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Audio Discussions
Topic: To move audio equipment in another home.

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Posted by Romy the Cat on 02-08-2010
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I would like to say bye-bye to the readers of this site as it is highly possible that my site will be closed soon for a few years. If my new house buying ceremony will sail at the end of this month then I will most likely kill one or two workers who will be moving me. This will lead to a few years on jail from where I will not be able to support this site.

I have been taking with few moving companies and recognize that one is more moronic then another and I truly do not feel comfortable to trust them to move me. The rest of my non-audio object they can mode fine but with audio object I do have problems. I have heard many horror stories about movers. There are some items that will not trust anybody to move but and will do it myself but some of my things are insanely heavy and need to be handles by professional movers.

So, any of audio guys have any do and don’ts tips for moving of audio equipment by moving companies?

The Cat

Posted by JJ Triode on 02-08-2010
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My main comment is the observation that moving company employees like to get tipped, the more extortionate the better.  So, offer them outrageous tips, say 20% of the company's bill, but ONLY if everything is handled as you wish it.  Of course you will have to be present for both loading and unloading.  While the companies may be moronic, the individual employees may have some intelligence, so try to explain to them what you have and why it has to be handled carefully.  We once got moved by a company that employed a bunch of Israelis, God knows why they were moving Goyim around the USA but maybe that is how they earn foreign exchange.  I think they even ran the company, Mayer Moving out of NY or something like that.  One guy was Jamaican but the Israelis had got him pretty well koshered.  A very smart, almost paramilitary outfit, I think they could handle "special" jobs.

Posted by Amir on 02-09-2010
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I decided to leave audio for all the time.
I put my time on a better subject that do not relate to Audio.


Posted by paul williams on 02-09-2010
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Get two companies - one for the general household goods & one that specialises in piano's and the like - they are used to dealing with both difficult items & obsessive owners ;-)

Other companies would be those that specialise in delicate industrial or medical equipment, there should be some in the phone book.

Paul

Posted by Romy the Cat on 02-09-2010
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 paul williams wrote:
Get two companies - one for the general household goods & one that specialises in piano's and the like - they are used to dealing with both difficult items & obsessive owners ;-)

Other companies would be those that specialise in delicate industrial or medical equipment, there should be some in the phone book.

Well, I did interview people who “shall” care. I spoke with a few teams from our local Berklee College of Music. Then I have learned that besides a desire to do job it need be also an experience to move the things. I do not feel comfortable with semi-pro students, even if they claimed “did over 50 jobs”. To move a sofa across a bridge from Boston to Cambridge it is not the same as what I am planning to do.

I also interviewed the companies that specialize on the moving of “museum rarity”.  I was not impressed with them. They have theories of super packing the things but it is not what I looking. The pros are very confident about what they do but I do not give damn about their demonstration of own professionalism. Instead I am looking the movers who would be able to suppress own egos and follow my own instructions. I want them do not rush and I want them literally to ask me “HOW I WOULD LIKE” a given box or a given piece of equipment to move, before they even pick it up.

I very much do not deny the obsessive nature of my job, in fact it is how I present myself to the movers when I talked to them. But, hey, if I am WILLING to pay them for the explicitly SLOW move with insisting of multiple SLOW trips then do you think I have a point?

The problem with audio move is that movers do not know the specific of the items that they move and they need to ask how to move the items. I have no time to explain to them that Vibroplans might be lifted but when it is on ground then no sliding allowed. I do not want to explain to them that amps need to be lifted only from specific position and hands need to be applied only in a certain way. I am not will be able to explain to them that a given box has DHT tubes with very fragile 70 years old filaments and that a stress might not break the tubes but will shatter the heaters. I cannot explain to them that my LPs need to be cared in alphabetical order and that they are grouped by instrument of the concertos and by the name of performers. I will not be able to explain to them that tuners are aligned, have very fragile parts in them and a simple shaking of a tuner will drop the tuner sensitivity. I do not want to watch them how they put my equipment on floor – most of them lower it to an inch or two from floor then drop it….

There are silicon small things like this and I would like to make my own decisions HOW the things shall be moved. I would like be able to delegate my wish how to move the things and to insist that it will be followed.

The Cat

Posted by jessie.dazzle on 02-09-2010
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I'll be optimistic, and say that I too will one day be moving. Here's how I plan to do it; this solution is obviously not for everyone:

The principle here is to not box or crate anything heavy, but to use the floor of the truck, wasting a lot of space, and making several trips.

1) Take 3 weeks off from work and schedule professional movers to move all normal household goods on the 3rd week. 

2) Buy a bunch of pallets, several sheets of 2-3" thick insulation faom (the cheap blue stuff from Home Depot), a large roll of shrink wrap (transparent plastic wrap available at Costco) and soft shock-absorbing rubber mats; the sort that factory workers have under their feet (the ones with holes are best)

http://www.commercialmatsandrubber.com/Kitchen-Restaurant-Mats-c6.html
http://www.rubber-mats.co.uk/rubber_matting_uses.html

3) Lay rubber mats on pallets; they will protect, and do an amazing job of preventing heavy objects from sliding around (tested).

4) Load everything onto pallets; no stacking and no crowding of audio equipment on the pallets; horns go mouth down... Get friends or pay for help. If you don't have the space in your current house to put everything on pallets, do it in phases.

5) Rent a large truck with a power tailgate and a pallet jack... Plan on renting them for a week.

6) Line interior walls of truck with foam boards

7) Load pallets using power tailgate and pallet jack (if you don't have experience with this sort of thing, you may want to recruit experienced help, which should not be difficult). No stacking in the truck! Use only the floor, leaving space around the objects, using cut pieces of foam between pallets to block them in place. Again, the philosophy here is to avoid boxing or crating of anything heavy; you've rented the truck for a week and will be making several trips.

Somewhere back in step 4, you will have used the shrink wrap to protect objects from rubbing against the foam boards placed against the walls of the truck.

6) Reverse the process at the other end... This may be tricky, as the new place may not offer the ease of access of a ground floor that your current place has... In this case, unload all pallets to the garage, return the truck and get help moving the objects one by one, into the house.

There's nothing quite like pizza and beer to motivate help.

jd*


Posted by Paul S on 02-09-2010
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I have been involved in moving several galleries and a museum and I can tell you it's all about the people, as opposed to how the company they work for bills itself.  Big donors would have heart attacks if they saw how stuff gets tossed around and jumbled together.

Jessie is correct about "wasting floor space" and taking more trips to facilitate this.  My idea is to start the stuff where you think it will wind up, to preclude shifting around while transporting.  Stuff does need to be tied off and wedged into the floor space however, to keep it from tipping, falling or sliding around.

I also agree with taking one's time and regularly feeding the crew; but based on experience I recommend holding off on alcohol until the work is done.  And by taking one's time I mean moment-to-moment and short-ish days, as well.  Most silliness and damage happens when folks get tired and/or rushed.

Boxes are available that exactly fit an LP jacket. Small, tightly packed boxes is the way to go with LPs.  The right boxes can be labeled, stacked and "trucked" safely.  It takes a long time to pack the LPs, so start on that well before you plan to move.

One of the keys to "successful" moving, IMO, is to have plenty of "overlap" time, where you have full access to both dwellings during the move.  A week is the minimum to move a household, IMO.

Best regards,
Paul S

Posted by Romy the Cat on 02-09-2010
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Jessie, you know it is sometimes disgusting to read your posts. In some cases you write posts that are one to one with what I would write and if not correct spelling then I would swear that it was written by me. A few days back, talking with a guy and describing to him how I would like to have my move organized I used the same concepts and even the same words as you did.  I thigh that I am unique in my mania! My ego is hurt!

JJ Triode, yes, I am do not mind to give let say $100 per person extra to the movers if it assure that they will obey what I say. I am not sure however how to configure this agreement. I hate people who declare their intention of giving big tips if the job gone well. In my view that insults people who respect what they do. In my photography business when people tell me from the start that I will be getting a “big tip” I have a strong aspiration to walk out of the job. So, I do not want to shoot myself in foot by creepy flashing a promise of the “big tip”.

I recently spoke with people from Intelligent Moving Company. They are a small three-crew moving company located in Cambridge, MA.

http://www.intelligentlabor.com/

Interesting that after informing to the owner of the company my “demand” he did not find my demands idiotic (like others did). He even told me that if I do not remove tubes from my amps then I might damage the tube sockets during the move. After speaking with a number of other companies when people asked me “What does it mean thousands of LP records?” I feel very positive with this Intelligent Moving Company… Might be it would be it?

The Cat

Posted by scooter on 02-09-2010
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Good points.

Romy, you can throw as much money at this problem as you like but you need to face the reality that some of your gear is going to get trashed in a move.

If I were you, would make a quick list of the stuff that needs to be moved, noting things like:

* size (e.g. can you move it alone)

* delicacy

* value to you (e.g. do you care if it gets trashed or is it difficult/expensive to replace)

Items that meet a threshold (e.g. you can move, delicate, valuable to you) need to be segregated. Buy some boxes and a ton of styrofoam peanuts and start packing. If I were in your shoes, that would include things like the amps, placette, tu-x1, turntables, dac's, tubes, etc. Then rent a truck some saturday and move this stuff yourself before the movers get a chance to touch the gear. Rent storage for a month if you need an intermediate place to put this stuff.

Process would be easier if you could convince some local people to help; I would be glad to help you for a day in exchange for lunch.

Once this stuff is out of the way, you can focus your efforts and the specialists' efforts on moving a few tough items, lowering the probability of gear damage.

S

Posted by Romy the Cat on 02-09-2010
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scooter,

actually this is something what I am planning to do: to have a few selected items that I will moive myself in my car and then let the rest to be move in by movers. The place is not far from Back Bay. It is West Woburn, right equidistant between Winchester, Lexington and Burlington- 30 minutes drive from Back Bay if no traffic. The box with tubes, the tuners, transport, box with tonearms, tweeters, phonostage (with very vulnerable air capacitors) I will load in my car and will drive very slowly myself. If to look slowly then there is not so many super vulnerable objects and they are not so heavy. I think the rest will do OK with good movers if I watch HOW they do it.

Rgs, Romy

Posted by Paul S on 02-09-2010
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The one thing I forgot for 1 minute was my TT, and I forgot to set the "transit' screws that take the weight of the platter off the (saphire) thrust bearing while moving the TT.  Oops!  I used the subsequent trip back to Sota to up-date the platter and vacuum seal while the the bearing was replaced, so I guess you could say it turned out OK.  OTOH, I really wish I'd either set the transit screws or schlepped the TT myself.

Paul S

Posted by twogoodears on 02-10-2010
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Hey Roman... did you notice that on the Intelligent Movers' truck, on the right star on the side, there is "something" which reminds to a... tuner?
... they sure are the "right" company;-)
Good luck. 

Posted by Romy the Cat on 02-16-2010
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I am trying to find out how to move Koshka. I hate cages, she hate cars. Usually what I move her I wrap her in blanket. This way she is immobilized, otherwise she would attack people outside of her home – almost my personality! She most certainly will harass the movers and I know it will be ugly. Well, I kind of like it but I do not think that they will be happy when Koshka will eat them alive. So, decided to treat her as luggage and to pack her. Over the years we play a game when I call you each week with different name. Today I officially nominated her as “Koshka the Luggage” She does not reply to any of her names  but I do….

PackingTheKoshka.jpg

Romy The Cat

Posted by Romy the Cat on 03-27-2010
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Between remodeling of the house, planning and managing contracting events, packing my old house, moving my storages… I am working for 18 hours per day and have absolutely no time/strengths even to read my site. In 3 days all frustrations will be over and bye- bye the Back Bay and bye- bye Boston, I can’t wait!!!! I also purely accidently found a NEW very interesting person who might help me with my midbass project…  I would proceed it right the way but the  preparing the house as is for my demands (so much need to be done!!!) and moving is so dam difficult that I would need some time to calm down….

The caT

Posted by Romy the Cat on 03-31-2010
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As much as everyone made me to fear the moving company and their people I have to tell that I had a phenomenal experience during my move. I hired the Intelligent Moving Company from Cambridge that I have mentioned above. It was 3 people with 27 feet track; they have been doing it for 12 years. They really know what they doing and the attitude they had was superbly pleasing. The people actually had fun to move my “abnormal” stuff. Very-very pleasant experience and when I will need heavy lifting to slide my midbass hone to attic I will call them again.

The Cat

Posted by Romy the Cat on 02-17-2011
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It was truly a horrifying night and I have no idea where it came from. I woke up absolutely broken with horrible pain in all body.  I presume that it was inspired by my two recent site post:

 Romy the Cat wrote:
Last two week I was slowly playing with my analog setup. Since it will be more or less permanent setup, well as permanent as anything else in our life, I would like to do it once and never do it again.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
I can only sympathies with Kevin, to move with all of it truly difficult…

… but why Baltimore?

This nigh I had a horrible dream that I need to move to Baltimore, Maryland? I woke up with disgust 20 times over this night and 20 times in my dream I return to unscrewing some kind of bolts and packing some household and audio things into moving boxes. When I woke up I felt great that it was not what I was doing but I knew that when I go back to sleep that this nightmare will come back to me. A truly ugly night and I am truly a certifiable psycho.

Leaving fun of being psycho aside I was searching in the darkest corners of my subconscious why it was Baltimore. I have absolutely nothing in common with Baltimore. I never was there. Well, I remember that when I drove to Washington DC, from Phila I did see Baltimore from Rt. 95 but it was about it. In the same way I saw many other US cities, so why Baltimore?

Anyhow, that was a full scale screw up night… God, please, do not make me to move again…..

The Cat

Posted by zako on 02-17-2011
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Deborah and I have decided,,,We would not pack anything,,,Just set fire to everything,,,walk away,,,And start over again,,,First taking a seat at the Londen Symphony concert,,Then Berlin,,Then Moscow symphony,,THEN !!!!!!!!

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