How to choose a cartridge you can't hear on your system?

Hi chadlesko,

if I do not want to change most of my rig I do it as follows:

1. filter which cartridges are compatible with my tonearm and phono stage

2. which tonality (warm, detailed, spatiality, analytics, ...) I want 

3. hear different cartridges at dealers and friends

4. if possible invite someone with a possible favourite cartridge to
hear it in your system at home together with him

In the end my last new cartridges all were exactly what I expected
and what I desired (Ortofon Vero, DS Audio).

Just 2 days ago I heared together with some friends an Ortofon
SPU modified by Shindo in my system. Now I know that my next
cartridge will be a SPU.

This is the question that Davey f posed on wbf recently, he added a poll with expected results I guess. Most of us take a punt every now and then unless we want to stay with the same maker. Hearing is next to impossible, which is not so good for the makers.. I am in the same position, there are carts I wish to hear, but the dealers say no demo, just buy it, so I dont.

Ps68, that’s pretty funny...just buy it..so I don’t.lol.
I wasn’t actually “expecting” any specific winner to my poll, but the results were probably predictable, I guess??
It is a shame that this is the one piece of gear that people seem to buy with little to no real experience as to how it is going to sound. I am having the same predicament right now, shopping for a new cartridge, and one that will be better than what I already own, is no easy task. I will most likely have to drop my cash and hope for the best. Not what I like to do at all in this hobby. 
Plus, as some have mentioned, this wasn’t such a big deal in the past when the cartridge price was maybe a few hundred dollars, but today we are talking multi thousands!

I see. You support the system as it is and then complain that it’s no good. Who in fact makes it possible to thrive? Stop buying this multikilobuck $hit without listening. In one year they will beg you to listen, personally deliver it to you and will send you flowers on Christmas. And if not - to hell with them and their cartridges.

inna, i'm not sure as to who you are responding to. However, your thought that by waiting a dealer is going to be essentially begging you to buy, just doesn't seem to jive with reality. 
IME, the dealers are all pretty independent when it comes to this issue. While i agree with you that this is not in the best interest of the consumer, it certainly seems to be a somewhat uniform response....at least in the dealers in my area. In some ways, i cannot blame them, once a cartridge is mounted it becomes a 'used' device. How the mounting and care of the cartridge is accomplished is also a variable. When we are talking of multi thousand $$ pieces, the rest follows along. Not at all a great situation for the consumer, and certainly one that I would love to see changed, but I see both sides of the picture. 
Buying without listening first is, at least IMHO, never a good thing to do....unfortunately,with cartridges, I don't see a lot of options! YMMV.