So close, yet so far...

[mkossler]

As the French would say, Le bummer!

I guess you might say I'm a little bit of an Acoustic Research fan (evidenced by the signature below - note we're talking pre-Audiovox here). I've always found them to be accurate and distinct, without the distressing, fatigue-inducing, piercing tweeters that seem to be more common than not these days. Granted, they have always tended to be power-hungry regardless of their efficiency rating, but the rewards are worth it. Just ask any fan that has spent 450.00+ on AR2's that is still using the original drivers (and possibly the same cloth surrounds).

So anyhoo, I've been keeping an eye out for the right pair of AR towers to complement the speakers I have - and along the ol' EBay trail comes a nice pair of AR 312 HO's. An excellent tonal match for what I have, fantastic build quality, just what the doctor ordered. And by the way, virtually unused by a reputable seller. Perfect.

So I watch, bid and win. For 299.00. Yowser. Time to make some real estate available!

Right?

Wrong.

Why? Because as it turns out, in order to get these 80 lb babies to my door in one piece it requires around 300 smackers.

Still no problem, right? I mean, if I really want them, and given the original price, 600.00 is reasonable.

And so it is. Unless you're my wife, that is. The same wife that I sung the praises of my negotiating skills to. The same wife that I challenged to find the same value for one of her toys for the same price.

Whoopsie.

So here I am. No speakers. No sympathy from the wife. Got my money refunded. Hoo-freakin'-ray.

Sorry for the long post.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHhh.

The hunt goes on.

 

[mtrycrafts]

As the French would say, Le bummer!

The same wife that I sung the praises of my negotiating skills to. The same wife that I challenged to find the same value for one of her toys for the same price.

Whoopsie.

.

Yep, woopsie Your money is her money too. Her money, well, that is hers also.

 

[mkossler]

Hah! As far as the money goes, as you said what's mine is hers, and what's hers is hers. The issue is to maintain credibility - I have to ensure that my AV acquisitions don't fall into the same category as her 1000.00 drapes.

 

[corysmith01]

That's a total bummer. But I must admit that I'm confused; $300 for shipping? Are they coming from overseas or something? I sold a pair of ~60lb Boston Acoustics towers and shipped them from VA to CA a few years back, and that set me back about $85. That $300 price seems really high. Did you shop around for shipping options?

 

[mtrycrafts]

...I have to ensure that my AV acquisitions don't fall into the same category as her 1000.00 drapes.

Maybe those drapes can be incorporated in your acoustic space for sound improvement purposes?

 

[deftech]

I am so lucky that my fience (we live together) is very tollerent of my hobby. She actually said "wow, I never knew how important sound is in a movie."
It's kind of funny' I remember when we first discussed living together I told her ht is more than a hobby and I like to buy/trade equipment and have lots of wires all over the place. She knew what she was getting into....

 

[mkossler]

corysmith01, I thought the same thing - I think I paid 35.00 for my 20-39 to be shipped from Ohio, so how much could these be, right?

The 312 HOs weigh ~80 lbs and are 48" tall, around 20" deep, and about a foot wide. 4 inches needs to be added to each of those dimensions at a minimum - and ideally 8 inches, 4 per face. Nobody (Fedex, UPS, etc) had a container pre-made. The cheapest quote we got on the container alone was UPS at 60.00 each for 4 extra inches (not 8).

By the way, this isn't part of the galloping tale of woe, but you always want to cover the 12" driver on the side and the front drivers with strong cardboard and then wrap them in cellophane wrap so that a sudden fall and the resulting compression cannot damage the drivers. That's a big problem with heavy speakers and larger drivers.

So at the end of the day, the cheapest safely shipped estimate was 149.00 per speaker, insured. This was from a private shipper. And the insurance was trivial.

I dunno, maybe I'm dealing with the wrong shippers / people. But here I am, no speakers and a PayPal balance surplus.

 

[Seth=L]

You could have done a local pickup depending one where they were.

 

[jonnythan]

You got screwed on those shipping charges.

I sent a pair of 42-lb SCUBA tanks across the country (Florida to NY) in one box for $50 total.

 

[mkossler]

Good point. I have tried, and continue to try, looking locally. Local pickup would have been in Worcester MA, and I'm in Savannah GA. A year ago, I was living in Mystic CT and the trip would have been a no-brainer. These days time is at a premium, and like Jack Aubrey told Stephen Maturin, there is no time for my d*mned hobbies.

I do want to be clear here. A significant part of the cost was in making sure that the speakers could not be damaged in shipping. If I were shipping a pair of scuba tanks, assuming I removed the valves, regulators etc. I would be relatively unconcerned about the packing. This would not be the case with (semi-)vintage speakers that could not be easily replaced if damaged.

Ideally, the package dimensions would be 56x20x24 each, to provide maximum protection. It's an architypical engineering equation - to reduce risk to zero, one must increase the design margin correspondingly, and the cost to do so is generally an exponential, asymptotic curve. I could have had them wrapped in cardboard, and rolled the dice. Problem is, when I have gambled in the past I have almost always ended up crapping out.

 

[jonnythan]

It's not that big a deal. It's not as hard as you think it is.

Call airlines at your local airport. Southwest, Delta, etc, all have affordable and very good cargo services. They are excellent at handling fragile items and it's fairly cheap.

BTW, the ideal way to ship items like this is to securely fasten them together and ship them as a single unit.

 

[darien87]

Good point. I have tried, and continue to try, looking locally. Local pickup would have been in Worcester MA, and I'm in Savannah GA. A year ago, I was living in Mystic CT and the trip would have been a no-brainer. These days time is at a premium, and like Jack Aubrey told Stephen Maturin, there is no time for my d*mned hobbies.

Not to mention the cost of gas for a trip like that. I don't know what it is for you there in Georgia, but here in the Bay Area, we're paying about $3.30!!!

"Galloping tale of woe"??? That cracked me up dude.

 

[mkossler]

It's not that big a deal. It's not as hard as you think it is.

Call airlines at your local airport. Southwest, Delta, etc, all have affordable and very good cargo services. They are excellent at handling fragile items and it's fairly cheap.

BTW, the ideal way to ship items like this is to securely fasten them together and ship them as a single unit.

That's interesting. I wasn't aware of Air Freight services from the major carriers. We (my employer, Gulfstream Aerospace) have a relationship with some, as you might imagine.

With all due respect, I would still be very careful - I have several pieces of luggage sans one wheel or handle to demonstrate! The baggage handlers on the flight line handle everything that comes in, freight or otherwise, and one trip through Providence Airport (that's T.F. Green for natives) will underscore my point .

By the way, how would you fasten something like this together securely? I think we might be getting into that custom packing charge issue again...

BTW, this is what I tried to get:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120094257103&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1

 

[billnchristy]

Hopefully he sold them to get new carpet!

Couldnt resist.

 

[highfihoney]

BTW, this is what I tried to get:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120094257103&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1

They remind me of my first real pair of high end speakers many years ago which were the Teledyne AR-9's,they took alot of power but man did they rock

BTW, did you post over at AK to see if somebody on the AK express was traveling anywhere near them & maybe help get them to you or atleast a whole lot closer?

 

[highfihoney]

I am so lucky that my fience (we live together) is very tollerent of my hobby. She actually said "wow, I never knew how important sound is in a movie."
It's kind of funny' I remember when we first discussed living together I told her ht is more than a hobby and I like to buy/trade equipment and have lots of wires all over the place. She knew what she was getting into....

You just wait mister! It wont be long before she is insisting that you have your own listening room & thats a good thing

Mine was ok with all the gear & speakers for years then after she came home & saw that i threw out her 1 month old love seat couch to make room for the klipsch corner hornsthen she started asking me to get my own room up & running,her last straw was when she came home from work & i was cutting 2 holes in the dropped ceiling to make room for the Mcintosh line arrays that were hitting the ceiling tiles.

That was the end & the listening room was born Now we have the family gear & my gear

 

[Rowdy S13]

Man I really lucked out (so far anyway) I love Home Theater, and she loves sports (mostly Football) SO I always use the excuse "Well just think how good the game will look on that big screen, and how great it will sound with the new speakers" Works everytime Its a good trade off, and its a real solution because what makes my movies better will make sundays game better. I think the best thing I did was show her (I think) the referance 2 system for the site with all the nice cabinets and the capper..... A football game on!!!

Sean