For me, price dictates my desire to actually hear a speaker, unless I am familiar with the "house" sound. But I have found that no matter what, speakers don't sound the same in the store, of course, and as you go up in price, they become more sensitive to the electronics and cables and room treatment too. So I bought Focal Diablo Utopia III's after listening, Joseph Audio Pulsars without any audition, since they only get rave reviews from everyone, and I like the Joseph Audio house sound, and bought my Wilson Sabrina X's by listening to the Sasha DAW's in the showroom. If I want to upgrade from the Sabrina's, I will definitely go to Axpona or some other audio show to listen to a wide variety of the speakers that folks talk about on here. One thing that I DON'T do is buy based on published reviews. As someone observed above, have you ever read a review that was not glowing? It is also tough to buy based on comments in the forums, since everyone has a different set up and room, so one person can dislike the speaker in their setup and another might think that the speaker is the best thing since sliced bread. So bottom line, its not the perfect solution, but an audio show is probably the best way to get exposed to many options in a given price range.
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.