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Do You Buy Speakers Without Hearing Them?

In the 'good old days' there were a lot of hifi stores around so there was plenty of opportunity to go in and listen to various brands and models of speakers.  With the continuing disappearance of audio shops, I'm wondering if more people are making the leap to buy speakers they've never heard in person, or just limiting their purchase options to the brands they can hear locally?  If you are buying a speaker that you haven't heard, how do you get comfortable with that?  Magazine reviews?  YouTube demos?  

I've mostly heard any speaker I ended up buying, but in two cases I bought speakers that weren't available in my area.  I made my decision based on reviews.  In one case the speaker was really nice, but in the second case, the speaker was well-reviewed but ended up being disappointing.

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

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Showing 1 response by ibmjunkman

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ibmjunkman
230 posts
 

Lates 60s I bought JBL Dorian S12 after hearing a huge JBL system at a Dick Clark concert production at the Chicago Stock Yards amphitheater. I think I did listen to them at Allied Electronics on south Western avenue when buying.

Mid 70s I bought JBL L222 Disco after listening to them at a store north west of Chicago.

I still have both sets. The L222 are my active speakers.

Now for the ones I did not listen to but purchased. I was into collecting JBL at the time.

L25,L36,L40,L120,L300,AquariusIV,S1,4408,L65,L100,B380. Still have but not using the last 3.

If I had the space I would have really tried for a Paragon. 😊

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