I avoid those places to the extent that I'm able. While I don't want to paint with too broad a brush, the majority of my experiences with AV/hifi stores have been unpleasant. back when I was in my early 20s it seemed like I invariably got pegged as a poor and treated basically like a nuisance or an idiot who's just going to waste their time, now that I look like maybe I've got some midlife crisis money to spend I usually have to deal with pushy condescending sales people trying to upsell me. unpleasant vibes all around. All those places have been closing left and right over the past couple decades and I can't say I miss em. If you're in a large city there may be some existing local community of audiophiles who are happy to demo their gear and are usually much less insufferable.