Borrowing equipment from dealers


So pretty much invariably when someone asks “can someone help me decide between a or b” be it amps, speakers, cartridges, etc., someone posts the suggestion to find a good dealer that will lend you whatever to try free in your home. So I ask do these dealers exist? I’m sure they do, but how many are there really?  Also some stories of borrowing equipment that lead you to a new discovery.
limbonner

Showing 1 response by lwin

For high end dealers it depends on where you live. When I lived in the metro Boston area there were several dealers I could borrow gear from. Now that I live in Maine it is a very different story. Working with a good dealer is great because they have knowledge about the gear that they are selling and the good ones know that if they do right by you on the first sale you more than likely will return in the future. I have borrowed gear that just didn’t work in my system and I have had occasions where what I borrowed sounded better to me at home than at the store.
 If you don’t have anyone locally you can visit there are a lot of audio businesses that will send you gear for an in home trial. There are a couple of downsides to this with the first being shipping and the other break in time. When I borrowed from a store it was always a demo so it was usually broken in. If you liked it you would return it and get a brand new one. If I decided I really liked what I borrowed I would call the store before I returned it to negotiate a price on a new unit. Sometimes the dealer would make a counter offer on the demo unit that was very attractive but make sure if you do this that you get the manufacturers warranty.