Higher-end recliners for living-room HT??

TigerHonaker just bought a full set of these for his theater. You can see his thread in the high end forum. It is under the Runco update ... He also has JM Labs ... amazing looking theater. I have also had one of these chairs and loved it. Very comfortable.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1379867

I had a pair of Ekornes recliners (forgot model) in a media room. These had the matching ottoman/stool. Always VERY comfortable, and other than the Black plastic roller in the reclining breaking down over time, they remain confortable chairs and will be in a separate media room at a new location.

I went with Fortress theatre chairs for the theatre space.

Jim

I have a Hjellegjerde reclining love seat which I found to be more comfortable than the Ekornes (better lumbar and neck support)

http://www.hjellegjerde.com/category/?category=1

I have a very traditional house and traditional theater.
We went with Hancock and Moore leather recliners. They make all styles of 'fine custom' furniture including theater seating. Your wife prolly heard of them if you haven't. Lead time is 8 - 12 weeks since they are made to order.

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/

Look over options from American Leather. I have had two of their recliners for >8 years and they are very well made and durable. Because of that experience, I have also added two of their sofas and a bed. Made in Dallas TX.

http://www.americanleather.com/

Steve

Just be careful. I had a client with AL sofas about ten years ago and the quality was great. About three years ago, I had a client buy an AL sofa that was made out of bonded leather(bicast). This stuff is crap and definitely not worth the money invested.

AL chairs:

http://www.americanleather.com/Chairs.aspx

(Best bet with AL is to custom order, they have multiple options for leather selections in addition to non-leather....best that I can see is that the quality on my recent purchases is as good as ten years ago)

Steve

Hancock and Moore makes finely crafted furniture and is a different league than American Leather.

If it is not in a dedicated room the Tranformer from Acoustic Smart - Acousticsmart.com - is really nice I think.

I am aware of Hancock and Moore. All manufacturers can choose to use poor materials. Roche Bobois used bicast for a short time and they are about as high end as you can get. I can't count how many times I have had a customer pay a couple thousand for a couch only for me to tell them it is bicast.

mr. SoftDome, If u get a chance, try CenemaTech seating. I hv two of them. I find that they have the perfect lumbard support and quality and craftsmanship are top notch. On one of my days off, I'll park it in one those chose four or five hours at a time. Never any discomfort. They are not cheap. We bought ours when our local dealer was having a demo sale. Ekornes are nice as well. We looked at Ekornes as well. Good luck.

Have u ever heard of Gamma? They sofas and chairs are made in Italy the old fashion way I'm told. We waited 2-3 months for delivery, but it was well worth it. The lumbard support is superb! The craftsmanship is impecable!

Mr. SoftDome, it's me again, I just wanted to say that I use Dynaudio as well...C2's in my theater system.

Are you saying that HM misrepresents it's leather selection and actually covers furniture in bicast?

I know I will get slammed for this but Oh well. I was looking at Acoustic smart chairs but I have space constraints and getting a set of two, the way I wanted them would not have worked in my room. So I bought two of these

These pics are mine


They are Lazy Boy Harbor Town seats and they are VERY comfortable with good quality leather. At least to me and some friends who have come over ans sat it them. Also, just because they are Lazy Boy does not mean they were really cheap to buy. Probably more affordable then a lot of others, but not pocket change either.

Wow! I envy you... had my eye set on a pair of Ekornes recliners at a local store going out of business, even with the 20% off it would have still been over 6k! I had to cheap out and go with a Lane version (Andre recliner)... looks like the stressless and so far has a similar feel (doubt it will still feel like that in 5-7 years tho!).



I agree with you on the 'not your gandpa looking recliner'! If you have the funds go for it.. Don't think you'll be disappointed..

Thanks
I just figured I would get slammed because they are not Acoustic Innovation or Cinema-tech, Fortress, or Acoustic Smart chairs etc...
They are just plain old Lazy Boy. Don't me wrong, for me they work great and they are comfy. But they are not "Traditional" HT chairs I.E no cup holders. But, I did need narrow chairs and help having them installed. For the cost, the Lazy Boy's fit the bill.

More on Lazy Boy recliners - they ones I am getting are probably more comfortable and easier to recline in that any of the stuff discucssed so far in this thread!

Back in March 1997, when I started to equip my brand new home theater addition to my home, I picked up 6 Classic Lifestyles leather recliners at a great price (then MSRP $3200 each, EGADS!) through a designer friend.


Over the years, the leather hasn't worn all. Recliners feel like new, except -
the manual reclining mechanisms. A few broke. A few work some. I've had them repaired over the years but the problem has long been that the company went out of business, and no parts available to repair the reclining part properly.


A few years back my wife got her way in family room and put in a few leather Lazy Boy recliners. They are nice. The manual recliners work fine. I don't use that room that much, and now at age 59 and a right problematic hip I really don't care to use my legs to push the reclining part back in when I get off.
Though its much easier with the Lazy Boys than the ones in my theater room.


A good thing about Lazy Boy is they've been around forever, they give a lifetime warranty on the frame and reclining part, which if I recall correctly they pay parts and you pay labor. The power mechanism is belt drive,cheap nd easy to repair if needed. Shouldn't have a problem getting their recliners repaired if need be. For me this is important after my last experience.


We have had those Copenhagen recliners which I once thought were so darn comfortable. I used on in my old theater downstairs. They do not compare to my current leather recliners in my theater, but read on, for Lasy Boy is a real surprise.


Recently I decided to explore new theater chairs. I thought I'd look up Lazy Boy to see if they have anything for home theater, with cup holders, etc.
A few years ago when we bought some stuff from them I don't recall any specific home theater stuff.


Online I saw their theater Legends collection,which uses a console between each set of two leather recliners. Each console has two cupholders side by side. The recliners may come with a power mechanism for about $300 per recliner extra at MSRP. Power part is only a 3 year warranty, again, belt driver easy to repair.


I noticed onlinen that this theater Legends recliners are pretty high in the back. I typically don't like that because often I want to have my head and ears above the back of the recliner/chair to best hear all the music and surround sound. But I thought I'd go demo them anyway.


How I was so surprised. First of all, I can easily adjust how I sit and recline so that I sit up a bit, while reclining, so that my head and ears are above the back leather top of the recliner - which I do in my current recliners. The power control, a large flat circular on the side, is easy to use, just press to very top to start reclining, the very bottom to go back towards to the unreclined position. you can pause it anywhere you like, infinitely, its not steps. Damn they are so comfortable. No more fumbling to get the reclining mechanism to come out like my current theater recliners.No more kicking with my feet to get the mechansim to retract, a real pain in the - hip!


brought my wife in and - presto, she was convinced quick! she was all against me getting new recliners, until she sat in one.


I think the power recliners are quite new for Lazy Boy. the Sales Manager told me that the company was reluctant to go this route on the home theater chairs, as the very nature of using power reclining necessitated giving a lesser warranty (discussed above) of only 3 years on the power mechanism (vs life warranty otherwise).

Now I have sat is some other power recliners, even at lazy Boy. Let me tell you. This power recliner kicks ass.


Ordered them a month ago. Should be here in the next month or two.

If you order three recliners, with two cupholder consoles in between each pair, then the center recliner will work only by pulling a string and is not power. That was almost a deal breaker for me. Its so much easier doing everythiing (sex included for you young studs) when you have POWER!


For my front two, three recliners and two consoles were too wide,
What we did is we got three recliners and one console. The "solo" recliner will simply sit next to one of the other recliners directly and there simply will be no cupholder there, but the two recliners will share the same armrest
"inbetween" them. The other two recliners wil share the two cupholder console between them. Also, I measured, and this permits my center recliner to be direct in front of the center speaker (I have full range Aerial 9s at 2, 4, 8 and 10 o'clock, with Aerial CC5 center directly in front of me). My back row is elevated 8" on a riser/platform. I often like listening to two channel music
(whether i synthesize multi-channel with my Thehta CB3 HD - Gen VIII Series 3 DAC combo or just listen in stereo) in the center back. To do this,
I am only going to have two recliners with one console in the back row,
as this permits the far left recliner to place me directly in center! So I ordered five recliners and two consoles, black leather. I got the lowest grade black leather, its the cheapest, but all leathers wear well, and frankly, unless you are a conosseur you will not know the difference. I know I won't.


Here's a photo from the Lazy Boy website!

They are not cheap. Five recliners with the two consoles run on sale (not quite 20% off) a bit more than 8 grand, which includes sales tax and delilvery and set up. But at least I will be very, very comfortable.

They look nice Steve. I sat in a few different chairs in a few different stores. The Lazy Boy was the most comfortable to me. I sat in some other Lazy Boy chairs and they were just way to soft. After a few minutes, my back started to hurt. But the one I bought feel great. It would be cool to have them motorize, but first, I don't think that was an option and second, I don't know what it would have done to the price. I just got an upgraded handle that looks better then the wooden one. All in all, I am quite happy with them. I don't mind reclining them by hand. They are not cheap. It was less then the ones I was first looking at, but more then I expected them to be. But again, for me, in my room, they work great. I hope yours work out as well.

It is a bit ironic that in this forum people are willing to pay big dollars for "superior DACs" and yet don't see the merit in quality furnishings.
Is your Theta really willing to associate with Lazy Boy?

It is ironic, isn't it? However, these Lazy Boy recliners are hardly inexpensive, and they are phenomenally comfortable and easy to "electrically" adjust to whatever position one wants. They are more "high end" than the other recliners mentioned in this thread in that regard. HA!

Steve,
FWIW, furniture can be bought at steep discounts, 35%-45% for custom orders and 40%-60% for something on the floor is not unheard of in my area. Most retailer also offer "free" set-up and delivery, sometimes as far as 75-100 miles.
All of the top tier manufacturers that make HT furniture offer motorized recliners.
I actually was considering Lazy Boy when we furnished the HT, but my wife wouldn't have it. I do regret not getting the motorized reclining option, I didn't think I'd want it, and it was a mistake.

Sort of like the discount on "high end" audio cabling. HA!

Like I said above, back in 1997 I got the then high end non-motorized leather recliners. Only to find since that the company went out of business and no replacement parts to repair the recliners. Shouldn't have that problem with Lazy Boy!!

Although he offered no ETA, or even a confirmation, a local Laz Boy manager-40 years on the job, said that the comment from a top tier person at their corporation, was that there wil be a new offering with probably a chair with adjustable neck and lumbar supports-probably, with air bladders...

Tat transformer by Acoustic Smart looks kewl as well. Anyone get one and not like it?

Thank you very much

Fury