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have you ever bought anything WITHOUT listening to it ... and LOVED it?Let's have the gory details, please.
Best rgards,
Wordsmith
Follow Ups:
a VAC DAC II--and the original version Omega Mikro ICs formerly in our system were bought new, unheard, on a recommendation from a dealer in Pennsylvania (no longer in business). At the time, I was extremely pleased with both. The DAC and wire are no longer with us since we upgraded the system. All else has been auditioned extensively before purchase.
and even those were bought 250 miles away. After auditioning under the worse possible conditions (the store was an appliance retailer and setup like a barn), I took a chance that they would sound okay in my living room. Luck was with me.The rest of my system - an Arcam CD92, Creek OBH 12, Pass Aleph 30, Absolute Power Cord - were bought sight unseen. All are incredible gems. Great synergy. These were all bought on the recommendation of others, and fortunately, I listened to the right people. Wish I could say the same for the rest of my life. I have an ex to prove it.
Gary
The speakers bought in the "appliance barn" are Clements 206di's.
Dear Wordsmith,several years ago while at college living in Plymouth UK i went into an interesting junk/2nd hand hifi shop and came across a very strange pair of loudspeakers.
They were similar in size to QUAD ESL 57 and shape similar except for curvature of front baffle.
On the back of the cabs was a badge saying made under licence by THE RADIO PEOPLE LTD HONG KONG.Now Albert Chan who owned this company was a friend of mine when i lived in HK in 1961-1980.
I asked the junk shop owner what they were ,he said £25.00.
So i bought them.
got them back to student digs and took off the back panel.
4 off 9x6" eliptical bass drivers and 3 off ORTHOPHASE ribbon drivers.
I fixed the wiring and checked all drive units.
then fired them up.
W O W what can i say they were fantastic better than my QUAD's that i had had a few years before. I still have them to this day and love them.
The company who made them was:
GeGo Orthophase of Paris France and they were circa 1959-1961 vintage.yep a real bargain .
regards david
after trucking home many large/heavy/exotic speakers trying to improve on my quads without success i read a review in a mag - the reviewer said the speakers he was reviewing made a horn sound like a real horn (i love jazz). i did some more research and found others agreed. these were speakers by paragon. i bought them and haven't listened to another speaker since (including the quads)- they use dynaudio drivers. tonally they are like the quads but they have dynamic range! too bad you guys didn't support paragon - they are out of business. now you have to pay 50%more for dynaudio speakers.if you ever run accross paragon in the used market try to listen.
I've made a living (a very bad one, I lose money on it actually) doing such things. Mostly it has worked out sonically, but I am always left wondering if there is something better for my system and tastes. But the truth is, I couldn't audition every component I'm curious about even if I were determined to. Plus I love the thrill of plugging in a component I've never heard before.Matt
Three products (never auditioned) which I do not regret buying; in fact I don't think I could have done better* at the price: Oracle Delphi Mk.V turntable, Tyler Acoustics 7U loudspeakers and Analysis Plus Silver Oval speaker cable. One purchase that I do regret: Grado RS-1 headphones (because I just don't use them very much).*IMO, so don't get all excited about telling me what you think is better at the same price.
and I mean everything.
Randy Bey
Token Mensan
1. Dynaudio Contour 3.0 - a superb, lively, well-balanced speaker. Much better than I imagined.2. Audio Research - LS16 and D130. Neither piece disappoints.
3. MSB Platinum DAC (OK, I had a 30-day trial). Sweet and detailed.
Although I based a system on these components, I did audition the interconnects and speaker cables before buying (via FatWyre).
Odyssey Stratos, NORH ACA and Synthetic Marble 6.9.
nt
Turntable/ToneArm/Cartridge/PhonoStage. It was simply impossible to demo them.I'm quite pleased with the resultant sound.
Oh, and TG Audio [Bob Crump] IC's/PowerCords/SpeakerCable: let's put it this way, I placed the order for the SpeakerCable after hearing the IC's and PowerCords that I purchased, ummm, deaf.
The little voices told me to stay at home & clean the guns. .
I tend to stick with manufacturers/designers/dealers that I know and trust. Just got damn lucky with the speakers (Soundlines) and the sub (REL). Well, maybe it wasn't just "luck". You guys at the Asylum were a BIG help. Thanks! I have to say that some reviews in Stereophile (J-10j and TAS were also quite useful to me. I really don't have much chance to listen to stuff before buying, given that I live in rural Japan.
Hi David,
Was selling your Eminent Technology speakers a problem there??? Not exactly a household name even in the US, I wondered what the name recognition was in Japan.Bruce
nt
Does Accuphase make a sound card???Bruce
I bought a fifteen grand pair of Sound Lab speakers having never heard them nor read a review, having one over-the-phone recommendation from a stranger, and having read their website. That was almost twice as much money as I'd ever spent on any single purchase. But it was the best purchase I ever made (I've since become a dealer and now sell Sound Labs - so disclaimers/grains of salt all around).My brash confidence came from my background as an amateur speaker builder and my studies of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. As I devoured every word at Sound Lab's website, I could see that Roger West's design was sheer genius. Dr. West simultaneously solved several problems I'd struggled with in my own designs, and did it with the ultimate driver - a full range electrostatic panel.
Needless to say, I don't ask customers to follow my bad example!
Buying new at retail is a bigger gamble, even if you audition the unit at the dealer 's rooms, because you lose your butt if you decide to sell it soon thereafter. Auditioning at a dealer can be misleading, because of the room and associated gear. In such cases, a trial period with full return privileges (or a modest "restocking fee") are appropriate and useful.If you buy a used component with a generally good reputation at a decent price via audiogon or e-bay, you should be able to sell it at nearly the same price should you not like it. I've actually auditioned many components by buying and re-selling used. Reading between the lines and communicating with others at places like AA who have similar tastes are ways to narrow down the possibilities, but no guarantee.
Speakers ave very subjective. My living room system has Apogee Centaurus ribbon monitors that I auditioned, and my office system has Coincident Triumph Signatures that I bought at Audiogon. The are both excellent speakers that have lasted in my system with no strong desire to replace them for now. By far, speakers (and their interaction with the room) are the biggest variables in systems I have played had in my home.
Dave van Harn
Bought a demo by mail-order, without knowing much about it.Great tuner. Not as good as an Etude, but better than anything else I ever heard besides the Etude.
Merlin TSM se Liked them.....upgraded to milinium
how many times have those of us below advised others to listen and decide on what sounds best to you!?Obviously, we don't always practice what we preach!! :)
Cetaele (aka "bob")
I've done it plenty of times. But if someone wants to gamble on a piece of audio equipment, that's their call. When I gamble this way it's not without a little research.Rob C
agreed--the inmates, sometimes, are my ears....
Cetaele (aka "bob")
i dont tink soooo
the best purchase I have made was without a demo:
Dan Wright's mod to my Pioneer DVD player ...... thanks again, Dan. It is one nice piece of gear.Steve
The FT Audio LW-1, the Ah! Tjoeb '99 CDP, and the MMG's were on a bought on a trial basis. They were not returned. The Well Tempered Record Player was ordered without listening to it, but I did hear it (and loved it-good thing) at the dealer's before I took it home. In fairness, I'd listened fairly extensively to a classic WT before, so I knew the basic Well Tempered "sound". The EAR 834P and the Music Reference RM10 were bought on the strength of their reputations as well, also without being heard 1st. Same with my cabling. All these components work together quite well, so either I've been lucky, or else I intuit what I need next. I do know the kind of components I tend to like (read 'tubed').
Sure. Everything in my current system.
Where would I have heard an MFA Magus preamp (company defunct for several years), or a Rega 3 with an Origin Live modified RB-250 arm, or Coincident Triumph Signatures with upgraded drivers? Where? Nowhere! Maybe I've been lucky, but they all add up to a very satisfying system without ever having heard any component before purchase.
..
Bought them used - sight unseen.Dave
.
Same here! Started with the Delta cuz my former transport (a Sony discman with Toslink out) died.
.
I bought a simon yorke S4 turntable, and he said if i dont like it send it back for a refund, "no way", i later upgraded from a zeta to a sme v, he even changed the armboard free of charge.
[Badfinger]
NADC521 CD Player. I did hear a NAD DVD player beforehand though. No problems, no regrets. ROTEL RB-1050 Power Amp. I heard the 900 line beforehand and was told by many that they really improved with the 1000 line... it's true. I have also heard B&W 602s2 and plan to go for the 604s2 (I just can't live without full range sound) when I can manage the funds. I don't think that buying before hearing is a bad thing as long as your dealer offers a 30 day. Auditioning at home is the only way to go.
Banzai,
247
and I've been through a preamp, an amp, two CDPs, a DAC, a jitter box and more than a few ICs/Spkr. cables.For the most part, I'm quite content.
Chris
Never heard my system until it was assembled. Preamp came from Honolulu, amp from NJ and speakers from Manhattan. A few cable tweaks, lots of room treatment, some power conditioning and voila! I'm a happy camper too!
wordsmith,do you know that there are a lot of people who spend month to listen and eventually punches “audio garbage”? Do you know that there are the designers who design and manufacture the audio equipment without actually listening their products (and the results do “sound” well)? Do you know that there are people who are able to discard a system/component after 10 second of listening?
Perhaps the answer lays not in the listening itself but knowing what to listen ? The ironic fact that YOU (not you particularly but just “you”) is not necessary the reference evaluating devise. (This is VERY big topic). So, if YOU did not listen then you "just hear"...
But… to hear from who?From a neighbor within your audio mental institution? From the audio propaganda? From a manufacturer, who have no objective background or the correct knowledge to "evaluate"? From yourself, whos audio demands fluctuate like a Multiwaved Powerplant? From your big brother dealer, who got bitten dally, if he dose not bring cash to his wife? Fro the musicians who can’t appreciate the “soundstage” and the “resolution”?
Did you find yourself that you can predicts the sound of “a system” based upon the totally bizarre parameters (like the context of AA post)... Are you sure that you able to hear being only in the “sweet spot”?
Regards,
Romy the Cat
Parasound 3500 power amp. Such a deal, new old stock from a Parasound dealer, factory sealed, dust on box no charge. For what I paid am very pleased. In my own defense, however, the dealer said I could bring it back for a refund if not satisfied. Unlike one of the other respondents, I love the salon experience, but I dont feel like I ever know what the components I am auditioning really sound like until I get them home. All of the local dealers in our area will let you audition their products in your home.
yestheta data III
theta pro basic II dac
Two turntables, two tonearms, a few cartridges, upgraded power supply, and a phonostage. There may be other stuff, but that's all I'll admit to.BB
Yep, I bought my Bryston B60 with phono (extra $400!!) before listening. Fortunately it annhilated my other integrated. I also bought a pair of Edge Audio speakers online because they were the cheapest speakers with Kimber's DiAural crossover. I like them but I don't love them. The treble rolls off a bit quicker than I'd like but they do dynamics like you wouldn't believe! I also bought my Dynaco ST70 without an audition. I didn't have time to mess around and wanted to make sure nobody else bought it. I was a week late on my rent for that purchase!Rob C
I've come close to not making rent a few times due to this hobby/obsession/passion/sickness. I miss those days...
- = B. P. Firlotte - paul@paulfirlotte.com = - - = http://www.paulfirlotte.com = -
Yep.nOrh Marble 7.0's.
BTW, aren't you in Perth? If so..your welcome to have a demo.
All of my equipment was bought without audition. In some cases I auditioned it after purchase--to see if I wanted to return it. So far, that hasn't happened. All my purchases have lived up to expectations.
I was disrespected in a couple of local audio shops as a teen, and still get a haughty vibe from some people who sell audio nearby. I only go into a high-figh establishment if I can't avoid it.I wouldn't dare listen to something in a shop and then buy it online (questionable karma), and I won't pay double the available price for anything if I don't have to. Some things I've bought aren't on display in local shops, either.
When it's time to replace the weakest link, I read as many reviews as I can, and if it's nearly unanimous that a component has qualities I'm looking for, and I can't stop jonesing for it, I'll buy, sound unheard. If people talk about how a piece of gear makes them feel rather than how it sounds, I'm usually on the right track.
I haven't been burned yet. I'm still leapfrogging previous purchases from months prior when money still held more value than beauty. The components that have been replaced were learning experiences worth the price to me.
Yes, I bought a Bel Canto DAC1 sight unheard, and it is a wonderful piece of equipment. It just isn't possible to listen to everything before you buy.That being said, the one thing I would not buy without listening is speakers.
Cetaele (aka "bob")
> > That being said, the one thing I would not buy without listening is speakers.I did that. And even spent money to build cabs first. What a risk!
But also a great reward.
The more interesting question is how many bought after a proper in-home audition.
I find the audio salon experience unbearable [funny, I had the verve in my 20's when I didn't have the $$ to buy,] so I have taken a few flyers, after much lurking and surfing.[1] Bottlehead Foreplay. A revelation.
[2] Magnepan MMGs. Ditto.
[3] Belles Hot Rod 150 a power amp. Reveals every change upstream. No desire to change.
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