How do you get to listen to high end speakers?

Wierd question.

Since I was a little kid and my father bought his first "Hi Fi" rig, Ive been hooked on the stuff.

I am a fan of the hobby and my interests in it have flucuated throughout the years. Kind of bouncing between a mild involvement to nuerosis.

I am absolutley entranced by the workmanship, build quality and engineering of some of todays high end audio gear manufacturers.

So that brings me to my question.

How does a guy, that simply cannot afford the best the industry has to offer, get a chance to listen to some of it every now and then? If for no other reason than to hear what he might strive for in his own personal system.

For example, Wilson Audio. While Im not poor by any stretch, I also just cannot afford a pair of $125,000 X-2's, let alone the front end worthy of such a mighty speaker. Does that mean that I should forever be shut out of the kingdom of audio nirvana?

Dont get me wrong, Im not asking someone to let me take a pair home and audtion them. However, is it wrong to find a high end dealer that might have a pair on display as demos and ask to take a listen, at least for a song or two?

Im not asking for the keys to the kingdom, maybe just let a fan of the craft take a peek through the front doors now and again.

I live in South Florida and found a local high end dealer that had a set of MAXX's on demo. While in there to buy a $350 center channel speaker cable, I asked if I could take a listen. I was told no. That auditions were for potential buyers only. Meanwhile, two guys had just walked out of the room after having them cranked up.....employees, not customers.

Now dont get me wrong, I dont expect them to just let anyone and everyone in the world to come in and start jamming with their $175,000 rig. Im not just anyone. Im a customer that over the years has probably spent $3000-$4000 dollars in various stuff there. Cables, speaker stands and the like.

Am I on the market for a $40,000 set of speakers? Absolutley not.

Would I love to listen to them? Of course.

So has Hi Fi become the new class system. The realm of the rich and mighty where the "haves" dont even let the "have nots" take a peek into their realm?

If I was the owner of the business, I would love to let true fans of the hobby take a listen to perfection, even if I knew they could never afford the product. I would love to inspire people, to give them a glimpse of what is possible. To teach people to be excited about Hi Fi and music again and to give them a goal to work towards with their own personal systems.

Besides, a guy that knows that once a awhile he can listen to the newest and latest in esoteric gear, will frequent the store more. Knowing that, what Hi Fi junkie walks into audio nirvana without at least buying something?

Seems like a good way to get repeat customers.