Would you pay to audition speakers

I could see charging your credit card as a damage deposit, and refunding the money if the speakers are returned "on time" and undamaged. There is some risk for the proprietor in releasing his inventory - especially heavy, highly finished pieces of furniture with some delicate moving parts.

Taters, I was sounding off before carefully reading your post.

I guess this dealer is so busy tallying their sales slips in these robust economic times that they don't have time for mere "shoppers". If they were working at the shoe counter at Nordstroms and you wanted to try every pair "for fun", on a Saturday, I could see where you could be stretching their Customer First policy. But this dealer must be selling big buck boxes if they think $500 is an appropriate ante to get in their door, and I would think they would be kissing your rear to even darken the entrance these days.

I might be a chronic tire kicker and so perhaps a target for this kind of "really great service", but I continue to buy gear in brick and mortar shops. Since I travel a fair bit, I also go to stores in different towns that carry equipment I don't have access to hear in my home town, or even combination's of gear I have not heard together before. I always state whether or not I am actually in the market to buy something. Sometimes I am, sometimes not. I value the shopkeepers opinions since they usually know much more than me and are enthusiastic about their products and my interest. But I do not value their insights to the tune of 5 "C" notes.

Adding to what Theo said, I would want that model to be handing me $50 glasses of wine with my demo. Maybe if I drank enough I would actually buy something from them...