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Bookshelf Speakers Transport by Airplane - Checked or Hand Luggage

Long ago when I was 6 years old, I carried my dad’s rather large Sony bookshelf speakers as hand luggage from the UK to Canada on a BOAC flight. This was in the 1970’s.

Today, I am looking to upgrade from my KEF LS50’s to the Yamaha NS3000 for my office. Trouble is that the NS3000 is available in Canada but not in the USA (I checked with USA dealers).

Has anyone taken a bookshelf speaker as checked luggage on a flight today? I am not sure if security would even allow a speaker to go through these days.

The Canadian dealer may not be able to ship to me in the USA, but I have family living a few miles from this dealer. So, I can always pick them up personally, and even ship by UPS or FedEx, but I wanted to first see if anyone had taken speakers on a plane?

 

yyzsantabarbara
yyzsantabarbara OP
4,568 posts
 

What Can I Bring? All | Transportation Security Administration (tsa.gov)

 

  • Carry On Bags: Yes
  • Checked Bags: Yes
68pete
992 posts
 

Not sure of size of the brand of speakers you are talking about! If they would fit in a hard shell suit case that is not bigger than what is allowed for a carry on. I would do that or i would pack them very very well and ship them. TSA may inspect them in front of you as a carry on, but it should not be a problem. Checking them is dangerous-There is no TLC applied to unloading and loading checked bags. Not to mention they could disappear.

Good Luck

flashbazbo's avatar
flashbazbo
12 posts
 

I suggest you not try and fly speakers. I looked at air freight for a pair of Revel Salon2’s and it was a no go. The magnets give it a classification of hazardous good not permitted on the IATA listing. They are shielded, but that does not count. Aviation and magnetic material is not a good mix.

yyzsantabarbara OP
4,568 posts
 

Here are the speakers in question. That MSRP price is in Canadian dollars. Crazy price for a monitor but I wanted to get the big brother, NS5000, for a bigger room. However, now that I am getting something else  for the bigger room, the NS3000 + KEF KC62 sub is perfect (but expensive) for my small office.

 

Thanks everyone for all the points made for and against shipping by plane. I wanted more knowledge on doing this and now I have it.

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