Included herein are impressions I had while recently shopping for speakers
and thoughts concerning these endeavors especially in the light of the
conventional wisdom that exists for speaker acquisitions. My shopping was
for a stereo pair of speakers only.

1.. Take along several CDs with music that you are very familiar with. I
couldn't agree more with this advice. You will need to exercise listening
memory therefore, you better know the music well.
2.. AB comparison of speakers: I was able to do this on a limited basis.
Stores do not carry every brand that you wish to audition and the store may
not even carry each line of a single brand in which you are interested. I
used ABing where possible for elimination purposes. So, you need that
listening memory cited above.
3.. If a shop doesn't have a model that you're interested in, you may
have to go elsewhere or, drop that model from consideration. I ran into two
cases where the store didn't have the model that I wanted to audition but
offered the next higher-priced model at the same price of the model that I
wanted to hear. I can give a store the benefit of the doubt due to the
economic constraints of carrying a large and varied inventory. I was
looking in the $1K/pair range. However, if it's the old bait and switch,
well .... .
4.. Unable to hear a specific model of one manufacturer may have cost that
company a sale. I liked a smaller model for octave-to-octave balance but,
wanted more bass. I was put off and as a result, thankfully I found a
satisfying alternative, I was more than able to rationalize that brand to
the proverbial file.
5.. Irritations: When you want to listen to speakers, have the sales
representative turn off the video, the surrounds, the subwoofer, and any
other distraction. Ask the sales person to remove the grill temporarily for
your inspection. All of this setting up for a satisfactory audition may
seem like an irritation to the salesperson but, you are paying the freight
therefore, you call the shots. My experience with this was mixed. However,
the two extremes were selling the same product at the same price. This
product was the ultimate winner. Guess who got to write up an order?
6.. The experience of auditioning speakers was enjoyable for the most part
especially, since I haven't been in the market for a long time. Overall,
audio sales people have gotten more courteous that they once were and in
this experience, they even seemed more knowledgeable than years ago. Of
course, the shopper is still offered accessories that are of questionable
need.
7.. As I became more familiar with today's audio market, a lot of
questions and value judgment decisions came to mind. My old favorite curve,
the point of diminishing returns, came to mind often. I can appreciate the
excitement generated by the marriage of the audio and video worlds although,
my priority of music appreciation may keep me in two-channel for the
foreseeable future. At the same time, I can see where the complexity of the
new entertainment systems has some folks grasping the Bose Wave Radio
solution.

Thanks for reading this. I hope there's a nugget in there.

"lynsam" wrote in message news:i3o5c.17247$_w.347146@attbi_s53...
Included herein are impressions I had while recently shopping for speakers
and thoughts concerning these endeavors especially in the light of the
conventional wisdom that exists for speaker acquisitions. My shopping was
for a stereo pair of speakers only.



Often if you contact the companies yourself, they will ship them to a
retailer near you, even if that shop is not a dealer! They will then
make arrangements for that shop to make the sale if you like them.
This may not be true for every company, but you may be surprised what
you can get done if you simply ask!

From: (Michael Scarpitti)

Often if you contact the companies yourself, they will ship them to a
retailer near you, even if that shop is not a dealer! They will then
make arrangements for that shop to make the sale if you like them.

Who does this? I've never heard of anything like this before.