How to meaningfully audition speakers??

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,

Charles1dad, thanks for the kind words. Out of respect for the OP's request, I will send you a private message with my thoughts. Cheers.

It is tough today to meaningfully audition speakers now that there are so few dealers in close range. Shows can help but still...they often play music to highlight strengths. I HAVE to hear a wide range of music to be able to consider whether or not the speaker might be satisfactory long term. Like Elizabeth, I have specific recordings used to evaluate. The other wild card is the system you are listening to vs your own. Is the speaker going to match well with your amplifier or are you going to have to reconfigure the system to accomodate the new speaker?

There is no easy way today to audition so I guess one has to spend a lot of time reading, sorting through and finally try to locate someone reasonably close that will let you listen or buy used and try that route. I find speakers the most complex component to satisfactorily describe that would make you feel comfortable that it is going to work. We each have different priorities and can live with some ommissions or commissions more than others. Is it too forward, laidback, warm, resolving enough, tonally accurate, dynamically convincing...?

Really there is no way to know for sure without some serious listening which for many of us means buying used and gambling that it's going to work out and if not, reselling and moving on. I'm not too sure I would ever again purchase without hearing first unless there was some audition period, used possibly if the price was good enough that it could be resold if things didn't work out. It is a good question with few really satisfactory answers. The only thing I WOULD say, particularly to those with little experience, never purchase new without hearing first, particularly based on what others might tell you. This is the time to listen to as many speakers as possible to determine exactly what it is you want to hear to minimize costly mistakes.

Frogman,
Thanks, I didnt mean to disrupt this interesting thread.