In 1979 when I bought my hugely expensive Threshold S500 ($5K then, $19K equivalent now)… with my first ever bank loan there was no choice. This Pass amp was very cutting edge at the time… no samples any where. I did not care about looks, I was only interested in the best sound quality possible.
Equipment sight but not sound.
Who has bought equipment from sight and not sound. Sight meaning reading about them. Reviews etc , and not hearing or demoing them at all and had the good fortune to make all the right decisions. I’ll go first. I first bought my B&W Matrix 800 speakers after reading about them in the 90s. I fell in love with their looks and loved what I read about them from stereophile. Next I read a lot about the Krell amps and loved that they had a huge bass sound and very powerful. Bought the Krell FPB 600. Loved it powering my 800s. Along with the Krelll I bought from the seller the ML 38s pre amp. VG first preamp that I ever bought. Next I bought all Straightwire Crescendos. Speaker cables and ICs. Next also read about the Rega ISIS CDP. Bought that next without ever hearing it. Loved this setup for many years. Then had the urge to upgrade. First was my pre amp to an ARC REF 5SE.Loved it so much I upgraded it to the REF 6. And finally to the 6 SE. Once again without ever hearing them I bought the Audio Research REF 750s mono blocks. Phenomenal amps. Then recently I bought the ARC REF 9 Cdp. Wow. All without ever demoing it or hearing it. Finally bought the AQ Dragon source PC for my ARC Ref 9 cdp. Another Phenomenal purchase without hearing it in my system or even demoing it at a dealer. In fact I love that Dragon PC so much Im looking for one for my pre amp. All I can say is I really think I did pretty dam good without ever hearing anything and just buying through reviews. Who else has had this kind of experience?