Do You Buy Speakers Without Hearing Them?

I feel your pain.  I'm an American living on a Pacific island.  The nearest hifi showroom is 3000 miles away.  So for decades, I've had to buy every speaker system, audio component, even cables, without the benefit of auditioning them first.

I really hate that, but I've learned to live with it.  The last few years, I've prefaced any major purchase with lots of researchm including enough questions on Audiogon & similar forums to make myself a real PITA! (Actually, I hope not, but I bet I have.)

And even so, about 1/4 or my purchases were disappointing.

D

Only once but it was a good buy. A great review in IAR that sounded (SQ) fine.

More telling is the homemade pair.

My two main pairs were acquired after schlepping the same records to dealerships.

Four of the last six were bought without hearing them.  One was returned (Walsh Ohm Tall).  For the other three I read or watched every review and looked at user comments in the forums about the speakers/manufacturer.  Two of the three (Volti and Coherent Audio) had something similar I could listen to (Klipsch/Tannoy) so those were not completely blind.  The third was Tekton which was completely unique.  Those three also had some type of custom finish which was important to me as well.

My next pair will probably be direct since it I am looking at open baffle - PAP or Caladan?

Good luck.

I just purchased a pair of Heco Aurora 1000 towers from Audio Advice in the US. I was not able to listen to them prior to purchasing. They meet and even exceed my expectations for sound quality and esthetics. 

One tower suffered a small area of damage on the rear corner around the mid point during transit. Audio Advice apologized for the damage even though it wasn't their fault.  They shipped out a new tower less than 24 hours after learning about the damage from the contact support form on the website. They also emailed a pre-paid return shipping label for the damaged tower. What excellent customer service.

I still have the 30 day return available if I decide I don't like them.  I am 100% sure I will be keeping these gems. 

I have owned Vandersteen speakers for the last 40 years.  Going in order from 2C to model 3 to 3A to 3A Signatures to Treo CT’s now with stereo subs. They just reproduce what goes in with a “you are there” sense of realism. I bought them before hearing them after reading consistent and corroborative reviews along with 40 years experience working my way up the Vandersteen line.