Handling Heavy Amps

I’ve reached an age where I can see backward and forward in the hobby and begin to navigate to a lighter footprint. Precipitating factor: the wife announced she will no longer help me move my equipment. It’s like the bargaining phase of grief: learning to live without LF extension.

First to go is speakers >100 lbs. Too clumsy to transport or box and ship for re-sale, not to mention the diminished used market for large-format speakers. Where does all this big iron end up-- on the island of lost toys?

Amplifiers >100 lbs. survive in my system for now owing to their compact form factor relative to gigantic speakers-- provided that the amp has handles for symmetrical lifts. The sheer genius of Nelson Pass in this regard... and good reason to stay fit with free weights.

The improvements in the latest Class D products beckon. I’m exhausted by Class A: the weight of the huge output transformers, the heat, the sourcing of tubes from foreign countries I will never visit...

A large vinyl collection is an even bigger albatross. The lightness of being of high-quality digital servers and streamers is compelling. And the elimination of all physical media except for an ipad is an excellent excuse for spending more time on the couch. Ripping and dumping my large CD collection was so easy... I should have never gotten out of vinyl in the mid-80s. But now, saying goodbye to all that reacquired vinyl would be like losing a true friend twice,,.

Questions that bear heavily: How many more home relocations? When to downsize? At what point does the equipment churn end? Is it fair to burden the next generation with the accumulated weight of a system that means nothing to them?

The dream could end with an old fart in headphones...sitting next to his grandson in earbuds.

I just purchased a pair of 83 pound mono blocks. I tried putting them on top of my cabinet and about hurt myself, so now they are sitting on pieces of granite and there are furniture movers underneath. I can move them when needed without to much trouble and without giving myself a hernia.

I got out of vinyl in the late 90s. Then started ripping CDs to my MacBook a feed year later. I have half a terabyte of music on my MacBook at the moment. Now I’m getting a really nice streamer that will also support me adding up to 16 terabytes of SSD disk. I’ll start with One. Then move my library there. I feel so light not having all those physical CDs. Now I’m into streaming so will not be buying many CDs anymore. But I don’t want a lot of heavy audio equipment. My Harbeth C7s weigh 29 lbs. When it arrives my Aurender Streamer is 29lbs  I think of it as the turntable system in my all digital system. My MSB DAC 19lbs and my current amp the AHB2 is 12 lbs. All manageable. If I replace the amp I’ll go no more than 40lbs. From what I’ve heard and researched very high end amp sound doesn’t necessarily equate with large heavy behemoths. 
 

Beautiful High Efficiency OB Speakers very very easy to manage as an alternative type Speaker.

Mr Nixie - STC - ll Power Amp, unbelievable Amp for the volume, do not be fooled by its size, there are much more valuable and highly rated Amp's that this one has Superseded in others systems. It has also been used as a Active Amp in Speaker designs.

CDP, Streamers and DAC's are to be found almost Hand Size and weighing in under 1Kg.

A TT can be found as very lightweight structure using the modern materials selected to control transfer of energy.

I myself have reduced from 9 Stone (58Kg) Plinth on a TT, to a Plinth produced from a more commonly seen material for such purposes that weighs less than 1 Stone (6Kg)

A Support Structure can be a Light Weight Wall Mounted Shelve produced for the purpose to support Audio Equipment.

These are the types of things needing to be considered if wanting Music in the home to a certain level of replay as the years and best of health are behind us, I am slowly making change and acclimatising to the notion, my wonderful long term owned commission built devices will be somebody else's pleasure, 'maybe' ?

Ancient Astronaut Theorists say that the megaton stones of the great Pyramids, Easter Island and Stonehenge were floated and put place with sound waves.

Might be worth checking in to? Probably should put your neighbors on notice before implementing this plan. Someone’s floating Sub-Zero frig could be quite disturbing.