Which courier company to use for hifi to Europe

[Diapason]

I'm selling my preamp, and the buyer is in Slovenia. Any thoughts on the best company to use for shipping it?

[nige2000]

you'd get a longer list of who not to use
and see if theres anyone left

[Diapason]

That's what I'm afraid of...

[terrybites]

Request buyer to pick up and cut a deal. Otherwise use the courier company that shipped it to you (unless it arrived in poor shape).

iDad

[tony]

Mine came from Belgium by insured UPS.Expensive but it got there in one piece. Insurance will give peace of mind.
Is that the lurvely graaf amp you have for 5 mins?

[Fran]

The key here is not so only the courier, but bulletproof packing..... think of it being dropped from 1m high onto concrete floor.

Double boxed, with foam/bubble wrap between each box. The actual pre also well packed inside.

After that my preference would be for a company that carries it from door to door - ie it doesn't change hands between 3 different companies between here and there.

Slovenia not in the EU wither I think, so watch out for customs etc (from the buyers POV)


Fran

[Diapason]

Yeah, that's the amp. It's just not happening for me.

I think it arrived via Interparcel, all was grand, but as Fran says it was very well packed. Original box and foam inlays surrounded by larger box with packing chips, etc. I still have all of that, so it will move on the same way.

Apparently Slovenia joined the EU sometime in the noughties. No, I didn't know that either!

[Fran]

apologies to our Slovenian friends for my ignorance!


Pity about the pre. Were you not happy with the sonics?

[Diapason]

Yeah, I just never got to a place where I really liked how it sounded. Ultimately, I wanted a pre for some very particular things (control, refinement, space, depth) and while I got some of these, the major effect of the pre was to bring the midrange forward, and I didn't really like it. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me.

General consensus was that the valves (not original) weren't a good match for the pre, and in fairness I think that's probably accurate enough, but the Russian valves I put in brought their own issues (glassiness, harshness, lack of bass). They might need more time to come on song, but again the word on the street was that I should pay up and get decent NOS valves, and that they'd need to be perfectly matched, ultra-silent, blah blah blah. Basically, it was going to be frustrating and expensive.

One day recently I realised that deep down I just wanted to get back to the sound I had before the pre arrived. So the answer was simple: sell the pre, trouser a couple of grand, and get on with my life!

It didn't help that this pre arrived just as I was getting superb sound anyway, and the timing also coincided with problems with my power amps requiring more outlay. I just don't have the energy to coax the best out of it.