Ideally of course you would try them at home. But even if you do this routine will really narrow it down and help you figure out if its worth doing.
Bring your own music. Listen to them with the store system. On the same visit have them change something- amp, source, power cord, anything- and listen again. The difference is whatever was changed, but the speakers are a part of whatever doesn’t change. The more of their things you hear the same speakers with the closer you get to what the speakers are doing. Bring something of your own- interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords are easier to lug around than amps- and hear them with that.
Its very important to keep in mind that the best components, speakers or otherwise, do very little to the signal. If that is indeed what you have then you would expect the sound to change quite a bit with different upstream gear. To the extent it does not change, you got some less than ideal speakers. Really good near perfect speakers in other words will sound like crap with crap gear, and sing like an angel with angelic gear, and it will be very hard indeed to pin a character or personality on the speaker itself.
At some point if you get serious then have them set up in the store similar to the way you would listen at home. I’m talking mostly distance apart and from you, and how much they are toed in, but also how close they are to the walls. If they have to be right near a wall at home listen to them right near a wall in the store. Some stores hate moving speakers even more than in-home demos. So there is a process, you don’t always do what you want sometimes so much as what you can.
My Talon Khorus were bought from a dealer who knew me well enough to be pretty sure I’d like them, and how I would use them, and had them set up just like home for me- even though I know he likes a lot less toe in. That’s what you want. What you get however is all over the map. Good luck!
Bring your own music. Listen to them with the store system. On the same visit have them change something- amp, source, power cord, anything- and listen again. The difference is whatever was changed, but the speakers are a part of whatever doesn’t change. The more of their things you hear the same speakers with the closer you get to what the speakers are doing. Bring something of your own- interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords are easier to lug around than amps- and hear them with that.
Its very important to keep in mind that the best components, speakers or otherwise, do very little to the signal. If that is indeed what you have then you would expect the sound to change quite a bit with different upstream gear. To the extent it does not change, you got some less than ideal speakers. Really good near perfect speakers in other words will sound like crap with crap gear, and sing like an angel with angelic gear, and it will be very hard indeed to pin a character or personality on the speaker itself.
At some point if you get serious then have them set up in the store similar to the way you would listen at home. I’m talking mostly distance apart and from you, and how much they are toed in, but also how close they are to the walls. If they have to be right near a wall at home listen to them right near a wall in the store. Some stores hate moving speakers even more than in-home demos. So there is a process, you don’t always do what you want sometimes so much as what you can.
My Talon Khorus were bought from a dealer who knew me well enough to be pretty sure I’d like them, and how I would use them, and had them set up just like home for me- even though I know he likes a lot less toe in. That’s what you want. What you get however is all over the map. Good luck!