Auditioning gear for purchase.. not in town

there is no substitute for an in-home audition.
hopefully, you can find some products sold direct that are of interest to you. in that case , you call the manufacturer and listen.

if the item has a decent rtesale, you can buy it used and then resll that item for a small loss.

i do not put much credence in a demo at a dealer or at a friend's house. it doesn't tell you much. i liked the synergy of a tube amp in another stereo system. when i hooked it up in my stereo system, i did not like it.

I agree with John (Jmcgrogan2). If I can't find a friend with the piece that I am interested in (to audition it in their system), then if I really am excited about it, I will just buy it on Audiogon and test it out in my system. (Usually that means that I have researched not only what piece of equipment I want, but that includes researching what the range of prices it goes for (used of course). I then wait until I can get it at a good price, and audition it in my system for my self. If it works great, if not, I usually will have bought it at the low end of the price range, and I can easily sell it and not lose any money, except maybe shipping costs.

One thing I NEVER do, is waste a dealer's time, and put wear and tear on his demo equipment, when I have no intention of buying my gear from him. I consider that to be a violation of trust between me and the dealer. (Ethically it just seems completely wrong to me.)

My two cents worth anyway.

JMc has my philosophy. I refuse to victimize dealers when I intend to buy from A'gon and I'm at a point where I just can't afford most of the stuff that I want at new prices.

Also, Audiogon is the only place where I can check out synergies: unfortunately, it's a "buy it and try it" method. Buy in right, A-B it and keep the one that works. I'm willing to lose $100-200 for that privilege, as I've found some really good stuff that I've heard at shows and in other systems just plain didn't work in my "system".

My so-called system used to be a cludge of nice, expensive parts, limited by what my local three state shopping area had to provide and dependent on my retailers own appropriate motives for price points and margins. Now, with some exposure to poorly or even unmarketed, but excellent, products and tweaking them with what I already have that I intend to keep, I have a "system", where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Sort of like my parents: when they had twins, they couldn't afford to keep both me and my brother. They decided to drown the ugly one. That's how I learned to swim.

I call it Audio Darwinism :). Aren't most Agoners like that?

Jeffb28451

You are my new best friend, I think. I have been victimized a number of times.

Mr. Tennis, (is he a tennis player?) My shop is in my home. When you listen at my place you will leave knowing that you will keep this equipment for a long time. Or you won't like it at all. Simple.

I know that in most shops you really can't tell much. It is confusing. They throw on these SACD demo's that I couldn't listen to for 10 minutes.

Well I am ranting here. I totally disagree with buying stuff on audiogon just to compare. As audiophiles we can do better then that. At the RMAF a couple of years ago a guy came by shaking his head. I asked him what was the problem. He said he bought all this stuff and then came to the show and listened, and found so many better sounding pieces of gear.

Go to the show first. Narrow it down. Know the type of music you like. My preference for speakers lean toward vocals and instrumentals. Others prefer Orchestral. Beware of looking for bass. Go for midrange, midrange, midrange.
You would think that would be easy but it is not. Get the midrange right. Then decide whether you would pay an extra 10K to get the bigger speakers that go lower. A sub may be the better choice.

hi sounds real audio:

i appreciate your salesmanship and confidence, but there is no way to know in advance whether you will want to keep a component until you have auditioned it in your own system, for some period of time. i don't think this principle is open to discussion. to insist otherwise, is unrealistic.