Most economical way to ship large speakers?

I recently ordered some speakers (Focal Auria 926) via an Audiogon purchase.

We (seller and I) decided to ship via Team Worldwide for a few reasons:

1. Care and hand delivery.

2. Full insurance.

3. Neither of us trusted Fedex Home delivery, UPS etc. to be honest.

4. Cost wasn’t tremendously more for the above reasons (and given price of speakers). ~$400.

They arrived on a pallet, shrink-wrapped and took care in delivering them to my front door - felt I got white glove delivery when they arrived. And they were in pristine condition. 

Personally I felt the shipping cost was worth my peace of mind.

Perhaps food for thought.

=- Michael

If you must ship them make sure they are strapped to pallets and use a highly rated freight company. Stay away from UPS (and FedEx) like kryptonite. They will be rough with your speakers and if they get damaged their claims department is WORST to deal with. They will give you the run around for months and then find any excuse to not pay the claim. I speak from experience.

I would find out who companies like Rockport ,Magico and other high end speaker companies use and go with one of them. Good luck !

Another vote for U Ship! I shipped an 800 pound set of Snell Type A 5's from Pennsylvania to California. It cost the buyer $800.00; a fraction of what other shippers wanted. More importantly is the fact that the hauler was an independent guy (this could be good or bad). He showed up at my house at midnight in January. It was freezing! He had a 30 foot trailer that pulled with a pick up truck. I was leery of this set up BUT he strapped the five cartons to the sidewall of the trailer and they didn't leave that spot until the delivery destination. That's important as most damage happens when cross docking. They arrived in excellent condition! The hauler did have all paperwork necessary as required by U Ship.

   If you're going to use a trucking company, consider SAIA Trucking. They did an excellent job getting a set of speakers to me that were poorly packed. The shipper didn't put ANY padding on the bottom of the speakers! Still, perfect delivery! AVOID truckers like ESTES. I think they hire gorillas to move their pallets. Also up for consideration is a third party freight broker. The right one can make life easy. I use ECHO Global Logistics. My sales rep is Elizabeth Walker. She's a gem. Good luck. Joe

How economical you want to be isn't worth the cost if the speakers arrive damaged. Its worth to extra cost to make sure they arrive safe and sound. I'll be going palletized from here on out since FedEx doesn't stand behind their insurance.