Handling Heavy Amps

[crwilli]

FedEx and UPS will ship up to 150 lbs.

Above that it needs to go by freight.

However, if the equipment is less than 150lbs but valuable enough, strapping it to a pallet and biting the bullet for freight is the better option.

 

[Cincy2]

You could hire a moving company like "Two Men and a Truck" or a piano moving company. They will move the gear wherever you want.

I have done exactly this multiple times when I needed audio gear moving assistance not related to a purchase. It takes about $250 for two guys for an hour but it is worth every penny. I love heavy metal! When new components are involved our local dealer (Suncoast Audio) always provides in home set up.

Eric

 

[W9TR]

I’ll second the moving company suggestion.

I own the 155# McIntosh MC 602. It’s more than a 2 person lift and I hire help every time I need to move it.

 

[Mike]

Don’t let the concern with heavy amps compromise your sound. That’s why I have the young, strong backs do all the lifting for the installs.

 

[The Sandman]

Heavy amps are merely a small inconvenience compared with heavy speakers…

 

[Bones13]

I chose the Atma-Sphere Class D monoblock amps for similar reasons

 

[nicoff]

I recently replaced a set of mono block amplifiers (90 pounds each) with two amps that weight 12 pounds each (Benchmark AHB2). Quite frankly, I wish that I had done this earlier.
The new amps are lighter and take a lot less room. More importantly, their much lower noise-floor results in measurable better dynamics and sound clarity. A user may still prefer having a big box or a certain brand to match the rest of the equipment, but that does not mean that he is getting better sound.

 

[steve59]

my dealer sells finished tree stumps that are several inches tall and places amps on those on the floor. I use a computer tabletop cut to size with amps safely on those, not as trippy as tree stumps growing out of the carpet, but functional and virtually invisible when looking at the system. only needing to lift and slide 1 half at a time isn't too bad and allows us to remove the weight restriction from the process.

 

[SH55]

Last year I switched from Fourier Panteres (huge Class A OTL mono's taking 600 Watts (230 Volts) per hour per channel when idling) to Viola Fortes. The Violas with their A/B circuit take only a fraction of the room and watts. I think the Viola's, I never switch off, are soundwise (also) top tier amp's and have plenty of power to my taste. Small is beautiful.

 

[Hounddog]

I have a guy from the construction crew that renovated my house who is an audiophile without a budget. He's been interested and willing and is very careful with the equipment. I pay him well just to make sure he comes back when needed. It's an issue though without help or a smaller/lighter form factor.

 

[mulveling]

VAC 200iQ tube monos were a PITA. Just over 100 lbs each, NO handles or grips, and front-heavy with their transformers. Awkward little high-gravity 16" cubes you have to crouch ALL the way down for, to get hands underneath. An then...my horrible death stairs. TWICE. As I get older, I don't want to do deal with that again. The Master 300's are ~ 135 lbs each - and though they do have a "handle" area, I'll be exclusively using hired help (or dealer) for them.

If you are moving stuff, gets some nice grippy Ironclad gloves. They help in all cases, but especially with the grip of cardboard boxes. I learned that far too late!

That said, I'm rather impressed by UPS's handling when I shipped one of 'em off. VAC's packing is perfect - 3" thick of closed-cell foam on every side. That's exactly what you need for the heavy stuff: lots of closed-cell foam. Double or triple wall boxes. I scheduled UPS pickup at home (well worth the $13 service charge!). Amp arrived at destination perfectly, though I made the mistake of separately packing tubes in a much smaller box for the same pickup. THAT box got partially crushed at some point in transit, though (somehow) the tubes were OK. If you do this, make sure to drop off the tubes separately.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

VAC 200iQ tube monos were a PITA. Just over 100 lbs each, NO handles or grips, and front-heavy with their transformers.

Good idea on the grippy gloves.

The Aries-Cerat integrated I have here now is 168 lbs and the DAC is almost 100 lbs!

I live by a moving dolly and floor sliders of call kinds.

 

[Randy Myers]

You possibly need a dealer that offers more services.

Good Luck
Brad

Which is all great except many people live in areas where there is no good local audio dealers available. Wichita is a good example. About everything else is available here except good audio. Even the Best Buys are not Magnolia's. I seen much smaller cities than 700,000 population that live in this area that had very nice audio stores. I have to drive 3+ hours to the closes dealer. Luckily McIntosh had a KC dealer take care of my issues when I got a new amplifier. They actually paid the dealer to deliver to my house a few hours away. This is not a service I can expect going forward.

 

[Randy Myers]

Don’t let the concern with heavy amps compromise your sound. That’s why I have the young, strong backs do all the lifting for the installs.

It would be nice if your store was near all of us Mike ... Unfortunately, many of us live in areas where we do not have access to your kind of fantastic service!