less compressed/processed. I'd assume that the pop and rock artists want
their music to be given the same consideration and respect as the jazz
musicians seem to routinely get during the recording process.
Thanks,
Charles,