New buy, no return policy

I know the salespeople make their money from sales and I always feel for them when it doesn’t work out. 

Do not feel bad.  You more than did your part and they just refused to do theirs and got exactly what they deserved — nothing.  The arrogance of them in this day and age to not expend a little effort to sell a $48k pair of speakers for someone who was obviously a serious and likely buyer given you already loved the speakers is staggering to me.  Compare that to TMR who was willing to bring the speakers to you, help set them up, and take them back if they didn’t work out and all this while standing to make far less on the sale than your dealer would’ve made by selling you a new pair.  That’s just absurd and sad.  Hopefully the dealer learned a big lesson here and will rethink their archaic and lazy business policies going forward.  In any event, congrats on some great speakers and saving a bundle!

I travelled halfway around the country to listen to and check out a brand that only a few dealers sell. I made an appointment 4 days in advance.  I was ready to purchase it. 

When I arrived, sharp, the salesperson was busy with another customer. They told me to wait. I waited 45 minutes and then left.

I'm not surprised the dealer relented, too bad for him being too late.

I've had similar conversations with dealers over "special orders" and my response is always the same. No 30 day demo, no sale. Most relented and some got a sale. I'm willing to pay shipping or a reasonable restock fee for the privilege. 

I dissent. You should’ve brought your own source, electronics and cables to the dealer’s and listened. Had the dealer refused, yeah, walk away and never buy from him, regardless of price. If you can pay $48k for new speakers with full warranty why bother with used stuff? Still, the dealer might’ve made a mistake but so might’ve you. Interesting situation.

" comparable electronics " does not have much meaning, even less when very expensive equipment is involved. $50k speakers should sound almost spectacular or why buy them ?

Anyway, hopefully that used pair will perform just fine for a long time.