Who has experience shipping large speakers?

Yes when you have to ship stuff that is over 150 pounds, it is expensive. There is no cheap solution. ABS seems to have the best rates and I've had very positive experiences with them. Even items that aren't that heavy but longer than average like projection screens are very expensive.

Yes my speakers (300lbs each packaged) had to be shipped via
freight carrier. It was Overnight Freight. $550 back in 1995.
Pretty wild to see an 18-wheeler pull up to my door. I must
say they did an outstanding job. The boxes didn't have a mark
on them, and these were two refrigerator-sized boxes! Seems
like UPS can't get that type of performance with a 20lb CDP.

Check with a local dealer and see who they use.

Try BAX Global - reasonable and they took great care when I shipped with them.

BAX Global is another Great Shipping company for Large
Speakers, Never had a Problem with them

I third Bax Global great carrier and good price.

Shipped two sets of goliath Klipsch speakers with ABS, not a nick to the boxes or speakers. Styrofoam inside the boxes was un-cracked, too. Both pairs of speakers were shipped on wooden pallets - I suggest you send palleted as well at this weight.

I would try Ocean Air. They are reasonable and they are the main carrier used by Krell; and we know their stuff is heavy.

By the way:
About 11 years ago, I bought my B&W800's. They were shipped from Mass. to CA., FEDEX second day air. The shipment weighed 768 pounds. I can't imagine what the cost was, but the COD cost next to nothing.

Richard

I shipped a SoundLab speaker crated in a 3/4 plywood by Bax. It weighed in at about what your speakers weigh and cost less than $100. The only problem I had was that they said they wouldn't take a shipment from a private individual, buinesses only. The local manager made an exception for me fortunately.

Stay away from USF. I just had a bad experience with them.

I had a great experience with Yellow Freight (www.myyellow.com). If you can drop off the speakers at a Yellow terminal and get the buyer to pickup the speakers at a Yellow terminal you can get a 40% "yes discount" but you have to specifically ask for it. I've found the biggest concern with the freight companies is insurance! You need to specifically ask each freight company how they insure your speakers & tell them the speakers are not brand new. I've found some companies will only insure by the pound, which isn't enough insurance. Goto their website and call them up for a quote. It's actually pretty simple and wasn't that stressful for a newbee like myself. I've used them two times and each time Yellow used a forlift to remove the speakers from my truck and load them up for free. Good Luck

BAX Global has been recommended to me too for a deal that never ended up happening. Good luck - Arthur

Shipping your large speakers is very complicated. I suggest you call your local high end store (maybe several stores) and ask them who they use. You might want to call the speaker mfg and ask them what shipping company they use. You may also have to pay extra money for packaging and wooden pallets to ensure the speakers arrive okay. This is going to be expensive but very important for the speakers to arrive with no damage. cheers...

Try contacting a moving company. A local, reliable one that has a truck going in that direction should be glad to take it and they will treat it like furniture, not freight. RELIABLE is the operative word. Ask around.