It is really a shame that a solution to this problem can't be found - not just for Louis but for all direct manufacturers, many of whom have great products. I tried for a month to find someone in NYC with Omegas to no avail and ended up moving on despite the raves...30-day trials are a hassle for me as an apartment dweller with no doorman; Louis offered to ship them with a courier, but the round trip expense for shipping and the hassle of planning around my unpredictable work schedule just wasn't worth it. Swing and miss with two or three manufacturers and suddenly you're out several hundred dollars with nothing to show for it.
At RMAF in 2014 I spoke briefly about this problem with Clayton Shaw, who's in a similar boat with Spatial (which is another source of great sounding product sold directly) and suggested that the direct sellers pool funds to invest in several "listening commons" spaces – 2 or 3 acoustically treated sound rooms strategically placed in regional target markets where people could arrange to hear independently-made gear under proper conditions. As we can see from this thread, and by the success of events like DecFest, people appear to be willing to travel a reasonable distance to listen to gear – particularly if they can hear a "shootout" among several competing products. It would be instructive for manufacturers to see what they're up against and a much better experience for folks on both sides than the cattle calls the audio shows have become...
Start with a pilot program in the NE – NYC, Boston, or DC, for example – and build from there. Cooperative ownership (shares in the space) could offset construction costs and rent...I've not worked out the economics, but I'd bet it would be feasible if you got 10-12 businesses interested...
Clayton loved the idea, but nothing ever came of it...to me it seems like a no brainer, at least on the surface.