What To Do With Headphones (et al.) When Moving House

So I'm moving interstate soon, and find myself at a bit of a loss for how best to transport my headphones and gear. We have professional movers packing and shipping most of our stuff, but like hell I am putting my headphones and gears in the hands of those savages. I have most of my original packaging, but I worry my car will be filled if I re-box everything. I have a slappa carrying case for at least one of my headphones, but don't want to shell out for 3 or 4 more just for use while moving.

Anyone have advice or tips on do's and don'ts? Is my fear of moving company savages unfounded? I know several people have moved recently (some farther than others...) and would appreciate any insight into this. Feel free to expand into whatever shit you have experience moving, e.g.: vinyl madness. (Thankfully I have no vinyl gear to fret over, but I do have a box-less, giant 90's era CD transport to contend with.)

 

Well if you're intending to keep the original packaging, there's no reason not to put everything back in their boxes. All the smaller ones go into a bigger box and line that up with foam.

When I cart stuff out for meets, I usually get a heavy duty box or plastic crate and stuff everything in sans packaging but with judicial use of towels to pad them. Always put headphones on top, never next to anything that can potentially slide. Cables wrapped in bubble wrap or whatever are used to stuff in between heavier components to stop them from shifting around.

 

This is a case of "an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure". I've had a couple fantastic moving experiences and one bad one. Even with the competent movers there is a risk that something will get dinged, scratched whatever. You will know how to pack your equipment better than any mover so I would suggest packing it yourself and clearly labeling your boxes as fragile. If you've got an original Orpheus, esoteric equipment, rare tubes etc. you may just want to transport that stuff yourself.

 

I have the original box for my HD600 and the padding is more than sufficient for me. I'd say it the box can take a good bit of abuse before the headphones can be considered damaged.

But keep in mind these are headphones we are talking about. Why can't you take them with you instead of the movers? Do you already have more valuable cargo taking up space?

 

These Sterilite containers are tough and come in various sizes. I have some headphones in the original boxes in them, in storage. I am not worried about them, myself.

(The ones with the clasps/fasteners for the tops.)

 

Thanks to all who have responded so far. Between what @Armaegis and @Dino have said, I think I can get most of it sorted. I sadly do not have an original orpheus, and need to buy some more of those sterilites for other stuff anyway, so that seems like a good place to start.

I will likely take most of it myself. But if I put it all in original packaging, some of which is very large (looking at you Gungnir Multibit box), I will fill the modest trunk of my shitty old camry pretty fast. A lot of space in personal vehicles is already filled with items that we must have in order to function minimally (pack n play, blow up mattresses, card table and chairs, etc) and a little with stuff the movers won't touch (expensive shit, family heirloom items, and various pointy tools and yard implements).

I also just want to know what people have done, and hope this can be a bit of a repository for that since I imagine the problems and proposed solutions are general and usable by many.

 

My hifi survived international shipping. Consider: a lot of it has been shipped internationally before we buy it new, and some of it probably wasn't all packed out in crates full of equal-sized stuff with no room to shift around.

Original boxes is the way to go. And get those packed in polystyrene in bigger boxes. This stuff you may want to DIY.

Among the stuff I brought to India from England was a China tea service whose owner had left with me some years previously. We were no longer on good terms, and I told her I could have thrown the damn stuff away but... on my next visit to London, I did meticulously pack it with polystyrene plates and blocks, box it up, put it in a suitcase surrounded by more polystyrene, and it was checked-in baggage on my flat. Every single piece survived the baggage handlers and the turbulence.

I've taken a couple of stained-glass panels like that too, sandwiched with polystyrene and plywood.

The secret's in the packing . And the stuff in your kitchen is probably more fragile than your hifi!

Happy move!

 

Thad, everything you say is rational and true, but irrationality is the defining characteristic of this lot.

Case in point:

Yes, but I give much less of a shit about my kitchen stuff than my hifi!

 

Yeah, I'd rather pack the boxes myself and the movers can move the boxes. I care about the stuff in the boxes. The movers are probably just looking forward to the end of the workday.

 

Just make sure it is a very well padded case!

On the other hand, they are professionals. On the other, other hand, I consider myself to be very good at packing stuff, as per my example above. I'd pack my own electronics. Or at least supervise it closely.

 

When I got my second hand HD800, they were shipped to me "double boxed". The outer box was twice as large as the inner, original, box in each linear dimension. Sounds OK, if a bit odd, except... there was literally NOTHING, no padding at all, between the inner and outer box. I can't imagine a much worse torture test, and they survived intact. I should hasten to add that this idiocy was not perpetrated by anyone on here!

 

I imagine some are professionals and at the other end of the spectrum unskilled labor types. From what I've seen, the qualifications seem to be being young, fast and strong.

 

Indeed. And if I packed your kitchen, it would be absolutely uneconomic to both of us!

Have you noticed how, if you buy, say, a china mug, they wrap it in bubble wrap, but stuff it down into the mug --- where it is no use at all.

A number of people I meet online in this part of the world are saying that this is becoming Amazon.in's standard method of packing.

 

Packing peanuts are handy, BUT they can shift around and not actually stop your stuff from moving around. Good for stuffing between light items, but not heavy ones because those can actually shove the peanuts out of the way or smoosh them.

For larger/heavier items, bigger pieces of foam are better. Actually, wedge big pieces of foam where you can to spread out pressure points (tape them down if you have to, either to the box or the item itself), and use packing peanuts to stabilize the big pieces in place.

Chopped up pool noodles are also a cheap and handy modular option for packing large items.

If you want to be super duper secure with something delicate, wrap it very loosely in a large garbage bag, place into a box (foam plate or whatever on bottom), use a vacuum to suck down the bag into all the crevices as much as possible, tie off the bag, then use a bottle of expanding spray foam insulation to fill the box.
(please note, I haven't actually tried this myself)

 

Even professionals can be slapdash dipshits. During recent renovations, I had to move my office down one floor- I packed up all the usual office tat in a big crate, and as per instructions, left my PC and monitors out, unplugged, so they could pack and shift them to another desk on another floor.

Yes, of course, a large Apple monitor ended up with a broken/scratched panel- they were throwing them in boxes without wrapping them, presumably to hit a schedule. The movers denied it vehemently, trying to construct a scenario where local IT (who don't touch my PC without asking, to preserve their sanity) somehow caused the damage. Unfortunately, there were plenty of witnesses to what happened, so they didn't manage to pass the buck.

FFS, one floor. A couple of colleagues and I moved several snooker table-sized 4k SDI displays between sites recently, using a pool car, and we didn't damage anything- and we're just random dweebs.

Let the movers pack normal housewares. Pack the delicate/expensive things yourself- unless you're looking to claim on their insurance (they do have it, right?).

 

Hacked up pool noodles is a genius idea. Stealing for future use.

 

I can't take credit for it; I am definitely not the first to have that idea. I'm pretty sure there's a couple of the boutique amp makers who do that to hold all their creations in place (particularly between all those heavy transformers etc).

Buying rigid foam sheets from the hardware store (should be around the insulation aisle) is also a cheap-ish option, instead of buying the small stuff from the crafts store.

 

I've moved twice in the last year, including once to a small apartment where I couldn't unpack my gear for several months.

As everyone else states, packing in the original boxes is best, except be careful if you need to stack equipment for storage for any time as cardboard boxes can get crushed if the contents are heavy or someone stacks stuff on them. In that case the plastic bins referenced above work better, go for the heavy duty cheap ones. I also use stackable plastic sorting bins to hold cables\tubes\PSUs, etc on a daily basis. and they have the advantage of not crushing even if you just throw them in a box.

If you don't have original boxes, large 1/2 inch foam insulation sheets from the hardware store can be cut up but you can also buy foam wrapping pretty cheap from the self-serve moving companies (u-haul, etc). For headphones without boxes I use faux pelican cases with foam cup pouches around headphones & headphone cables to keep them from banging into each other. The cases also work for smaller amps and for travelling to shows.

I store tubes inside these cheap corrugated mailers , stacked inside plastic bins. This lets you double pack them as you can usually get the original boxes in there as well. they can then be packed in like sardines in the plastic bins again with no worries.

Finally I would never trust movers with your gear. I would literally send it all UPS to myself rather than let the movers touch the stuff.

 

I half expected this thread to have been started by a Rando and to see lots of "go to The All Purpose Advice Thread, do not pass go, do not collect $200" posts.

I once forgot my laptop after going through security coming back from a trade show (don't ask). The local office sent someone down to the airport to get it and assured me that they'd have our shipping dept pack it properly and ship it out. It came in one the boxes we use to ship out our products (embedded computing crap) and there was lots of electrostatic dissipative foam when I opened it. But at the bottom of the box was my laptop with no foam on the other side. There was nothing but the cardboard box protecting the underside of my laptop the entire journey.