I've had my seats for a couple of years and have been very happy with them. With that said, I wouldn't recommend buying bass shakers. I added two with a dedicated 150 watt amp and I can barely feel them. This is in a basement with carpet over cement floors. Spend the money on an additional sub if you need more kick.

That interesting other guys have put bass shakers in with better results. Which ones do you have?

Regards,
Alan

Dayton Audio APA150 Amp With 2 BST-1 Bass Shakers Bundle

What seats. I am considering putting Dayton bass shakers in my Pembroke seats but haven’t been able to find a good spot under the seats to mount them.

Ended up getting a little vibration in them by bumping the subwoofer AVR setting by +6 and turning down my sub. These are the Easthamptons.

Although a much more significant investment than butt kickers/bass shakers, that's exactly why I bought twin PSA V1811 subwoofers for my basement theater. Leave no doubt, I always say...

This seems to be Dayton knock off of the Aura, wonder if its not as good as aura? as I only have reports of aura, buttkicker and clark.

I like the idea though from other guys in getting 2 subs instead.

Regards,
Alan

What HT Design seats do you have? Good idea on the 2 subs and the dedicated amp, I have 2 atlantic 642 subs myself.

Regards,
Alan

When is the next sale coming up? I'm just starting the process of looking at options and not in a rush. Also, looks like the Pembroke are the widest, is that correct?
Thanks!
Mark

I think there's a sale going on now?

LOL! I know, don't know if I'll be able to pull the trigger today though!
Thx!!

Mark yes we have a sale going on now but we do different sales from week to week, some better than others depending on inventory levels but mostly always good value.

Pembroke is wide but we also have Hamilton, Devonshire, Southampton all about same as Pembroke width, pembroke is widest seat we have with power headrest.

Email me directly and I can lock down a sale for you.

Regards,
Alan

Sent you a PM. Thx

Hi All,
Long time lurker on this forum. My wife and I have been interested in the HT Design chairs for a long time but hesitant to buy without a tryout. Since we live in San Diego, CA it's not really practical to go to the Chicago showroom. So I decided to see if anyone in the San Diego Cunty or surrounding areas might have and be willing to demo a Pembroke, Southampton or Hamilton to me and my wife. I know it's a long shot but still worth a try.

Have a great weekend!

I will PM back this morning.

Thanks,
Alan

I sent an email to about 10 customers in Socal area, so far one response from a customer who has HT Design Warwicks he's in Ontario CA little up the road from San Diego, he said he would show them to you. It might make sense to check out warwicks as they sit very similar to southampton, it's kind of a mini version of southampton. It will show you how we build the chairs, like foam density and the way our chairs work and the leather quality. We use same leather on the other styles. I still have a few other emails out so far only this response. Can you PM me your email address so I can send you any more that come through.

Regards,
Alan

Hi All, I recently received my second order from HT Market. I needed to replace two rows of four Berkline seats due to bonded leather issues and, after much reading on AVS, liked what I heard about the Southampton seats. My first order was for a curved row of four seats. Ordered from Tom via phone on a Wednesday, received shipping confirmation on a Friday, and the seats were delivered the following Wednesday. I found the entire ordering and delivery process to be excellent (and fast!). Unboxing and setup was easy, and I was sufficiently impressed with the Southampton's that I ordered the second row the following week (which also took about a week from order to delivery). I don't have time for a full review, but my candid observations follow:

They are attractive, substantial, clean looking seats;
The seating is supportive and has a "firm" feel (a good thing);
The leather is attractive and soft to the touch, without flaws, creases, or defects;
Build quality feels substantial and solid;
Reclining mechanism is exceptionally smooth and quiet;
"Extras" are very nice - led lights look cool and work well, and tray tables are solid and functional. The storage compartments and USB chargers are clean looking and look and work perfectly.

I can't comment on long-term durability of the leather or the mechanism as I'm just a few weeks into them, but will update over time. Overall I'm very satisfied. I'd give them an A, they are great seats and a great value at their price point. Why not an A+? The recline buttons are a balancing act for manufacturers. I found my old Berkline's controls to be difficult to access. They were on the sides of the armrests/seat dividers next to your leg. I rarely hit them by accident, but had to shift and contort to depress them. The Southampton's have the buttons on the rear of the cup holders. They're very easy to access and are instantly responsive when pressed, but I do hit them by accident occasionally with my arm. Not a gripe, just an honest observation.

Overall, these are excellent seats for the money, and the order process and responsiveness of HT was stellar. I would recommend them if you are considering theater seating, and am a satisfied customer.

Thanks for photos and write up. We believer it's better overall to have easy access to controls on top of cupholder versus fumbling around for them on the inside of the arm especially when you add motorized controls for headrest that brings the number of controls to 5 versus 3. We also think usb access is better on cupholder or in storage area versus buried next to your leg on inside area where you sit.

You might want to turn the photo though upright when you have a chance.

Regards,
Alan Hutchinson
HTmarket.com

Contact me I have someone willing you to show you seats.

Regards,
Alan

Sharing my solution to the bright LED controls on the Pembroke seat model to others if you think the seat control LEDs are too bright...

Happy with my purchase of a number of Pembroke seats to replace some older seats. I've found them firm and supportive, yet comfortable, and chose the Pembroke model due to the chair width as they more closely matched the width of my original seats. I like the power push-button controls for the headrest and the recline, but found that the LEDs on the cup holder controls were way too bright in my light-controlled room. In a non-light controlled room, I am sure that they would be less distracting, but in a dark room, the LEDs glowing on the adjacent chairs is akin to people sitting next to you using the phones when watching a movie (out of my peripheral they are distracting to me). Also, the LEDs on the controls are so bright that a bottle of water in the cup holder seems to "glow" from the ambient light put out by the LEDs (even with the cup holder light switch off).

I looked into several solutions to address the bright LEDs that didn't work as well as expected:
- using LightDims on the cup holder (works, but not the most elegant looking solution as they look like sticking tape over the surface)
- designing a 3d printed cover to cover the controls (works, but have to remove it to adjust the seats)
- installing a switch in the cup holder to power off the LEDs/controller (no room to mount a switch in the cup assembly)

I ended up pulling the cup holder assembly apart and realized that I could use the smallest circle LightDims and place them directly onto the LEDs on the seat control circuit board. The LightDim covers claim to reduce the light level 50-80%. With the covers in place and the control reassembled, I found that the lower light level was more than satisfactory and didn't distract while watching a movie (both for the controls and for having an item in the cup holder). Full operation of the seat controls was not impaired at all with the LightDim covers in place.

In the first attached in-progress picture, you can see the control PCB with LightDims installed on the top 3 controls, versus the button 2 controls with no LightDims. The picture doesn't really do the difference justice, but might give an idea as what the expected results are. I did install the LightDims on all of the LEDs, and think the results are very good. I also think that having the LightDims inside the control assembly provides a more finished looking solution.

Edit: I added two additional pictures. One shows the cup holder with a water bottle in place (and the glow from the LEDs), with no LightDims installed. The second picture shows a water bottle in the cup holder, but with the LightDims installed on the LEDs on the PCB. This helps to show the before/after difference.

From a seat design perspective, I saw that Raffel Systems (the manufacturer of the cup holder control) has a cup holder model that has an integrated timer to control the LED lights (assume they turn off after a period of inactivity?). Having them integrate a timer to the control used in the Pembroke that would turn off the LEDs automatically would be a great solution to address the LED light output...

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That looks fantastic my solution to this problems is a large blanket that covers the cub holder area lol. On the far seat I adjust the tray table to block the LED. I would love it to be on a timer.


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Tried the blanket too...

The tray tables do work well to block the LEDs, except when you want to put something in the cup holder or use a different attachment in the seat accessory hole...

I just got off the phone with Ken the President at Raffel, and he is going to mock up a test cupholder for us with a timer. I would like to test the cupholder here with the timer function before we do any implementation on it. The problem I see is that if it has timer on it, then the buttons won't be lit at all so it would be hard to find button in dark, so you could be accidentally hitting wrong button for the function you want. The reason the buttons are back lit to begin with is it makes it easy to find correct button in dark so we might be trading one problem for another. We might be decreasing usability if we do the timer. Currently it's less than 1% that we hear about the back lighting as distracting.

Regards,
Alan

Alan

I find it very distracting but the LightDims do help. Perhaps it could time out and once times out and the first button is touches the pad lights up. If you accidentally tap a button for a quick second it’s not going to end the world. I think we could deal and the trade off would be worth it.


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Not minimizing the fact that others think it’s distracting at all. That said, I have a completely blacked out home theater (at night) and I don’t personally find it distracting at all. What is distracting to me, to the point of making it completely unusable, is the LED lights in the cup holders and on the base rails. Now if you found some way to dim them to a usable level that would be an add-on feature I would be willing to pay for. And yes, I know you can turn them off, which is what I currently do...basically never turn them on = an unusable feature.
It is the one and only thing about the Pembroke chairs I don’t like. I knew it when I bought them, and it is minor, and I still love the chairs and would buy them again...but still....😎

Thanks Alan! Nice to see your responsiveness and support from Raffel. For me, the timer would work just fine. I think the concave buttons do help to guide your fingers, and since the actions aren’t automatic (I.e., don’t fully extend or retract with a single tap), tapping an incorrect button by mistake isn’t a concern and is easily counteracted.
I guess some way to disable/enable the timer would provide a solution for customers that want the lights to turn off after a period of time, and for customers that want the lights on all the time.

Alternatively, having a rheostat connected to the leds to control the brightness level would work, then people could decide how bright they want them?

Sounds like everyone has a different opinion, which is understandable. The bright led controls on the pembroke was one regret that I had after having them set up and made me question my purchase, but I knew there were workarounds, so the comfort of the seats won out.

I am also not concerned about the light in the cup holder or the lights at the base of the chair, as others are, as I will never use them myself.

We working on a chair currently that may have this feature of dimming leds on both base light and cupholder and it would have several led colors. For the current models probably not something we can change easily without lots of added cost. The current base light is just on and off and a one color feature. Many customers love it and some don't like it but it does have on off feature and it can be disconnected on bottom if you want that option I can send video.

Regards,
Alan

The challenge in all this is many people have different needs so it's hard to find a consensus. I will test a time out function first and then make some decisions. The current light dims workarounds may be the the most efficient option for current customer but I am testing going forward the time option for future shipments perhaps in fall.

Thanks for feedback.

Alan

No worries, I know how to disconnect the base light. Thanks Alan.

So I'm dealing with a fairly narrow space but want 4 seats across. The Warwick look like it has the narrowest seats and is my best bet. I'm the row of four sofa style would work, but also the row of four with the middle loveseat. I tend to prefer that look. If I were to go with the sofa style, would all seats have the power recline or just the two end seats with the arms? If I go with the middle love seat, can I remove the two arms on the loveseat to convert it into the sofa style if it's a little too large? Finally, wondering how necessary the white glove delivery is. I will not be going up or down stairs, but would have to carry the chairs to the back of my house where there is walk-in access to our finished basement. There is also a small hill on the way around the house. Looking to take advantage of the sale that is going on through Friday.

John