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How to meaningfully audition speakers??

I think this topic has appeared elsewhere, even if worded differently. But I thought I'd ask anyway.

Just upgraded my amp and was thinking about auditioning different speakers. Problem is that there are only a handful of high-end B&M stores nearby. Another complication is that no one store has the 2 or 3 speaker brands that I want to check out.

Further, I am dubious that one can meaningfully audition gear by running from store to store because the test conditions are not identical. In addition, unless a piece is really terrible or incredibly terrific, I don't trust my aural memory. Perhaps other have a different view.

Seems to me that the best way to accomplish what I want is to have the speakers of interest brought to my house and hooked up to my rig. But -- I am NOT aware of any dealer willing to part with expensive gear like that, especially if it has to be specially ordered from a distributor because the model is not on display.

So the Q is what do most folks do? Just buy speakers on hope and a prayer?? Rely on reviews or Forum comments??
bifwynne

Showing 1 response by dover

dover
2,299 posts
 
Frogman, you have arrived at the nub of the issue.
In my experience, I had a very high end audio shop in the late 80's, and subsequent experiences with "audiophiles", very few people want high fidelity.
Most want what they think or would like music to sound like and this mostly reflects their personality. Some want razor sharp images and warp speed on everything, others want a polite inoffensive sound. Some want gut wrenching bass.
Very few would be happy with an accurate sound ( of a studio recording ) or live music in their living room.
This fundamental driver of what a person wants from an audio system, which is NOT high fidelity, I believe is almost certainly the root cause of many of the debates in this forum.
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