Home Theater Seating Space Requirements

The number one question that needs to be answered when buying theater seating relates to the dimension and space requirements.  The two factors that need to be considered here are the size of the actual seats and the distance that one needs to sit from the screen. 

The seat dimensions are the easy part, the harder part is figuring out the placement of the furniture in relation to the other seats and the screen itself.  The size of the screen in front of the seating plays a pivotal role in this decision.  Knowing the furthest and closest that one can place the furniture is important. The formula for this is quite simple - take the horizontal - not diagonal - length of your screen and multiply that by 2X to get the closest to the screen and by 5X to get the furthest distance from the screen.

This diagram helps map this out:

Berkline Decides To Close It's Doors

Berkline Furniture Company is now the latest casualty of the economic recession here in the USA and as of early April has decided to close it's door and file for bankruptcy protection with a liquidation of assets.  Orders accepted by the factory were being honored - we're not sure for how long that will continue. 

This represents a sad day for the industry and a great loss to consumers as Berkline always maintained a high standard of quality - building most models domestically here in TN - they are one of the last US based furniture brands that haven't moved the majority of their production to Asia in some shape or form.

In the home theater industry, Berkline have been instrumental and powerful.  Their large range of models have driven the industry from a design perspective and dominated all home theater seating sales. 

There are also a number of rumors floating around that they will be resurrected by one of the heavy weight US furniture brands but that remains to be seen.  

Unethical Furniture - Is this too much?

Furniture is made primarily from wood, leather, fabrics and now polyurethane by-products.  The role of synthetic products in furniture has never been more important as the price of producing them decreases and the quality and look compared to the real thing improves.  But there are still some exotic materials that are being used that are getting attention.  They include:

• kangaroo hide
• cat and dog skins (in China)
• animal blood and bone (used for glues)
• ivory (no surprise)
• antlers
• human bones

Other popular hides are alligator and crocodile which are produced commercially now for many years - subject to seasonal hunting guidelines.  This article on Unethical Furniture goes into more detail on the use of 'unconventional' and sometimes 'unethical' products in furniture and other products and is well worth a read.

Cowhide Home Theater Style

There is probably no room in the house that allows for more 'design identity' without the obvious consequences than a home theater room.  If you love Batman, some have made Batman caves with 70 inch screens and luxury leather seating.  There is a reason this room has adopted the phrase 'man cave' so easily.  It's an environment that should be an expression of the fantasy that enjoying a movie often takes one to.

To match the broad spectrum of fantasies, the home theater industry has risen to meet the full range of needs.  If you especially like Westerns, there are tons of options for decor and furniture.  No better in our opinion than Tahoe Seating - the leader of home theater furniture cowhide style.

This seat, the Tahoe Ruidosa offers heavily rolled arm rests with thick padding and a custom selection of nail heads to finish the front trim.  Wooden feet are offered in a large number of premium woods and the seat can include a power recline mechanism.  Select from an almost unlimited hide and leather selection and enjoy a generous 44 inch seat back height.

Berkline Price Increases Effective March 01, 2011 On Select Models

Berkline will institute minimum pricing policies across their entire product line starting March 01, 2011.  Most of the line is currently protected by this MAP pricing but there were a few exclusions.  These exclusions included some of their top selling models like the Berkline Reno, Tangiers, Trylogy and the 45090, to mention just a few.

What this effectively means is that the prices of these excluded models will now increase to the required minimum pricing as instructed by the policy.  It effectively will push prices for the Reno from an industry average of $599 to $630.....or a 5% increase.

The time to buy your seats is now, especially if one of those models was on the radar.

Does it get better than this??

You know when you have arrived.....when this is your home theater room!!  Used by a Hollywood executive on transcontinental flights, this is probably as good as it will ever get.  Installed to allow for better productivity while traveling, this lcd was, at the time, the biggest ever on a private plane.

Many planes bought today have interiors custom designed by their owners to meet their needs.  If one would consider a custom design for one's home, then why not do the same for one's private plane.  Common design requests include home theater environments, marble floors, bedrooms en suite and decorative artwork.  Not surprisingly,  one of the most requested elements are custom crests with initials.

These type of interior design jobs commonly run into the millions, depending on the level of customization and features.  The design process involves several creative renderings of the desired interiors before the final product is agreed upon.  Often the latest in 3D dimensional modeling technology is leveraged to create an experience, as close to the final product as possible.

 Luxury does not fly much higher than this.

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.