karl: A good b&m dealer will accomodate some sort of in-home trial. Especially if you commit to buying one or the other from him (he makes a sale either way).:scratch2: Some dealers will only allow a trial over a weekend, from, say, Saturday at closing time to when they open again for business the next week. But if he does not offer an in-home trial, ask about his trade-in or return policy. If he is completely inflexible on all of this, personally, I would look for another dealer, even if I had to drive a ways.:wefly:

While the idea of bringing your own monitors with you is a good idea, IMHO, it is still a poor substitute for your actual speakers and especially, your room. If you love an amp in the showroom, but not so much at your home, you can proceed to buy all the associated gear, cables and even speakers you heard at showroom in an effort to get similar results at home, but you cannot buy the showroom itself and bring it home with you.

I would suspect profit margins are similar with both brands. I suppose the salesman's preference for Bryston could indeed be a real preference, but his ears are not your ears. Some people might prefer the comfort of a Porche to the better performing, but spartan, Ferrari. And, frankly, I have heard McIntosh gear (higher end stuff) in the past that I thought was all Ferrari in terms of performance. Do you pay up for the pretty looks? Probably, but there is real quality and performance behind the face plate. All of this is not to knock Bryston. And especially since you have custom DIY speakers, it will be hard to say which would be a better match without hearing them in your home.:dunno:

Be honest with the dealer. You're considering spending a lot of money here. Tell him you don't want to make a purchase that you later come to regret.:tears: Ask him how he can help you avoid that. Put the ball in his court, and see what he comes up with. If you don't like his answer (e.g.: "Don't worry - you'll love this amp" is not a good answer), then tell him you are not comfortable spending that much money under those circumstances. I like to support b&m hifi shops, but not if the salesman is going to be a jerk. If he is totally unhelpful, I would go elsewhere.:running:

That's exactly what I say when I get the inevitable funny looks from people who find out about my hifi obsession: "Everybody needs a hobby, and this one is relatively harmless.":chillin:

Bondmanp:

Another great reply. Thanks for being my personal audio mentor during my reintroduction to the hobby. :-)

It is good to know that an in-home trial is not unreasonable. Also, I like your suggested approach for presenting the trial subject to the dealer.

I think this is a great hobby. Not only is audio relatively harmless, but it is (can be) far less expensive than other things men can become obsessed with (e.g., motorcycles, boats, horses, cars, etc.). It is actually pretty great that absolutely world-class amplifier performance from the likes of the McIntosh and Bryston offers can be acquired for under $10k.

Come on in, the waters fine!

http://consilience.typepad.com/photo...20shark202.jpg

:D

A great hobby indeed!
 

Karl - You are most welcome, and good luck.

By the way, I have hit on the ideal way to smooth over hifi purchases with the wife: I keep track of her discretionary spending on a monthly basis. She hates to see what all of her "little" purchases add up to, but it makes my audio-related spending small by comparison. Works like a charm!:icon_jump:

Funny story: I was at a dinner party with my wife and other couples when talk of the men's hobbies came up. My turn came to talk about audio. I just mentioned that there were a great pair of speakers I wanted but couldn't spend the money. My wife asked, how much are they? "Eight", I said. My wife replied, "eight hundred dollars? Just go ahead and buy them!" "No, I said, eight thousand." Total silence from my wife and giggles from the other guests.:roflmao:

Good one! :thumbsup:

lol, I love it. Looks perfectly safe to me! :yes:

Hi all I'm Jim in Bellingham ,Wa. kfr01 my local dealer would bring the new pieces I've recently wanted to audition and set them up ,give me a couple of days to listen before buying. Goodluck with yours

JMB: Thank you for your reply. It is great to have another data point for the fact that some variation of an in-home demo, trade, or return policy is not totally unreasonable.

Hi, Jim...welcome to AA. :wave:

JMB Welcome aboard! :thumbsup: