Salamander Designs Synergy System Model 245

If you're looking at this TV stand, you probably have a large TV and/or center channel speaker. The good news is this stand is pretty nice and the top and center shelf are spacious enough for the largest TVs and center channel speakers on the market. Delivery was fairly quick and painless. The stand arrived on a very long pallet in two boxes. While the parts are well protected by the packaging, several pieces arrived with minor scratches and paint defects. Fortunately, I was able to hide most of them during assembly. The two small doors had paint issues on the front. I called Salamander Designs and they quickly sent me two replacements. Unfortunately, the QC for the replacement doors wasn't much of an improvement, so I wound up installing the two least-bad doors I was provided. Assembly will test your patience, sanity, and possibly your marriage (if you are married). The instructions are outdated. Tolerances are very tight, so everything has to be assembled square and level to fit together correctly. Leveling the shelves and doors was an absolute nightmare because they are infinitely adjustable. My biggest complaint is the paint on the wood and posts scratches very easily. At this price point, I was hoping for something a little more durable. I'm also not a fan of the perforated door covers - it's difficult to see the display of the components on the shelves. Lastly, do yourself a favor and buy the optional casters. I can't imagine trying to move it without them.

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Impressive!!

Very, Very Nice!! Looks Great!! (Dark Cherry with Black Posts) Very sturdy and very well made. I bought this to use with my 85 in. TV. Plenty of room underneath. The door panels have perforated metal panels that allow IR signals from your remote to pass through, as well as air to ventilate your gear. The doors also feature special hinges that extend so you can fully open each door. You have the choice to leave the doors off or open from the opposite direction. My Polk Audio CSi A6 center speaker fits perfectly. The back panels accommodate all your wiring needs. This is a very heavy TV Stand. You will need 2 or 3 very strong people to move it. I suggest putting it together very close to where you plan on using it. The 10 feet are pre-installed with carpet gliders. I placed felt ones (Not Included) over these because I have hard wood floors. Easier to move this way. It took me 8 full hours to put it together by myself. The directions could be better but after you get started using them common sense prevailed. This is why I gave it only 4 stars.

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Assembly Nightmare

This is a tough review to write. It looks great in our living room and supports our 85" TV really well. The parts, once put together, look high quality. The reason for the 2 stars, as other reviewers have stated, is that the assembly is absolutely the WORST I've ever experienced and I've put together many awful pieces of furniture from IKEA and other places through the years. I'd rather put together a warehouse full of IKEA than put this thing together again. Our instructions came missing 2 pages, so the first thing we had to do was find the instructions on the web. That part was easy enough, but once we had the directions, they helped very little. They were confusing and unintelligible. This is an expensive piece of furniture, Salamander!! It is beyond ridiculous what we had to go through to get this together. It also arrives via freight on a giant pallet that you have to figure out what to do with. This stand was our last resort after looking elsewhere for a stand that would work for a TV that big. This should be everyone's last resort because assembly is awful.

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Salamander Designs Synergy System Model 245

Very nice! The instructions could have been a whole lot better!

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Seller cant manage to deliver this product

Ships from mfg. Locked down distributor pricing. Ships in pieces, instructions are difficult, 3 man lift

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The most beautiful TV stand.

This is the most beautiful, and sturdy TV stand in the market!

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Salamander Designs Synergy System Model 245

Great solid product and not difficult to put together.

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Beautiful cabinet

I love the looks and quality of the Model 245 and think it looks great with the system in it. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is b/c it has the worst instructions I've ever seen. In fact, they are counterproductive when putting it together. Better instructions and an online video would help with the CORRECT order of putting the pieces together. I have many years experience with this type of project and this is easily the worst instructions I've ever seen. Besides that, the only issue with the product was two of the aluminum supports were not threaded completely. Fortunately I had the necessary tap to thread them further.

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Salamander Designs Synergy System Model 245

Fantastic quality product and looks great. Awful to build hence not 5 stars

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Great quality, annoying assembly.

Fantastic build and quality parts. The finish matches really well with Paradigm's walnut finish. Prestige 55c fits perfectly. Sony 85" TV sits on top and looks proportional. You need to assemble it IKEA style, and that assembly takes waaaay too long. The directions and pictures are inconsistent, for example showing two ways to attach the center shelf, neither of which actually holds it in place. It's also not super easy to get the doors and everything aligned so that it looks square. And lastly it arrives on a giant pallet via freight, so you'll have to figure out how to receive and dispose of that. So if you are fine dropping a couple hours on carrying heavy stuff and assembly, you'll end up with a quality piece, but for godsake i would love a more white glove solution.

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Engineering Marvel

Assembly is not for the faint of heart but what an exceptionally well engineered piece. It's constructive quality easily equals what you can find in some of the best furniture stores.

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Salamander Designs Synergy System Model 245

Very solid well made TV / entertainment stand, but not the easiest to put together.

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Salamander Designs Synergy System Model 245

We love the tv stand, but were disappointed that not all parts were in the box. This was not the fault of Crutchfield, but of the manufacturer Salamander. Crutchfield contacted them right away and asked for replacement parts for us.

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Quality, functional and flexible

My second model purchased; this one a 4 slot in walnut. The other a 3 slot in cherry. I don't use the doors or rear/side panels. It houses an FM tuner, Tivo, Furman, separate 2 and 5 channel McIntosh amps, along with separate McIntosh surround and 2 channel preamps. Apple TV and Sonos to complete the overkill system. Bottom line: the cabinet holds a ton of gear, wood in walnut is beautiful but subtle and it's very easy to assemble. No regrets, worth every penny -and the Crutchfield delivery experience was flawless. Just make sure someone is home or you specify delivery to a local drop off facility.

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