Customer Reviews

The Perfect Cabinet !

SO glad I made this purchase from Crutchfield ! This Stereo Cabinet is just gorgeous, heavy, and the perfect compliment to sit our Technics 1200GLD (#0075) on Top, without worry whatsoever ! ! ! Our Crutchfield NAD C375BEE sits inside, along with CD Recorder, & about 150 albums.... The perfect compliment ! Only wish, had done this 20 years ago ! AND... Noticed that the Sound actually improved some, from the Turntable, as the unit is so much heavier than what had before ! ! ! The response/Bass much better, and all hum & distortion is GONE ! THANKS, Crutchfield !~ ( And Salamander Design, for the perfect cabinet ) *** If you do not have this, you NEED it ! ! ! ...( DJ, since 1972

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Salamander Designs Synergy Model 402

Great Looking, Sturdy & easy to put together. This cabinet finished off our home theater in style!

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Good Product

Overall this is a great product. I gave it 4 stars because I feel the finish should be closer to furniture grade for the price. In regards to assembly, don't be scared off by the other reviews. Yes there could be more detail in the instructions. But pictures are provided and it is a very simple build.

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Dissapointed

Unfortunately, I can not recommend this product! I've built all types of furniture in my lifetime included a large Ikea kitchen with dozens of cabinets. The Synergy build sheet was vague, the build was rather time consuming. The end product is not attractive and has a strong obnoxious odor. The Door is flimsy, the overpriced Saturn wheels I had to buy separately, do not operate smoothly. The rear panel is not designed with air vents or cable management. If you are not mechanically inclined, I highly recommend you look elsewhere. I rate 2 stars given the issues mentioned and the high price for what it is, an extra star is added due the the great packaging and shipping. The boxes arrived on time safely plastic wrapped on a pallet.

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Salamander Designs Synergy Model 402

I already have two of these, Great product,

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Heavy and well-engineered

This unit definitely weighs a ton, but that is just it doing a great job of good design and minimizing vibration. I wanted a cabinet that would house my system in a tower and also have a really solid top for my turntable, mission accomplished. The add-on wheels make it very easy to maneuver. Everything fit together perfectly.

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Instructions are Incomplete and Needs Improvement

Nice quality after you finally get it built. It ships flat with inadequate instructions, Instructions leave out a step which is unacceptable at the price point for this audio cabinet. You will spent 4+ hours building it which is ridiculous. Pegs are changed from instruction figures. 12 pegs are included instead of the 16 stated in the instructions. There are not left and right versions of the pegs as stated in the instructions. Instructions leave out installation of the shelf rail which is unacceptable and time consuming when you guess wrong on the direction to attach it. The manufacturer did not correct instructions on their website either which is disappointing.

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Salamander Designs Synergy Model 402

Really needs wheel casters to come standard. Tried to order casters from Crutchfield, but out of stock. Instruction were slightly vague on some parts for shelve with rails. On a good note all components fit in and has plenty of space for air circulation around them. Well, it actually should be 1/2" deeper to accommodate the Onkyo CD player cables. Putting this together, is like backing an RV into a campsite with your spouse.

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Good Product - Looking Forward to Using It

I like the quality if the component pieces and how it turned out once I got it together. However, the instruction pages need updating, a couple of the operations to assemble the unit are not shown or described. Also, the pieces used to hold the selves up have been updated and do not look like they do in the drawing, creating a little confusion.

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Love the look, but a bit of a pain to get there

Solid construction, appears it will last quite awhile. Slightly difficult process to change around shelves, and directions could use a few extra steps/labeling/corrections but was able to figure it out over a few hours.

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Salamander Designs Synergy Model 402

The good news is that the delivery packaging is robust and so the unit arrived with no damage. There were no installation instructions in the box and so I downloaded from the website. Installation instructions are very poorly written and do not detail the steps to complete what the pictures show. I am very handy and it took me almost 3 hours to assembly. As a result assembly would very challenging for the most people. The quality of the product is okay but I feel it is overpriced as compared to other audio cabinet options.

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Salamander - Quality, Function & Style

Salamander continues to be the leader in home A/V furniture. Solid, high-quality, fantastic fit & finish on every piece. Yes, it's spendy, but in this case, you get what you pay for. This our 5th piece in our home, and not likely our last!

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The best I've found ever!!!

Nice and sturdy. Shelves will support my 60+lbs. amps. Looks good for a piece of box furniture. I put wheels on it to make it easy to move around. Wheels are a great idea if you intend to put more than 250lbs on this monster. Easy to assemble too. Don't let the instructions confuse you though. Just take your time and think it through. I assembled it in about 3 1/2 hrs. I made mistakes and corrections, but it's really an easy project. Even for an old retired jet mechanic. I put my Turn Table on top. Pro-Ject Carbon "Red". Nice touch!!!

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Salamander Designs Synergy Model 402

This arrives in a flat box as an Ikea sort of do it yourself assembly. The instructions are imperfect but fortunately the construction is faily self explanatory and easy. The result is sturdy, functional and attractive. A good purchase

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Great audio cabinet

A really beautiful audio cabinet, furniture grade finish and very sturdy after built.

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Synergy - Great intentions

The Synergy system is the only customizable modular audio rack products on the market. There's a lot of accessories and options, which really stand apart. I also purchased the slide out shelf for my record player. Unfortunately, I was disappointed on several factors when my 402 arrived. This is a beast, extremely heavy, over 100 lbs. MDF is used throughout and it's cheaper to produce I suppose, but it weighs a ton. The instructions were vague, confusing, and outdated. It took me over two days to assemble, think your worst Ikea nightmare x 4. The top panel came damaged, which they replaced within a week. The door comes pre-drilled with hinges that attach directly into those holes to one of the aluminum posts, so assembly error is near impossible. The door ended up being noticeably crooked, and it left a half inch gap on the handle side. Consequently the after market lock from Salamander didn't reach the other post when locked due to the gap. They didn't replace the door unfortunately. Now I'm stuck with a crooked door that won't lock, which was the main reason I went with the Synergy. The sliding shelf works well, and the adjustable feet are great for my uneven floor. Overall I feel like Salamander's intentions here are good, and they've really got a unique vision with the Synergy system. Where they could improve is making the materials lighter (bamboo or wood option), instructions more clear and updated,

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EXCELLENT Product and OUTSTANDING company.

Excellent product! Well made. Easy assembly although, the shelf spacing could be made easier with periodic markings placed on the inside of the cabinet. Both Crutchfield and Salamander are impressive companies with outstanding customer service. We called the tech support at both companies and they were both incredible to work with. Both companies resolved our questions and made sure we were 100% satisfied.

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Very solid rack, minor nits.

The Salamander 402 is well made and attractive (my wife says it looks nice, so that's high praise given he disdain for my audio furniture in general). The basis of the rack is the use of 80/20 extrusions that form the 4 corner pillars. If you're not familiar with it, it's got t-slots on each of its 4 sides - so using t-slot nuts makes attaching things (like the shelf brackets) easy. The tops and bottoms appear to be high density MDF with high quality wood veneer. Sides are ~1/4 inch thick fiber board with (I think) vinyl veneer. Shelves are stout and covered with textured, grippy vinyl (I think) veneer.It all looks very nice. Door is solid wood framed with a perforated metal "grill" and metal hinges. Door dampener is cheap plastic and I didn't use it. So far so good (though I would like to see plywood on the sides with veneer). The negatives are around setup. I'm an engineer and can put anything together. The difficulty here is setting up shelf spacing. Even using a tape measure to set heights is troublesome. It would be a great add to have index marks on the 80/20 pillars to aid in adjusting shelves. Assembly can take 1-2 hours. Think out your spacing carefully - pain to change it once together. I bought, from Salamander, the small 19-inch rack mount ears and the cable management rods for the back (you cannot install the plastic back cover with those in place). For the price, these pieces should have come with it. Overall, highly recommended even at the price.

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