Did you ever end up owning speakers so heavy and large that you cannot possibly move them?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by MonkeyMan, Jul 20, 2021.

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  1. MonkeyMan

    MonkeyMan A man who dreams he is a butterfly? Thread Starter

    Don't get me wrong, I do love my Tannoys. But, I couldn't move them if my life depended on it. So, experimentation with placement is impossible once the dealer and piano movers finish setting them up. I know, I know... 1st World Problem :wave:
     
  2. Tone?

    Tone? Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Ha nope.

    hit the weights dude.

    lol
     
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  3. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Yeah, but they weren't Tannoys. :laugh: My first stereo was a Magnavox console in two pieces with a turntable in one part and record storage in another. It probably was from about 1968 and my mom bought it for me for $30 in 1978, I was 14 at the time. I used the built-in turntable until it died and then hooked up a Realistic turntable to it. It was great because you could actually place the dual units far enough apart to get a good stereo image, unlike most console stereos which were one unit. The speakers were huge and were the envy of all my friends. I had them in a room on the third floor of our house and I played those things LOUD. It sounded like a concert hall. When we moved from Vermont to Georgia in 1982 I had to leave them, too little space on the moving truck and there was no place in the much smaller house we were moving to for them. I just left it there, who knows what happened to it. In actual fact it probably wasn't as good as my memory makes it, but it was better than the Panasonic Thrusters that most of my friends had. :laugh:
     
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  4. russk

    russk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Honestly I could not imagine owning speakers bigger than my Cornwalls. 100lbs a piece and they take up a lot of space.
     
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  5. C10

    C10 eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die

    Location:
    Sonoma County, CA
    Put them on gliders or furniture dollies until you get the positioning dialed.
     
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  6. motorstereo

    motorstereo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ct.
    Lots of big speakers have come and gone here and I was always able to wrestle them into position alone. Handtruck, furniture dollies and a bearhug on my mains is what has worked well for this old guy. Now going up a flight of stairs is another story and I normally need an extra pair of hands.
     
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  7. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    Yup, 230#
    [​IMG]
     
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  8. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    No. I’ve moved refrigerators, cabinets, furniture and a 58in Panasonic plasma tv in and out of a few houses with flights of stairs. I could never imagine owning speakers that could be larger, Javier a or more challenging to move than those examples.

    Said differently, there aren’t many speakers I couldn’t manage to move. Also, I’ve not heard a pair of speakers that weigh more than 120lbs that I would want to and could afford to bring home. Drivers don’t weigh that much, I don’t have a room the size of an auditorium, if a speaker is more than roughly 120lbs there is some unnecessary weight going on with the cabinets.
     
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  9. B. Scarpia

    B. Scarpia WatchingYouWatchingMe

    Location:
    WNC
    100lbs. surprised me so I looked it up and, sure enough, Klipsch lists the weight at 98lbs. I was surprised because my MDF 4 Pi's are about 60lbs. I had no idea the Cornwalls were so much bigger, they're enormous! 8 Cubic feet, like the big Altecs designed for the 416 woofer!
     
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  10. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Cornwall are 35 x 29 x 16 @ 98 lbs.

    Tannoy are 55 x 38 x 22 @ 304 lb’s ?

    An extra 20” in hight and 9” in width is substantial but an increase of 200 lb’s is crazy. I think speakers that cost 50k a pair need to come in at an unreasonable weight for people to feel like they got something. And obviously the cabinet work is amazing, a pig part of the cost and the weight.
     
  11. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    Well my REL sub comes in at 132 lbs and it's dimensions make it difficult to hold and I can confirm I can't move it very far.:laugh:
     
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  12. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    [​IMG];)
    Couldn't even get these in the house! ;)
     
  13. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    Revel claimed there 4 way crossovers had 40 pounds of copper in each.
    Nothing like simplicity eh.
     
  14. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    That’s kind of my point. In some weird way it’s worked out that super expensive speakers need to be crazy heavy. Loading up a cabinet with lead weight would probably be a bad PR move but 40lbs of copper also gets the job done. I mean really, that’s a lot of copper to make a speaker work.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  15. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    Well, cabinets are often made big and heavy to have resolving bass down to a very low frequency, similar to a good sub.
    LOL, when the Revel Salon 1's were first introduced the local dealer was given the three separate crossovers that were within the Salons for display, I don't doubt there was forty pounds of copper there, they were huge.
     
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  16. gakerty

    gakerty Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    My Legacy Signatures are 105 lbs each, and while not unmovable they sure as hell make me think twice about any position adjustments. I can walk them to where I need. Brings the question, how often are you guys moving your speakers? Once you've found the optimal position, just leave them there.
     
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  17. TommyTunes

    TommyTunes Senior Member

    My Wilson’s are 260lb each nuff said
     
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  18. roverb

    roverb Forum Resident

    Location:
    603
    what are they? they look quite nice!
     
  19. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    Altec Voice of the Theater A 7. I had them for decades but decided to update when I moved about 10 years ago. I like my new speakers, but I do sometimes regret letting them go.
     
  20. TheVinylAddict

    TheVinylAddict Look what I found

    Location:
    AZ
    I have an interesting pair of speakers from a weight to size / footprint perspective.

    Dimensions: 18" W x 30"H x 16" D

    With only 30" height, you wouldn't expect 110 lbs a piece.

    Standing next to them, given the size, you'd probably think "no problem" until you give them a lift.

    When I bought them, I was 56 years young, and recall the seller and the person with me being impressed how I was able to manhandle them myself... but honestly three years later, they feel a lot heavier at 59! And they're getting heavier as I look at them....

    I was visiting Cali and found them on CL.... and there was actually a person with me that I met here on SHF when I bought them. That was summer 2018, three years ago now. Where does the time go.
     
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  21. oktapod

    oktapod Forum Resident

    Back in late 2012 I had a nasty accident and broke my left arm in at least 7 places (surgeon described it as 'mush' and I had a 5+ hour reconstruction and ended up with 12 plates and various huge bone screws etc.). Anyway, to cheer myself up I bought a pair of active ATC 100 tower speakers, which arrived early in the new year in massive coffin-like crates. And I was on my own, at home. Still signed off. The delivery drivers unloaded the bloody things in my front garden, and left me to deal with them.

    Somehow, I managed to move two 100kg-ish wooden crates indoors, unpack them and set the speakers up with one good arm, a defective (and still healing) second arm, and a lot of stubborn. Yep, I nearly ended myself doing that, but they were great once I unloaded them. Stupid, me, but also helluva impatient.

    They were good speakers too. Outside of ESL57s (which are better at low and medium volumes), the ATCs were the best speakers I'd owned until I got my current ones, which are better. Kept the ATCs for about three years, then sold them for more than I paid for them new. It's a weird old world. The bloke I sold them to had a room that was barely big enough for standmounts, but he really wanted Big Old Active ATCs, and was delighted when I drove them the 600 mile round trip as part of the sale deal (he paid diesel on top, good lad).

    My current speakers - Tannoy - are wider but quite a bit lighter than the ATCs, though at nearly 40Kg each they're still far from portable....
     
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  22. MaxBuck

    MaxBuck Forum Resident

    Location:
    La Quinta, CA
    Give me another five years and I figure I won't be able to lift my R11s.
     
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  23. DPM

    DPM Senior Member

    Location:
    Nevada, USA
    At 250 pounds each my current loudspeakers are by far the heaviest I've owned. They aren't huge vis a vis their physical dimensions, but they are dense. The dealer who sold them to me also delivered and installed them--which necessitated him and his son hauling them up to my second floor via the outdoor stairway to my deck.

    Since then I've been able to move them myself by either walking them or by placing a folded towel underneath and sliding them. However, if I ever move from this house I will need extra help to get the beasts back down to ground level and into their crate and then the moving truck.
     
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  24. Mike-48

    Mike-48 A shadow of my former self

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Similar situation to @DPM. I can move my JL subs (~100 lb) around my music room, and likewise my former Revel Ultima Studios (~150 lb). Packed, that becomes about 110 lb a side and 165 lb a side, and I definitely can't move anything that heavy up the stairs without help. At least, not safely.
     
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  25. Gibsonian

    Gibsonian Forum Resident

    Location:
    Iowa, USA
    I have 126 lb HPM200's in the upstairs and 190 lb homebrews downstairs in the mancave. The HPM's I never move, the homemade speakers are on carts so I can move them easily and lock them in place as well. I would make some dollies if you want to move them on occasion without help.

    Nothing wrong with heavy and thick panels, heavy cast frame drivers and large magnets. My homebrews are 1.5 to 2.25" thick birch plywood with 2 x 4" bracing inside of that. My crossovers are in their own little boxes outside of the cabinets, they weigh more than many bookshelves. Wilson goes all out, why not me?
     
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