The "you need to audition" advice is doubtless right, but sometimes overstated.
Auditioning is a lot of effort, given that many manufacturers have limited distribution: I've been looking for a speakers for about a year, and through business travel, I've now heard speakers in Carolina, California, Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois. I've tried, and failed, to set up auditions in Arkansas and Tennessee. Still no decision.
Given constraints of time, etc, the auditions may not be all that informative: like other relationships, it's difficult to project from a few hours to a dozen years.
Also, even with notes, memory fails: I know I liked speaker X pretty well, but its hard to compare the memory of X with the experience of Y as I listen now (maybe I could compare a recording of X!;).
Given all this, and given that the conditions in any audition may be only distantly related to the conditions you'll face in your room with your gear, I'm not sure how much benefit auditions are.
My experience is that the negatives are informative: if I don't enjoy it for an hour or two in audition, I eliminate the speaker, even if I suspect set up problems at the audition. As they say about marriage, "if you've got reservations now, you'll be making 'em later." To my surprise, I've quickly eliminated numerous highly regarded speakers in audition. But as for a "good" audition, who's to say: Will it work this way for me? Will it stand the test of time? Is it really better than the competing model I heard three months ago?
Given all this, I think the information found at places like this is well worth seeking out.
Happily, some manufacturers, like Salk, allow in-home demos, which can answer a lot of questions off site auditions cannot.
John
Auditioning is a lot of effort, given that many manufacturers have limited distribution: I've been looking for a speakers for about a year, and through business travel, I've now heard speakers in Carolina, California, Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois. I've tried, and failed, to set up auditions in Arkansas and Tennessee. Still no decision.
Given constraints of time, etc, the auditions may not be all that informative: like other relationships, it's difficult to project from a few hours to a dozen years.
Also, even with notes, memory fails: I know I liked speaker X pretty well, but its hard to compare the memory of X with the experience of Y as I listen now (maybe I could compare a recording of X!;).
Given all this, and given that the conditions in any audition may be only distantly related to the conditions you'll face in your room with your gear, I'm not sure how much benefit auditions are.
My experience is that the negatives are informative: if I don't enjoy it for an hour or two in audition, I eliminate the speaker, even if I suspect set up problems at the audition. As they say about marriage, "if you've got reservations now, you'll be making 'em later." To my surprise, I've quickly eliminated numerous highly regarded speakers in audition. But as for a "good" audition, who's to say: Will it work this way for me? Will it stand the test of time? Is it really better than the competing model I heard three months ago?
Given all this, I think the information found at places like this is well worth seeking out.
Happily, some manufacturers, like Salk, allow in-home demos, which can answer a lot of questions off site auditions cannot.
John