Would you pay to audition speakers

Weisberg - that's good point. The problem is that I won't ask dealer without listening and he can still hold my money if we won't agree. I would just stay away from such places. They prices are often insane because they have high overhead caused by lower sales that are caused by high prices to start with. The name for that is greed. I would always pay, let say 10% more for the expertise but not more than that. Internet is helping to level the field and get rid of greedy or just plain bad dealers - a very positive process.

I would pay for real service - eg, if the dealer brought speaker to my home, set it up etc.

I would also pay "rent" if I needed to evaluate them at my home for an unusually long time.

If he loaned them to me for a few days and I had to carry and set them up myself, then I wouldn't pay anything except perhaps leave a deposit if requested.

I would not pay for in-store demos. Showing something you are trying to sell is part of retail. The customer may not buy or buy elsewhere - all retailers take that chance and those who can't should not be in retail.

For me paying a small fee which refunded on buying is OK. After all the retailer also need to invest in buying these speakers, running the showroom, paying the cleaning ladies etc.

I guess that retailers have learned their lessons from audition with potential customers to find out that these customers then buy them online

I wonder what this dealer's policy is with past customers who made reasonably sized purchases. There is one local dealer who was guarded until I bought a couple things and now they are very open to auditions. My position is that unless a dealer invites me, I don't ask to audition unless I have genuine intentions of buying that specific item from them in the near future.

Yes, some people do use dealers to demo, then buy used cheaper. BIG DEAL. I'll gladly pay MORE to someone else than the dealer is charging, before I give 5.00 away, let alone 500.00 The 500.00 is no guarantee you'll like the speakers. This is not nor ever will be a good practice. Does a dealer ever guarantee speakers? New if something goes wrong? No, you only get a warantee.