The speaker lifting system came about from a need to hoist a heavy speaker onto an isolation platform. The speaker in question was an 85 kilo WVL Chicago with its heavy field coil drivers, and the platform, a townshend podium, but the same concept could well be applied to any other make, with relevant adjustments to better fit the specific conditions of the speaker base in question. 

To start with, a flat C-shaped jig of 6mm thick stainless steel was sized and cut to fit around the selected isolation podium for the speaker. This base is to hold the hand jacks firmly in place while hoisting, bolted from beneath with three M6 countersunk bolts per jack, to keep the base level. Another jig to fit between this flat base and the speaker is made from four separate struts, assembled under the speaker - these struts are designed to be slid together incrementally without use of nuts or bolts, with the weight of the speaker holding them firmly while the lifting is underway. 

So, to start, the C jig is placed around speaker, in the precise location the podium is intended to sit under that speaker. One pair of hand jacks get bolted on first to the same side of the C base jig, and the first primary strut placed on their arms. The second pair of long support struts are slid into the first strut from under the speaker base - these may require a protective coating to prevent the speaker base from being scarred, but a hairline stainless steel finish for the struts takes care of most of that. Then the second primary strut gets slid into the ends of the two secondary struts, with the second pair of hand jacks finally bolted down to the C jig under that strut. 

The hand jacks must be operated in pairs to a side simultaneously, to control the toppling moment of the speaker. One side is lifted first with its hand jacks, followed by the opposite side, always in tandem. Which is to say that if three clicks are performed on the pair of jacks on the starting side, the opposing side should be lifted six clicks in rotation thereafter, until the desired level reached, whereupon the last hand jack pair levels off the assembly with three final clicks.

The design works best for speakers with a lower centre of gravity - for tall speakers, one will have to proceed very slowly, with just a click/two clicks per side each time. But it is a surprise how fast the lift goes. The hand jacks are pretty accurate, and can be subtly adjusted mid click, if necessary. 

It will best not to attempt lifting the speaker simultaneously on both sides, unless the situation has partners completely in sync, in order to control the vertical level of the speaker at any point during the lift.

After the required height is achieved (for the Townshend podiums, this would be a few millimetres above the height of a podium corner where the isolating springs are housed), the podium is simply slid between the hand jacks and under the lifting jig into position, with small adjustments to the precise location the speaker is to sit on its podium.

The hand jacks have two descent rates, and the slow descent rate should obviously be the one selected and the operation of lowering the speaker onto its isolation platform just happens in reverse of the lift.