Human Touch Offers The Ultimate Home Theater Experience

Human Touch Perfect Recliner

The world of home theater furnishings has a number of luxury brand options. Many will push the price of furniture into a category that is significantly above mid-market brands like Palliser and Berkline.  These brands mostly offer luxurious custom options such as premium Scandinavian leathers, or customized seating built exactly to the users dimensions.  Their features and benefits are great - if you can afford them - but this portion of the market is competitive, and has not really offered anything original for many years.

Human Touch is a brand that offers options in the upper end of the home theater furniture spectrum that are ground breaking.  Their recliners are not only original and notable style icons, but bring benefits to the table that are not seen from anyone.  Their perfect chair recliners are zero gravity recliners that include a modern and clean design that will prove to be a work of art in any home theater room.

Zero gravity means the seat and foot rest recline backwards to a position which relieves the constant pressure one feels from the earth's continuous gravitational pull on our bodies.  Fully reclined, one's feet sit higher than one's head - a heart conscious and healthy posture to relax in.  Fine craftsmanship and attention to the smallest details, complete a product that is known for its quality and respected by its peers.

TheaterSeatStore is proud to offer this great brand of seating, along with all its models for purchase from January 2011.

Palliser Introduces Ambient Base Lighting

Ambient base rail lighting has been around in the home theater world for a while now.  It gives a theater room a very authentic theater type look when that low level lighting is on.  Berkline have had this feature for about 2 years and now Palliser have decided to introduce a broad offering of ambient base seating options.  They previously only had this feature on the Mellow.  Some of these new models include:

• Zeal
• Strategy
• Fortune
• Spectacle
• Celebration
• Circuit
• Sensation
• Firenze

Palliser's approach has been to introduce these versions with ambient base lights and a version without - but give them different names.  One nice feature that is also included here is the smaller scale seating as offered by the Firenze.....this continues to be a popular feature in home theater today.

Touchmotion Recline from Berkline

You may have been in the market for a Berkline theater seat or recliner and seen them mention the benefits of touch motion proprietary technology in their seats and wondered what that is?  Well, Berkline are helping us out here by providing a meaningful video that describes touchmotion in detail and how it benefits the product and user experience.

Palliser Product Comparison Chart

Palliser is one of the dominant theater seating brands in North America.  Their products are known for quality and attention to detail and can be seen across the country in most leading home theater stores like Magnolia.  Here is a model comparison chart for Palliser similar to the one that was produced last month for Berkline which received a very positive response.  This chart will help simplify the differences that define models within the brand.

Palliser Blade Videos Introduced

Palliser Blade in Black Leather

The Palliser Blade is an exclusive offering by Palliser Furniture to TheaterSeatStore and was introduced in September of 2010.  This seat is a space saver that has a high seat back.  Since the very first day of its introduction, this seat has been a success because it finally offers a viable alternative to Berkline' Tangiers.

The market benefits from having choices.  That is a known fact.  The Blade is Palliser's space saving introduction to the home theater world.  It brings a best of breed feature set into a design that is clean and driven by function.  Although we have reviewed the seat earlier in this blog, the real benefit comes by now being able to watch our professionally produced video of the Blade and seeing the seat in action.  A picture may speak a thousand words but a video will say it all.

Watch this video here: Palliser Blade 

Berkline Elite Theater Seat Videos

TheaterSeatStore is proud to announce the release of a professionally produced product video for their top selling Berkline Elite theater seat. The Berkline Elite is the space saving model that Berkline Furniture produces exclusively for TheaterSeatStore.

See the seat in action as we describe the benefits in crystal clear high definition video. The Elite includes deep in arm hidden storage with a tray table and a high seat back. This seat has an articulated head rest and stylishly curved seat back. The main benefit of the Elite is the reclining mechanism which reclines to the point where the foot rest is slightly higher than the seat cushion which is supposed to be heart healthy.

The seat is now available on quick ship within 10 business days after having been sold out after its first month's introduction due to its popularity and value.

Check out the latest video edition here: Berkline Elite

USA Today Reports Home Theater is Booming

Nobody needs to be reminded of how rough the US economy has been over the course of the last 2-3 years.  Every publication documents the dire state of the nation across almost all industries.  But, according to an article published by the USA Today 'Home Theater Gear is a Booming Business' and Berkline - the largest provider in the US - is experiencing strong sales and year over year growth in this category.  The global demand for home theater is expected to reach $2.9BN in 2013 from $1.9BN in 2006.

That is impressive growth.

Apparently this trend was started by the renewed interest in televisions that came about with flat screen technology reaching the masses.  Home theater products include sound systems, display systems, players, media storage and furniture.

New Videos Added for Jaymar Home Theater

Jaymar Home Theater Seating

Buying furniture online has never been easy for most people because of the lack of the touch and feel element.  TheaterSeatStore helps overcome this fear by providing professionally produced videos of some of the top products in the industry from lines like Berkline and Palliser, just to mention a few.

Now we are proud to offer some Jaymar home theater seating videos.  This exclusive line of home theater furniture from Canada is cutting edge in its design and priced above the main stream but nevertheless an excellent deal for the money.  The following top 3 sellers from Jaymar are featured here:

• Jaymar 262
• Jaymar 59142
• Jaymar Panther

$180,000 For This System??

That is just a smidgen of what some people are prepared to spend on their home theater sound systems.  The love of music for a few is shown by the extent to which they are prepared to reach into their pockets.

Here's a feature we researched and put together that may be interesting to many of our readers.  For those who love music, this is going to be fascinating.

 Most expensive home stereos feature.

Holiday Sale Extended to Year End

Due to the huge success of the year end holiday sale, TheaterSeatStore has decided to extend it's holiday savings sale using coupon 'HOLIDAY5' to get an instant 5% off during checkout. 

The sale is for select Berkline top sellers.  Custom models are excluded because they are subject to Minimum Pricing Guidelines set by Berkline and therefore cannot be discounted beyond a certain point.  This is the last opportunity to get models like the Reno and Tangiers at prices that will no longer be allowed by Berkline from March 01, 2011 as all models will then become subject to Minimum Allowed Pricing.

Berkline Home Theater Product Comparison Chart

We are happy to announce that at long last, we proudly present a product comparison chart that will take all the guess work out of understanding what the differences are between models in Berkline home theater seating.  This is a one page summary - in a chart form - of the models they offer and what distinguishes them by feature and design.  Here is the page on TheaterSeatStore.com - product comparison chart

This is extremely useful and after being in this industry for so many years and knowing as much as I do, I find myself referring to this chart all the time.  If you are in the market for Berkline seating, this is a must use tool.

Plans are underway to produce one for Palliser as well and we hope to have that done in the next two weeks.  We will load that to this blog the minute it is done.

Happy Holidays!

Leather vs Microfiber

Leather vs Microfiber - I can't decide.....

This is a question that often gets asked.  Both these materials come with major benefits but which is the best decision.  Here are some points of interest that may make the process easier:

• Leather requires maintenance...that's the bottom line.  You can get a protected leather but reality is that it is a natural product and will require far more care and treatment than a synthetic material.

• Leather gets better and better with age.  The nature of leather is that the more it absorbs the environment that it is in, the better it becomes to manage, and looks.  It needs to breath, and with careful use will look better 10 years later than any microfiber product.

• Leather is generally a better choice when you don't have small children or pets on the furniture.  The reasons are obvious.  Spilling a glass of water can stain an unprotected leather and leave marks on protected leathers.  Leather is extremely absorbent and the hide acts like a sponge to almost any and all liquids.

• One can wash almost anything off a protected microfiber.  The benefit of microfiber is it's 'washability'. 

• There are now many leather look a likes that are in fact microfiber.  They are hard if not impossible to tell the difference.  So if you want the look of leather then consider a microfiber that looks and feels like leather and you cannot go wrong.

• Bonded leather is not leather.  No matter how hard it is to tell the difference bonded leather is vinyl with leather offcuts glued to the back or unseen portion.  This gives the bonded leather the look and feel of real leather. See the video below for a detailed description of bonded leather.

• Not all microfibers have the same level of protection.  Some are protected to resist staining more than others.  It's often worth spending the few extra dollars to get the extra protection and save yourself the hassle of your first wine spill.

Wallaway Recline

We often get asked what 'Wallaway' actually means. It's hard to explain and understand it as 'the ability to recline fully by placing the furniture just 3 inches away from the wall".  A better way to understand it is to watch another short video from Berkline on the wallaway feature and how it works.  Its actually a unique reclining mechanism that allows for this type of operation where the seat reclines by having the seat - portion you sit on - move forward instead of only having the seat back recline.

Confused???  Watch this:

Bonded Leather Explained by Berkline in a Video

The debate and questions rage on as to bonded leather and its place in the universe.  There is no doubt that it is here to stay for good and will be a force in furniture for the foreseeable future.  Many variations of bonded leather of the last few years have been failures but the latest generations of products are very good - now lets just hope they stand the test of time.

This video from Berkline gives one a good look at a bonded leather products and also identifies what is done to manufacture the cover.  Bonded leather is now offered on sofas, sectionals, theater seating and furniture accessories and presents a significant savings over genuine leather.

The other major benefit of bonded leather is the fact that it is eco-friendly and is not made with the harmful and environmentally risky process used in the production of leather.  The curing and tanning process in leather production involves the use of dangerous and powerful chemicals.

Cyber Monday Sale Continues.........

Due to the overwhelming response from the Cyber Monday sale this season we have decided to keep the sale open for a few more days - at least until tomorrow.  Taking advantage of this opportunity gives one access to Berkline in-stock models at never before offered pricing.  These include top sellers like the Berkline Reno, Tangiers, Trylogy and more.  These are very in demand items and very rarely go on sale. 

Make sure to mention you want the special Cyber Monday deal to your sales person.  There are also a few other offers available relating to shipping upgrades but they cannot be combined with this offer. 

What's New in Palliser Home Theater

Palliser continues to impress with it's Fall 2010 line up of new home theater seating.  The new introductions have many design and feature additions but there is one new model that stands above the rest and will set a design standard for 2011.

Most new introductions include storage and look very similar to the Magnolia model with different seat backs.  Another common characteristic is the introduction of a number of new space savers.  Palliser has entered this portion of the market with a vengeance.

The market star is undoubtedly the Palliser Axis or Palliser model 41934.  This seat introduces a very novel concept with a Perspex tray table that slides into a very elegant slot in the exterior outside portions of the seat.  The real catch is that this slit is lit with the same light used in the ambient base and cup holders.  This light reflects through the Perspex and lights the edges giving the model a very cool affect.  What's even better is when the tray table is removed, the light shines through the slit and looks nothing short of amazing.  The seat has a head rest that extends upwards as the seat reclines extending the fully reclined depth of this theater chair.  A cup holder that powers the lighting and recline function adds to the new design introductions on this model.

The Palliser 41930 Strategy looks very similar to the Pacifico but appears to have a higher seat back and very subtle design changes.

The other interesting introduction was the 3 seat sofa version of the blockbuster Pacifico theater seat (discussed in a post below).  This seat is now available in a row of three seats without arm rests between the seats and all three seats recline.  This will be a great addition to this already best seller.

Finally home theater featured the Phoenix faux leather on six floor models in different colors!!  The Phoenix is quite special and it one of the best replacement leather options on the market today.  It has a soft and buttery hand to it and after being introduced last season, will also continue along it upward path of success. 

The synthetic leathers available today, made now primarily from PU (polyurethane), which is the new better option over vinyl which was used in the past.  The end result is material that now rivals the exact look and feel of fine leathers.  It is the ultimate choice and well worth considering especially if price is a factor in the decision.  The Phoenix faux leather is just too hard to ignore!

Palliser Circuit Theater Seat Rivals the Rhumba

Palliser Circuit Theater Chair

Palliser had a number of exciting introductions in the fall furniture market that are worth covering.  The Pacifico theater sofa was one, another was the new Axis theater seat with a side tray table(write up coming soon).  The most comfortable new introduction was the seat we want to discuss now - the Palliser Circuit.

The Circuit has a unique design when you first see it.  Somewhat of a blend between the Magnolia and the Rhumba.  The arm rests look like the Magnolia and the seat back and seat cushion have a similar design to the Rhumba.  There is storage in the arm rests and the seat back has excellent lower lumbar support and deep seated padding on the upper back panel that will support the neck and upper back.  The seat cushion is a contour style (bucket style) which further improves the comfort of this already very comfortable theater chair.  Cup holders are available with lighting and the power version of the seat has the up/down control on the rim of the cup holders.

This theater seat, like it's cousin the Rhumba, is the kind of seat that is best experienced in person.  The seat is so comfortable that we know that anyone who sits in it will want it - its just that simple.  This will follow the foot steps of the Rhumba, and if the price is right, even beat the Rhumba due to extra features like storage and lighted cup holders.

Like all Palliser furniture, this includes their industry leading warranty so you never have to worry about repair issues.  The Circuit will be fully customizable in over 250 colors across leather, microfiber and fabric material options.

The Pacifico Theater Seat in Phoenix Leather

There has been a lot written about the Pacifico theater seat over the past few years.  It has become an industry standard and probably the most worthy competitor to some of Berkline's premium theater seats like the 45090 and the Reno.  In most respects, the quality and value for money surpass all models that I am aware of.

Anyway, the purpose was not to sing the praise of this well know theater chair but to show it in two interesting formats - faux leather and the new 3 seat sofa option.  The picture of the row of 3 seats is in a red faux leather called Phoenix and it is beautiful.  It has a rich leather feel to it and is one of the best synthetics that I have come across in this space for years.

The grey 3 seat sofa picture is the new option for the Pacifico.  The grey material is also the Phoenix faux leather.  The sofa is unique because it will allow all three seats to recline individually.

Jaymar Furniture - The Contemporary Leader

In the world of contemporary furniture, there are a lot of wannabees.  The most common issue are those vendors that design something contemporary and think that gives them a right to charge through the roof.  There are also a number of lower end brands that source their modern furniture from abroad and end up delivering quality that is shocking to the trained eye and built to make it through your front door and the first 6 months....just after the warranty ends.

There are however a few brands that offer modern cutting edge design at a price that will not leave you speechless.  Keep in mind though that they are not cheap but they are not over-priced for what you get.  They present exceptional value and are what I would consider as a great discovery.  Jaymar Furniture is such a brand and is based in Canada and produces furniture that will last forever and never age from a style perspective.

Here is a picture of one of their pieces that is simple and elegant and can live in my media room any time it wants.

Berkline Introduces 50 New Models

The International Furniture Market in High Point offers some exciting news from the reclining furniture leader - Berkline.  They have 50 new introductions across all product lines, the biggest amount of new product ever!  These include many new models in home theater on both the domestic product and import product.


The largest selection of home theater furniture comes from Berkline.  Some of the exciting new models add features that have not been available to any previous Berkline model before like power controls on the cupholder that are multi-function, iPad holders and more contemporary styles to choose from.


Having walked their showroom floor, the most notable new development was the introduction of transitional styles, especially in the sofa and sectional categories.  The color selection is another new trend as Berkline aims to appeal to a broader audience.