shipping speakers

You wouldnt believe the nightmare Im going through right now. Nothing is safe in transit the guys that load the stuff at ups are way under paid. You think they care how they toss this stuff on a trailer? Be carefull and pick a courier you can trust.

I just got my Wilson Sophia 2's.---One had a forklift tip go through the wood crate.(on the way from Wilson) ---So, shipping speakers can be hazardous to the speaker----no matter how well it's packed. I prefer to buy or sell tube amps and speakers;local. Brand new, at least the dealer and factory will stand behind me--i.e. they get to do the tap-dance with the shipper.

I've been on the receiving end of 2 speaker shipments that UPS damaged. Both were under-packaged in my opinion, but had obviously had been severely dropped. One is a Rel Storm, which was packaged at a UPS Store were destroyed, and they honored the insurance claim. The other was a set of Rega Ela mkII's shipped in the original cartons. They had the plinths split free from the enclosure, but were repairable.

I successfully shipped a pair of Paradigm 7seIII's using UPS only because they were overweight for Fedex. They were packaged in the original Mfg shipping cartons, PLUS I packaged these cartons inside another box surrounded by 3-4" of styro peanuts packed tightly. As I said, they arrived safely, but I was prepared for the possibility UPS found a way to destroy them too.

Finally, I have received small monitor shipments that were delivered un-scathed. Small things seem to do better.

If you want to insure proper handling for anything larger than monitors or subs, or ANY electronics, don't use ground shipping from anybody! Use a reputable airfreight company (even FedEx.)

For example, I shipped a pair of ARC M300 MkII tube amps (2- 2x2x2 foot double walled original ARC boxes, 120# ea.) by FedEx "Express Saver" (3-day airfreight) from Tucson to Dallas, including $6000 insurance, for a little over $330. FedEx Ground would have been $260. So what's the big deal!? They arrived promptly, not a scratch or dent, and FedEx overnighted the COD cashiers check they collected back to me for another $4.50

Most buyers have no problem spending an additional 5 - 10 percent of the value of their purchase for the best and fastest air shipping. And, if there ever is a problem, airfreight claims seem to get resolved with less hassle.

Another tip (even with airfreight) is: use crates and/or pallets whenever possible, even with small stuff. And ALWAYS use them whenever sending two of something (speakers). Again, the additional cost is negligable, and it automatically requires more careful handling and less stacking.

Otherwise, avoid ground shipping unless the item is very cheap, or very indestructable (like a big isolation transformer or something.)

Original boxes are not necessarily the best way to ship. I had a pair of Thiel 2.2's that were damaged in shipment to me precisely because they were shipped in the original boxes. The boxes, as built, completely depended on a glued brace to keep the speakers in place and the way the brace was built into the box almost guaranteed that the leverage generated by any side pressure would break it off. That's what happened and both speakers spent their cross-country ride sloshing around inside the boxes, arriving with dinged corners all around.

On the other hand, I received a pair of ProAc monitors that had been shipped in a professionally packed, foam-lined box that is substantially better suited for individual shipping than the original boxes, which sometimes are designed to be good enough if strapped to a pallet but not if left to the mercy of being tossed around individually.