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Post by LuisV on May 6, 2023 20:37:24 GMT -5
They were delivered by FedEx... probably the issue. When I ordered my first Salamander console back in 2015, I recall it came via a similar shipment method as yours... Probably too expensive these days.
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LCSeminole
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Post by LCSeminole on May 7, 2023 8:30:22 GMT -5
So what now? Do you have your eyes on another console? Being where I’m at with my skill level in carpentry, I would most likely be planning a diy build. I have in the past had a local woodworker build a custom console.
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Post by LuisV on May 7, 2023 9:42:46 GMT -5
There is a local store, Integrity Sounds that is Salamander dealer, so I plan on calling them tomorrow to see if they have the one I want in stock. I've visited them a few times in the past and unfortunately if you didn't have plans to purchase a mega dollar setup from them, they weren't the nicest to deal with... reminded me of the various stores that went out of business up north. Extremely sad to see as I rather support local businesses; however, it is what it is. I don't mind going the DIY route or farm out to a local carpenter. I'm thinking that with all the trades in the area building homes, I'm sure I can find someone to build me something. In the end, I'm looking for something 44" - 50" wide and around 24" tall... I know, all doable with stock boards or cuts from a big box store; I was simply looking for the easy way out by buying something.  |
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Post by LuisV on May 12, 2023 15:18:11 GMT -5
After basically a week of frustration, FedEx is finally scheduled to pick up the damaged Salamander Console on Monday. Crutchfield was great... issue was with Salamander's return department and the original shipper. During the last week I was contemplating options... DIY vs buying something and then it came to me... after a quick chat with Monoprice, I decided to combine pieces from two Monolith racks into one. A few years ago I purchased their 4 shelf rack for my 2 channel setup and although it's very basic looking, once put together, the thing was rock solid; my son uses it now. Monoprice also sells a 47.2" wide stand; however, it's 30" tall; therefore, much too tall to use as a TV stand; I'm interested in 24" or shorter if possible. That being said, after a quick chat with support, Monoprice confirmed, that the various shelf spacer tubes can be mixed and matched between racks. It's unfortunate, but they don't sell the parts separately; however, I have additional plans for the extra parts and shelves that will be left over from combining the 2 stands together. I purchased the 4 shelf rack from Amazon for $149.99 and after some discount codes, I purchased the double wide 3 shelf stand from Monoprice for $180.20... @ ~$330, I'm saving ~$665 over the price of the Salamander. Was the shipping damage, a blessing in disguise... my wallet thinks so.   Amazon being Amazon, the 4 shelf stand was delivered today; Amazon delivered the 60lbs box without an issue... it was well packaged and everything arrived safe and sound. It actually took longer to unbox and cleanup than it took to put together... by using the shorter tubs and only 3 shelves, the stand fits perfectly next to my couch, so it will be used as an extrenel heavy duty end table. I needed one anyway, so now I'll have a matching end table and TV stand... The one I purchased from Monoprice should be here Monday / Tuesday, so I'll post an update next week. For those that may be interested in these relatively inexpensive, yet heavy duty component stands, the 4 shelf unit has 3 shelves with 75 lbs capacity per shelf and 1 shelf with 150 lbs capacity. The 3 shelf double wide has a capacity of 300 lbs per shelf.   |
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on May 12, 2023 21:50:41 GMT -5
After basically a week of frustration, FedEx is finally scheduled to pick up the damaged Salamander Console on Monday. Crutchfield was great... issue was with Salamander's return department and the original shipper. During the last week I was contemplating options... DIY vs buying something and then it came to me... after a quick chat with Monoprice, I decided to combine pieces from two Monolith racks into one. A few years ago I purchased their 4 shelf rack for my 2 channel setup and although it's very basic looking, once put together, the thing was rock solid; my son uses it now. Monoprice also sells a 47.2" wide stand; however, it's 30" tall; therefore, much too tall to use as a TV stand; I'm interested in 24" or shorter if possible. That being said, after a quick chat with support, Monoprice confirmed, that the various shelf spacer tubes can be mixed and matched between racks. It's unfortunate, but they don't sell the parts separately; however, I have additional plans for the extra parts and shelves that will be left over from combining the 2 stands together. I purchased the 4 shelf rack from Amazon for $149.99 and after some discount codes, I purchased the double wide 3 shelf stand from Monoprice for $180.20... @ ~$330, I'm saving ~$665 over the price of the Salamander. Was the shipping damage, a blessing in disguise... my wallet thinks so. Amazon being Amazon, the 4 shelf stand was delivered today; Amazon delivered the 60lbs box without an issue... it was well packaged and everything arrived safe and sound. It actually took longer to unbox and cleanup than it took to put together... by using the shorter tubs and only 3 shelves, the stand fits perfectly next to my couch, so it will be used as an extrenel heavy duty end table. I needed one anyway, so now I'll have a matching end table and TV stand... The one I purchased from Monoprice should be here Monday / Tuesday, so I'll post an update next week. For those that may be interested in these relatively inexpensive, yet heavy duty component stands, the 4 shelf unit has 3 shelves with 75 lbs capacity per shelf and 1 shelf with 150 lbs capacity. The 3 shelf double wide has a capacity of 300 lbs per shelf. I bought the four shelf stand last year for a two channel system from Monoprice and can confirm that it’s excellent quality. |
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Post by LuisV on May 13, 2023 8:35:12 GMT -5
For the price, the Monolith stands are sure hard to beat.
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Post by LuisV on May 18, 2023 11:36:59 GMT -5
I see a common theme here... FedEx delivered the package and low and behold, it was rather beat up, torn in various locations, etc. However, after unwrapping the box and contents, since the shelves are double boxed with foam strips between them as well as foam protecting the inner box from external damage, there was only a minor "ding" to one of the panels. The finish wasn't damaged, so it's not visible once the rack is in the room; however, to ease my OCD, I faced the "dinged" edge to the wall... after a few days, I should completely forget about it.  The Salamander boxes were also delivered by FedEx; however, the shelves weren't double boxed nor did they have any extra packing material for protection... at basically 5x the cost of the Monoprice stand, I'm thinking Salamander needs to rethink how their more expensive stands are packaged or at a minimum they should consider using a different shipper as FedEx was horrible. Assembly, just as with the smaller stand, only takes a few moments to put together; however, now I need to wait for the adjustable feet that I ordered from Amazon to arrive. So far, using the shorter tubes that came in this box with the same length tubes from the 4 shelf unit, and the included feet, the stand is ~26" tall, so once I swap the included feet for these, I should be in the 24" tall ballpark or at least that is what I'm hoping for...  |
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Post by LuisV on May 20, 2023 11:45:14 GMT -5
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LCSeminole
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Post by LCSeminole on May 25, 2023 18:22:10 GMT -5
The adjustable feet arrived... To allow me to adjust the feet and to keep the nuts from digging into the shelf, I picked up some fender washers from Ace. I just need to figure out how to cover the bolt hole in the top shelf for the center pole as it won't be used; the center channel is going on the middle shelf. Overall I think it worked out rather well. The Arendal sub in the background is 21.5" tall and this rack is slightly lower... mission accomplished.    I'll probably go with a cap bolt / barrel nut combo to cover up that hole; something like these:  Those look quite nice and sturdy, for the price paid I think you saved yourself a lot of work over the DIY option. |
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Post by LuisV on Jun 26, 2023 15:54:55 GMT -5
I was going to go DIY; however, I came across these on sale at Amazon, so I figured I'll give them a try. They fit 36 single movie BRs per shelf, so I think they worked out pretty well for my modest 4k BR collection. It's a simple design, 4 screws and done; however, to help avoid any unwanted noises during movie playback, I added self adhesive felt between the shelf and wall. I have another 100 or so standard Blurays boxed up in a closet, so I may purchase additional shelves... we'll see... for now these are basically a little more than an arms length away from the BR player, so rather conveniently located. Shelves on Amazon After living with the metal shelves for a month and a half, I decided to give my DIY skills a try as I needed to gain additional storage space. After a quick trip to Home Depot to purchase some 1x6 boards and a couple cuts with my Ryobi mitre saw, I came up with this new shelf. I styled it after the ones LCSeminole built... so kudos to him for sharing his idea. Next step is to cut braces to go between the shelves as well as create a "toe kick" type bottom brace. Once the braces are installed, it will be painted the same color as the wall... Sherwin Williams Iron Ore. When dry, to avoid any accidents, it will be secured to the wall with a couple of anchors.  |
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Post by LuisV on Jun 30, 2023 11:08:47 GMT -5
All shelf supports have been cut and screwed into place; all screw holes have been countersunk. I need to cut the last board and install it as a toe kick, but she's basically ready for final sanding and paint.  |
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LCSeminole
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Post by LCSeminole on Jul 2, 2023 19:14:40 GMT -5
All shelf supports have been cut and screwed into place; all screw holes have been countersunk. I need to cut the last board and install it as a toe kick, but she's basically ready for final sanding and paint. So have you done the sanding and painting yet? I'm curious now to see a finished product as I've not had the time to paint mine. I'm still needing to paint my living room/home theater, so I'm thinking since I have several picture shelves, console, couch and a divider island in a cherry wood color, I may just stain my media shelving a similar cherry wood color. |
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Post by LuisV on Jul 3, 2023 15:06:40 GMT -5
Work and life got in the way, so preparing the shelving for paint, has been a little slow... I applied a second coat of filler on the screw holes last night and plan to sand them after work. If all looks good, I plan to paint, at least a first coat, tonight.
My woodworking skills are far from perfect, so a little filler / caulk helps hide those imperfections. I also wanted mine to "blend" in and disappear along the wall as much as possible.
Matching the wood tone of your other shelves, console, etc. would certainly be a nice way to go... tough decision.
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Post by LuisV on Jul 5, 2023 18:32:17 GMT -5
The "toe kick" was cut to size and installed. I also applied the first coat of paint on the bottom side of the shelf... she's still drying, but here's a quick iPhone pic. After I took the pic, I painted the visible screw holes with a q-tip as well as the other sections that I missed. I didn't fill the bottom screw heads as they aren't noticeable once the shelf is upright.  |
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LCSeminole
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Post by LCSeminole on Jul 5, 2023 19:59:12 GMT -5
The "toe kick" was cut to size and installed. I also applied the first coat of paint on the bottom side of the shelf... she's still drying, but here's a quick iPhone pic. After I took the pic, I painted the visible screw holes with a q-tip as well as the other sections that I missed. I didn't fill the bottom screw heads as they aren't noticeable once the shelf is upright. That is going to nicely disappear since you're using the exact same paint color!!! |
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Post by LuisV on Jul 6, 2023 9:50:54 GMT -5
The "toe kick" was cut to size and installed. I also applied the first coat of paint on the bottom side of the shelf... she's still drying, but here's a quick iPhone pic. After I took the pic, I painted the visible screw holes with a q-tip as well as the other sections that I missed. I didn't fill the bottom screw heads as they aren't noticeable once the shelf is upright. That is going to nicely disappear since you're using the exact same paint color!!! Thanks LC... that was my plan; besides the movie case splines, for the rest of the shelf to "disappear". I gave the top portions of the shelf a coat of paint last night; I hope to give it a second coat during lunch. I'll post additional pics later today / tonight... |
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Post by LuisV on Jul 7, 2023 9:08:34 GMT -5
First coat has been applied... it needs a second coat of paint, possibly a third.  |
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Post by LuisV on Dec 6, 2023 12:45:19 GMT -5
Arendal recently announced that they are retiring their current 1961 speakers and are providing a 30% discount on existing stock... the existing 1961 subwoofers will remain active within their product line. Not much detail has been provided on what's replacing them, so in the event there are any voicing changes, I decided to take advantage of the discount and purchased another pair of 1961 Surrounds for the rear of the room. As with all my previous Arendal orders... the speakers were delivered quickly, well packaged and arrived safe and sound. After a quick visual inspection, I swapped them with my current surrounds to make sure all was ok sound wise. Plan is to leave them in place. Not sure if "break-in" is actually required or is simply a mind trick, but it was getting late and I, well, became a little lazy I didn't want to go through the process of swapping them. For my size room, I think it might be a little overkill with a 7.x.4 configuration, but we'll see how things sound once everything is in place. The Cinema 50 is capable of 11.4 channel processing however, it only has 9 channels of amplification. Plan is to reassigned the Marantz L and R amps to rear height duty and leverage an external amplifier for LCR; the Marantz will power the surrounds and heights. After an hour or so of research, I narrowed it down to three brands... and to be honest, the decision was rather easy... an Emotiva BasX A3 was ordered. I'm actually not sure why I researched things as I'm more than well aware of Emotiva's offerings and was extremely satisfied with my previous Emotiva purchases. I guess it's just habit... anyway... the A3 was shipped today, so I'm looking forward to it's arrival. Once the amp arrives, I'll post another update... my goal is to have the rear surrounds and heights mounted prior to Christmas and then enjoy... fingers crossed all goes according to plan. |
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Post by LuisV on Dec 8, 2023 21:02:56 GMT -5
The BasX A3 has been delivered, unboxed and connected... although the box made the trip without a scratch, I'm happy to see that Emotiva still double boxes their gear. I didn't rerun Dirac, I'll leave that for the weekend, but after roughly 5hrs of playing time, I have zero complaints thus far. The amp is dead silent... I mean, zero noise, zero hiss, nothing... unless a signal is present, nothing to be heard. The amp is roughly half the height of it's bigger XPA brothers, yet only weighs 25lbs... my back thanks you Emotiva... well done! The amp is actually cool to the touch; the Marantz by comparison is warm, not sure if it's running cooler, so for curiosity's sake, I'll do some testing over the weekend. All in all... very happy thus far... back to watching the Expanse... currently on Episode 3 of Season 2. |
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Post by LuisV on Dec 14, 2023 15:05:05 GMT -5
Marantz announced the availability of Dirac Live Bass Control... they are providing a limited time 30% discount:  |
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