I took a Naim Nait 5 back after 30 days because t was starting to annoy me and there was a full value trade in offer if upgrading within a month, I traded it for Rega pre/power and got the cables included in the trade. I hadn’t done a demo of the Nait before buying it.
With speakers I’ve been able to borrow speakers from the demo stock of two local dealers to try at home before placing an order. The first set I borrowed were picked after an in store comparison but interacted with my room to sound very harsh (Focal Profile 918). They went back and I think it was the 4th pair of speakers, the second from another dealer that stayed (Thiel CS1.6). This home demo culture saves a lot of mistakes but is less common outside the UK. I’m in France now and when I asked for a demo from a local dealer I got a very funny reaction but he had neither the turnover nor the factory support to carry demo stock.
With speakers I’ve been able to borrow speakers from the demo stock of two local dealers to try at home before placing an order. The first set I borrowed were picked after an in store comparison but interacted with my room to sound very harsh (Focal Profile 918). They went back and I think it was the 4th pair of speakers, the second from another dealer that stayed (Thiel CS1.6). This home demo culture saves a lot of mistakes but is less common outside the UK. I’m in France now and when I asked for a demo from a local dealer I got a very funny reaction but he had neither the turnover nor the factory support to carry demo stock.