[Lumen]

That's it. No more sitting on the floor when a guest or wife watches movies with me. Time to replace the oversize, overstuffed chair in my HT with dual seating! I've been shopping around and found that there are two classes of chairs (to the best of my knowledge): your standard HT seats one one hand, and your basic recliner with cupholder and storage bin on the other.

What I'd like to know is, "What's the difference?" The HT seats I've come across have large rectangular arms and cost a small fortune (upwards of $1k). Pseudo-HT, side-by-side recliners can be had in the $500 to $700 range. Are the bona-fide HT seats that much more comfortable, or are they just made better to withstand a lot of wear and tear?


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[Savjac]

I am shrugging right now, I am not sure if you can see me do that though.

I think it is kind of important in home theater seating to make sure the back of the chain is a tad lower than your ears so you can clearly hear the back and side surrounds. Just sayin..

 

[ellisr63]

I bought 4 seats like these for my HT... https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/fud/5991016284.html

I found them on CL, then went to a local store, and they matched the price.

 

[Lumen]

I think it is kind of important in home theater seating to make sure the back of the chain is a tad lower than your ears so you can clearly hear the back and side surrounds.

Sound advice (heh-heh)! I've heard of placing a blanket between your head and seat to help kill reflections.

• Bad News: My wife needs full neck support.
• Good News: My AVR has Dirac Live to help correct reflections.

I found them on CL, then went to a local store, and they matched the price.

Now that's a great store with great service!

I've done a lot more research since the original post, and think I should have done more research before asking the question. There's no real distinction between HT recliners and HT seats except in terms of quality, features, and price. After visiting some local retailers to test-drive their inventory, I'm sorry to say I'm not impressed. Call it sticker-shock if you will, as it's been over 10 years since I've bought any furniture. But my goodness, some of these $1k seats have imprecise reclining mechanisms and most I've tried had very poor lumbar support.
Maybe it's my hump. :rant: Thanks for listening.

I found out the cheaper seats are upholstered in cloth, have no creature-features, and are generally unattractive. No big surprise there. But when I found expensive seats with roughly the same profile, I had to ask myself again: "Why the difference?" Digging a little deeper told the full story. More money will sometimes get you detachable backrests making for easier installation. More money will sometimes get you wall-hugging designs. More money will sometimes get you better quality backed by generously long warranties on the order of 5 years to life. That sounds like a prison sentence and, in a sense, it is. Trying to save a little is okay as long as comfort isn't sacrificed, I always say! And I think most people who shell out that kind of dough expect their seats to last a long, long time. I certainly do.

So here are a couple of choices I labored over. Please feel free to rip into them. I know that you know that seating can be highly subjective, but anything you may have to add would be highly appreciated.

This cheaper one comes highly rated by a wide consumer cross-section:


And this more expensive one is offered by a very reputable company:

 

[JBrax]

This is what we went with. I like the fact that electrical plugins are included when the middle is flipped down. It also has two USB plugins. https://m.nfm.com/DetailsPage.aspx?productid=39980248

 

[willis7469]

Lou. It's extortion. Lol! Nothing wrong with a pair of nice recliners.(theater seats are awesome too). My problem in that size room is making sure I could fit 3 across, cause no way am I giving up front and center. I'll slide over on the couch, but when it counts,nope. Mine. Minasaurous rex.

 

[JBrax]

Lou. It's extortion. Lol! Nothing wrong with a pair of nice recliners.(theater seats are awesome too). My problem in that size room is making sure I could fit 3 across, cause no way am I giving up front and center. I'll slide over on the couch, but when it counts,nope. Mine. Minasaurous rex.

Hahaha that's awesome!

 

[tonyvdb]

Every so often Costco has some nice home theater seating. Have you been there yet?

 

[Lumen]

Lou. It's extortion. Lol! Nothing wrong with a pair of nice recliners.(theater seats are awesome too). My problem in that size room is making sure I could fit 3 across, cause no way am I giving up front and center. I'll slide over on the couch, but when it counts,nope. Mine. Minasaurous rex.

Absolutely (Adrian)! I just found the Berkline 13175 in a love seat configuration (center armrest removed) and thought I could just calibrate for, and sit in, the center. But from the looks of it, the center is on top of a ridge formed by the two seat cushions. Comfy? Probably not so much. So now I'm leaning toward separate chairs. The plan is to plop mine down in the sweet spot, and skew the other off-center.

Every so often Costco has some nice home theater seating. Have you been there yet?

Not yet, but it's definitely worth a trip. If you're like me then you like to know your options to ward off buyer's remorse!

 

[Lumen]

This is what we went with. I like the fact that electrical plugins are included when the middle is flipped down. It also has two USB plugins. https://m.nfm.com/DetailsPage.aspx?productid=39980248

Showoff :wink2:

 

[JBrax]

This is what we went with. I like the fact that electrical plugins are included when the middle is flipped down. It also has two USB plugins. https://m.nfm.com/DetailsPage.aspx?productid=39980248

Showoff

Now now it's not like that. I was like you trying to find something that checked off all of my boxes. That was the only affordable one I could find.

 

[Lumen]

You have my apologies. I meant no harm, but I must learn to think before speaking. :R

 

[JBrax]

You have my apologies. I meant no harm, but I must learn to think before speaking.

Well I just re-read your original post so I guess you don't want to spend that much. So my apologies to you!

 

[tonyvdb]

http://www.bizchair.com/401sc-2-seat-bz.html
And they take up less room as they are children's size :wink2:

 

[JBrax]

http://www.bizchair.com/401sc-2-seat-bz.html
And they take up less room as they are children's size

22" wide? Seems like that could be a tight fit.

 

[tonyvdb]

22" wide? Seems like that could be a tight fit.

Ya, LOL and they are only rated for up to 90lbs:whistling:

 

[JBrax]

22" wide? Seems like that could be a tight fit.

Ya, LOL and they are only rated for up to 90lbs

Hey, good price though!

 

[Lumen]

http://www.bizchair.com/401sc-2-seat-bz.html
And they take up less room as they are children's size :wink2:

Or maybe dog size? :surprise:

The trigger-pull happened at 8:36pm this evening for this model. I was told it's the successor to the Berkline Tangiers whose pic and link are included at the bottom of post #4. I'm assuming that the new Seatcraft Trenton is of the same design and uses the same factory tooling. It's hard to say whether it's manufactured in the same careful manner with the same quality materials. Why do I mention all that? Because the new version only carries a 1-year warranty whereas the original had lifetime on the mechanism, 5-year on the cushions, and 1-year on the fabrics and electronics. Hmmm. So that's how I got worried and sprung for the 5-year extended warranty for $59/seat. That's a pretty good deal, IMO! Even better, it was offset by a $100 discount for spending more than $1k.

The wife and I decided to get the 1-row configuration rather than the loveseat. The 1-row has an armrest between the seats while the loveseat does not. That's fairly obvious to some, but what's not obvious is that both configurations are made up of two individual seats. And by "individual" I mean not connected together. That's right, you can locate each independently! That's perfect, because I can put my chair in the sweet spot and locate the wife's... well, you know... not in the sweet spot. :sneeky: The downside is that one chair is missing an armrest when they're not butted-up against each other.

They're shipping tomorrow and should be here in a week or so. Until then, I'll be setting up my new rack, reconnecting equipment, and running trials to determine subwoofer and tube trap performance. You know what else? I really miss coming home after a stressful day to slide a concert video into the player and plop down into the sweet spot. After all this work, it really will be sweet!

 

[willis7469]

Those look great Lou! Congrats, and good choice. Btw, don't you have a nice mobile sweet spot? I.E.:cans. I know. No matter how nice the headphones are, it's not the same, but all your work will pay off. Doing good buddy.

 

[Savjac]

Congrats Lumen, they look great. I too hope to have a nice pair of those one day, until then a big lazy boy will have to do.