Everything I have purchased in the last year I purchased online without hearing the gear first. And I have bought a DSDjr, DSD, P20, Wilson Yvette’s, Matrix plus power supply, and quite a lot of power and interconnect cables. I could have purchased most of this stuff locally but it would have been at list price. As it stands I saved quite a bit of money buying from Audiogon sellers and eBay sellers for cables. I also bought a lot from The Cable Company and will continue to do so.
There are local stores that have the gear. I probably should be using them but it is not cost effective, sadly. I did buy some expensive Salamander Designs furniture from one local favorite as they offer the same price everyone else including Amazon charges.
If a piece of gear needs repair it seems the most usual source for repair is the manufacturer.
One company that is doing very well by me is Fedex. And sadly I despise them.
Haven’t bought from a brick and mortar in over 20 years. So much info online really no need to. I find the home trial much more valuable then listening at a dealer. Usually get much better deals and no tax. A little experience and a lot of homework and you’ll have no issues.
Even with great reviews… well I have had bad experiences. But more important, to me at least, is being able to compare. Like I noted when I purchased my Focal speakers… I just had the guy swapping out speakers… right up the dollar ladder until I hit it.
Review nightmare: Way back, I had a Sonic Frontiers DAC. I liked it, a good DAC. Robert Harley in Stereophile described a factory upgrade… essential, fabulous, must have blah blah blah. Well I liked the DAC so I thought, more is better! After all, Stereophile raved. I sent the unit back to Sonic Frontiers and it came back sounding like fighting cats. Bright. I was fuming mad. NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.
Bruce, I hear you about speakers What if the dealer doesn’t have two speakers you are wanting to compare? Dealer A has the Focals and Dealer B has the “Whatevers “? I find this inability for side by side comparison confounding.
Yes, that is a problem. For example, in my story, how do I know I got the best speaker for that money? I don’t know. I was handicapped for two reasons: 1) I could only listen to what brands he carried and what inventory he had, and 2) There are no other good stores around at that time. So I dealt with the situation as best I could. This dealer, Overture, is really one of the last great high end stores… and everything he carries is good… and without attitude (Lyric in New York were just jerks).
So we are all handicapped. It just is this way. I suspect, only a suspicion, that many who have no trouble pulling the trigger on-line based on triangulating good reviews, never had the experience of visiting two retailers in one day and hearing 4 different brands and maybe 5 or 6 different models. It is ear-opening.
BTW, I drove almost one hour to hear a PrimaLuna amp… wow. I purchased from the guy even though I had to pay PA tax. I could have ordered direct from Upscale and saved tax, but then I would have hurt that dealer… I took his time … and all of our opportunities to hear and compare. I am at an age where I can and have seen the consequences of actions…
It’s definitely a serious issue. Save for speakers, my more recent purchases have all been through businesses who support in-home trials.
I’ll double-down on my previous reco for Overture. My speakers were a relatively “small” purchase (< $15k), but I was treated like royalty. I don’t consider this chump-change by any stretch, but to put things in (their) perspective, I overheard two staffers discussing a >$300,000 k system purchase by a repeat customer.
I had called ahead for an appointment and they had the main room set up per my preference for electronics and speakers. Handed me the remote and let me go to town. No pressure. No upsell. No bait & switch. Fair trade-in on my used stuff.
They are in a sweet spot geographically between Philly and DC. Lots of disposable income there and the 5 counties surrounding DC are the highest per capita income locations outside of the Bay Area. And Delaware has no sales tax. So hopefully this helps them carry on. Sadly, we’ve moved “out of range.”
Local audio clubs can be helpful. I’m now living on Colorado’s front range and the Colorado Audio Society meetings have provided the opportunity to hear some amazing systems - small to large - in “real-world” home environments. Some completely home-built by some talented engineers.
Also, over time I’ve been able to calibrate the preferences of some reviewers to my own tastes. For example, I hear the same things as Anthony Cordesman, to use one example.
I purchase my gear exclusively on-line nowadays, always from a retailer who will back the product with a reasonable in-home trial period. Most reputable on-line retailers will do so. I’ve been doing high-end for almost 30 years and remember the day when all sales were brick and mortar. But, I never agreed with the premise an in-store demo was actually value added. After every in-store demo I always had lingering, serious questions. The store setup invariably will not be the same as my home system. Ever. The listening environment won’t be, either. So what have I really learned about the performance of the piece? Very little if anything was the usual answer. Today with on-line retailing we can audition the piece in our system and in our listening environment and I maintain that’s the only informed way of deciding whether to keep the gear. In short, I embrace on-line high-end retailing completely as the correct way of making final purchase decisions.
So true - the at-home experience will never be the same. But, in my case, I had the opportunity to hear the speakers I bought in Overture’s main listening room, which is among the best - if not THE best acoustically I’ve encountered. That reference proved to be invaluable (I took listening notes) as I later tackled room problems at home. Knowing the SQ the speakers were capable of allowed me to more effectively sort out issues with placement and room treatments.
I have been buying the bulk of my audio and guitar purchases online for over 20 years with a miniscule number of issues. I rely on extensive research vs hunting down the minimal local resources that allow you to audition more than a modicum of the offerings that are out there. Unless you live in a metropolis, which most of us don’t, you don’t have the luxury of auditioning, and even if you do it’s not likely to be in a similar environment anyway. bUY USED AND ONLINE AND RESEARCH THE HECK OUT OF WHATEVER THE PURCHASE IS, AND GET A GOOD ENOUGH DEAL SO THAT YOU CAN RECOUP MOST OF THE COSTS UPON RESALE. I’m not going to retype because I inadvertently hit the CAPs key.
What if the dealer doesn’t have two speakers you are wanting to compare? Dealer A has the Focals and Dealer B has the “Whatevers “? I find this inability for side by side comparison confounding.