Shipping system to UK


Hey folks,

I have a several year old system with Sonus Faber Olympica I and Ayre EX-8.  I would like to ship it to London (from the US) to use there.

Does anyone have any experience with this?  Specifically:

1. What shippers did you use?  These are not heavy speakers: ~60lbs for speakers (boxed) and ~30lbs for stands.  I have original boxes but any other tips?

2. What documentation etc. should I provide to make sure I do not get  overly charged VAT/Duty: both items are old and it would be unfortunately if the duty was based on the original price.

deone

UK electrical grid is 230 volt/50 hertz..The EX-8 won’t work without a step up transformer which,IMO is a lame solution..Add to that the cost to ship everything + VAT & IMO you will be better off selling the system here & getting something when you get there..As they are made in the UK,you should be able to get a pretty good price on Harbeth,Spendor or ProAc,all of which would be more than suitable replacements for the Sonus Fabers...As for amplification I suggest looking at something like Advance Paris,who make all in one solutions with switchable voltage between 120/240 volt operation..Buy one in the UK,then if you come back to the USA it will be usable here...

Thanks for the response freediver.  

Ayre would convert my amplifier to the UK voltage and once it is there I'll leave it there.  So you know how the price basis for the vat will be determined?

According to Google,if you've owned the iten at least 6 months & lived outside the UK at least 1 year there is no Vat..