i am in the process of purchasing some Ashley HT seating...
undecided on the 21503 or 38703

the 21503 are full leather and the 38703 are durahide bicast...

both seem comfortable, anybody know the pro's and con's on these?

by the way, im new to the forum, this is my first post!

How much is their furniture? I've passed by before but all these big shop places always semm to have some high prices.

i am in the process of purchasing some Ashley HT seating...
undecided on the 21503 or 38703

the 21503 are full leather and the 38703 are durahide bicast...

both seem comfortable, anybody know the pro's and con's on these?

by the way, im new to the forum, this is my first post!

Welcome to the forums!

I don't know the in's and out's of Ashley furniture, but my local furniture store carries Ashley, and I was able to sit in some of their home theater seats. Unfortunately, I do not know what models I was able to sit in, but the prices were very good (about $500/seat for manual recline) and I thought they were pretty comfortable. My only real concern was that they felt very lightweight when I was moving them around and tipping them on the side to get a look underneath, but to be fair, I have not played around with many HT seats so maybe they were of normal weight.

Anyways though, as far as comfort and style goes, I thought they were comfortable and attractive. I am sure someone on the boards owns them and will chime in and comment.

They use the same low quality 1.8 density foam as Berkline...

They use the same low quality 1.8 density foam as Berkline...

Berkline uses low quality foam? I always thought Berkline was supposed to be "higher end"?


Well then, what brands/types of furniture are good for HT?

heebdawg16,

chiltown is just a Berkline hater. Read his previous posts, and you will have a clear picture.

The Berkline is one of the most popular furniture manufacturers that provide wide selection and great product for your money.

heebdawg16,

chiltown is just a Berkline hater. Read his previous posts, and you will have a clear picture.

The Berkline is one of the most popular furniture manufacturers that provide wide selection and great product for your money.

Well without reading any of his previous posts, I was already kind of disregarding his opinion. Granted, I have never even seen a Berkline in person, but from all of the positive feedback they receive from the members of these forums, I hold them in high regard (there are a LOT of overly picky people on here, so positive feedback means a lot).

Roman, I am still planning on making an order through your group buy, I just need to finish drawing my room out in Sketchup and figuring out EXACTLY what I need and how big it can be.

Then I am going to go through the Berkline catalog of available chairs, figure out which styles will fit and which styles appeal to me, and give you a call to talk about pricing and options. I am still in the belief that I am only going to end up being able to purchase a set of two chairs, but I'm not positive yet.

these ashley's you can get for around $1500 for a 4/seater....

well the wife made her decision and she does not want the ashley's, she is firm now on some "united leather" from Gallery Furniture in houston, awesome seats but are pricey there, anyone know who sells "united leather" in the houston area.?

I have 4 of the director seats in my media room:
http://www.ashleyfurniture.com/Showroom/Showroom.aspx?PageId=Showroom&CategoryID=0&ItemNo=2530029&SetDomTab=4&SeriesNo=25300&CollectionId=&style=&IsClicked=1&CatPageNumber=1&bFromSearch=Y&Keyword=director
We love them. One of the main reasons that we got this particular chair is that they are individual chairs so we can re-arrange easily if needed. I wish they had a motorized recline mechanism, but the mechanical mechinism that they have is quite good. The seats have a high back and are very comfortable, no issues watching movies for 4 hours. I can't comment on the chairs you are looking at, but can definately say the director series that I have are very nice. I liked them better than most if not all the Berklines that I tested.

I went to my local ashley furniture homestore to check those out and I hated them. I thought they were very uncomfortable and nowhere near as nice as the 45090 berkline's I demoed. My 2 cents.

I'll admit that I've never tried Ashley's HT seating, but I have experience with some of their other furniture. A couple years ago we bought a sectional sofa, coffee table, and end tables from Ashley. The sofa was very comfortable in the store and the tables looked beautiful, so we picked up what we thought was a great deal. It turns out we were horribly wrong. We have had multiple warranty claims on both the sectional and the coffee table. The foam was junk, the fabric poorly installed, and they used the cheapest, thinnest metal in the frame they could find. Their warranty service was very friendly, helpful, and punctual, but like they say, "you can't polish a turd." Because of these experiences, I never even considered Ashley when looking for theater seats.

That's just my experience, even though I've now heard the same story from others. I'm sure many others have had no problems, but I'll never buy from them again.

We bought some Ashley theater seating at a local furniture store here in Colorado, and they are THEY ARE GREAT!
We apid about $680 for a set of 3. They are manual recline, in a dark dark brown (only color available at the furniture store.
I'm not sure the model number, but my wife, dog, and I love them!!

We bought some Ashley theater seating at a local furniture store here in Colorado, and they are THEY ARE GREAT!
We apid about $680 for a set of 3. They are manual recline, in a dark dark brown (only color available at the furniture store.
I'm not sure the model number, but my wife, dog, and I love them!!

Are you talking about these. Theres a local Ashley dealer here and I bought these. The black ones the OP mentioned are of very good quality also. I would recommend them. Very nice and comfy chairs.

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq227/gixxer_rydder/Theater%20Room/DSC00622.jpg

We liked the United Leather seats too. But they are only sold by Gallery furniture in Houston and yes they are prohibitively expensive (for us at least). Especially if you want power reclines. We really liked the Penthouse model. We also saw a nice Palliser (Hiland) at Leather Furniture Shoppe on West Sam Houston Parkway that had a similar look and were comfortable. A three seat sofa all 3 power was less than half the same UL sofa. The UL sofa we saw at Gallery North had the recline release pulled out of the arm. Not what I'd expect for such a premium seat.

these ashley's you can get for around $1500 for a 4/seater....

well the wife made her decision and she does not want the ashley's, she is firm now on some "united leather" from Gallery Furniture in houston, awesome seats but are pricey there, anyone know who sells "united leather" in the houston area.?

Are you talking about these. Theres a local Ashley dealer here and I bought these. The black ones the OP mentioned are of very good quality also. I would recommend them. Very nice and comfy chairs.

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq227/gixxer_rydder/Theater%20Room/DSC00622.jpg

Yep, those are them!! Very comfortable!!

I sat in some at the local Ashley factory outlet place in Arcadia, WI, and I thought they were very average. I'm not an expert with a lot of this stuff but the leather felt like the cheap quality stuff you'll get with a lot of big brand names. I asked the salesperson and she said they only use top grain leather but from what I understand there are still scales of that and it definitely seemed like the lower end in terms of quality. It wasn't the really soft shiny stuff, put it that way. I believe only 2 or 3 of the 4 chairs reclined, as well, which kind of ticked me off. I believe the set was around $1700.

90% of the furniture in my house is from ashley's, but I would stay away from there theater seats.

Berkline uses low quality foam? I always thought Berkline was supposed to be "higher end"?

Everything is relative. The lowest grade foam used in furniture has a 1.8 density. If you want your seats to last beyond the five year warranty then you really want to go with a manufacturer that supplies at least 2.0.

Berkline is medium-priced and not really considered high-end. You may find that their Palliser line is higher on the food chain.