Home Theater Seating, a Listener’s Perspective
The following is an email from long time listener and supporter of the show Stu Silberman regarding his family's experience with Home Theater seating. We liked it so much we thought we would share it with everyone.
My wife and I just purchased home theater seating. It’s wonderful. Along with video, audio, lighting, shades, automation and the other important items you educate us on, what we sit on has a huge impact on our enjoyment of the hardware and software. Turns out there is so much available, from many different brands. We went first to Best Buy and then to a locally-owned, dedicated home theater store.
Best Buy was disappointing – they had only one set of recliners on display. The dedicated store was better in that they had a few for us to try, and sales materials on all the other options available. Our third try was the charm – we went to a furniture store, just to see what they had. We hit the jackpot.
They had probably a dozen different styles to try, and surprisingly, a very knowledgeable salesperson. We ended up purchasing a model from Palliser. Here are some of the things we learned in our shopping experience:
Recliners are available as singles, or as rows of two or more. They can be aligned straight or curved so that they each point to the center of the screen. Since you mix and match, you can design, for example, two straight in the middle surrounded on each end by recliners curved in. Boy do they come with features. Ours have motorized recline, motorized headrest, two memory settings, and lighted cupholders and ground effects with three colors and four brightness settings, which can be independently set. The LEDs were fun the first time, but they’re standard, so we have them. Options include bass shakers, massage, and probably more. The arms have storage and come with grommets, so we ordered swivel tables. You can also get tablet holders and wine glass holders. As with most custom-ordered furniture, you can select the grade and color of leather, and they’ll be delivered in several weeks. Since the floor model had a grade and color we liked, we ordered from stock and got them within days.After using them for a few weeks, I’m very glad we made the investment. Here are some things that I’d like to share from our experience:
Our buttons are on the cupholders. Other models have buttons on the side. When you’re reclined, the last thing you want to do is to have to get up to find the buttons to make adjustments. Make sure the buttons are where you can easily reach them. The motorized headrest is critical. Without it you’ll likely have to use one or more pillows to get your head to a comfortable viewing position. The seats are higher than the couches we used. This works out well for us – we’re still below the center point of our 65” tv on a standard-height tv stand, and it’s more immersive. We ordered two seats in a in a curved configuration so that we’re both pointed toward the center of the screen – the way I recommend going. The seats are not attached to each other – pros and cons. Pro: very easy to move to the perfect position. Con: there’s not much weight holding them down, so you really have to put them in the upright position before getting out. While we had white-glove service included, I watched and they’re easy to install for do-it-yourselfers. The recliners each come in two pieces, they’re easy to move around the house and down narrow stairways, and hooking up the cables to power is foolproof due to modular connections.Like speakers, an investment in quality seating should last for several hardware upgrade cycles. I highly recommend comfortable seating as a sure-fire way to increase home theater enjoyment.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Interview with David Sanderson of ReelGood.comJames from Illinois sent us an email tipping us off to a service at Reelgood.com. Reelgood is an extensive streaming guide, with every TV show and movie available to stream online. Browse through every TV series and movie and sort by title, release year, genre, IMDB rating, and, most important -- see where to watch it. Then play with a single click or tap.
We have an interview with ReelGood.com founder David Sanderson
