Salamander 245 Black Posts (Walnut)

Purchased the Synergy 245 because I could not find another A/V console that was wide enough for my needs or had a center channel shelf with the right dimensions for my speaker. While the Synergy 245 filled those needs and has some good features like being customizable there were aspects of the unit which soured me on it right away. First, the assembly. Not only is the manual terrible and overly simplified. There is also no parts listing. Most manuals on the very first page layout all the parts and hardware needed for assembly along with part numbers. The manual that I received for the 245W/B only list large parts like the doors, top, bottom, sides and rear panels. No mention of how many brackets I should have or how many screws so on and so forth. Had I had such a listing to reference I would have know right from the start I was missing a number of items essential to complete assembly. I didn't receive any of the hardware for the double width center shelf. And not only did I not receive it, there was also no way to tell from there diagram exactly what those missing pieces where (No Part Numbers). I was missing the post cap. In a sealed bag I could see that I was only sent half a door hinge, the half that attaches to the support beam was missing and I was missing shelf brackets. This company has some serious quality control issues. Anyhow, since the company is not available for support on the weekends (I was assembling on a Saturday) I had to wait till Monday to speak to someone to try and get the parts I needed. When I made mention of how inadequate the manual is to the person I spoke to He made no real response and only gave a kind of "what are you gonna do" reply. In any case he apologized for the missing parts and sent out what I needed that day and I received it two days later.So I continued with assembly. I noticed that one of the supports beams had an ever so slight bend to it (again poor quality control). Last issue with assembly(at least I thought at the time). There was absolutely no mention at all in the manual on what exactly you are supposed to use as door stops for the two small middle doors to keep them from swinging inwards. The larger doors come to rest on a shelf support but there is no shelf installation where the smaller middle doors are attached. I guessed for a few minutes and decided I would call up Salamander once again for help with something that should of been made clear in the manual of this supposed high end A/V furniture. I get someone on the line and explain my problem and I am told that I need to attach two spare shelf supports (one on each side) to get the doors to stop. And then the CSR added "Well you know we do provide soft door close hinge attachments too" And after taking a second I reply "And?" "So my smaller doors will then close softly while the continue past the point they are supposed to stop?" Seriously??? Now I am annoyed because since there was no mention of doing this I had gone ahead and finished assembly and now I have to remove my TV and remove the 87 inch heavy top and also un-stick the post cap just to install to shelf brackets. By this point I was having thoughts of dismantling this over priced crap and send it packing back to Amazon. I also made mention to the CSR that the manual for this unit is completely lacking in detail and she totally disregarded my statement.Anyway, I took a deep breath and did what I had to do, feeling like I would get it done it would be over with and I could just try and enjoy it. But no, the issues where not done with. After I got the brackets in and the top and my TV back on and spent quite some time trying to get all the doors squared up, I figure I would fire up with A/V system and watch a movie. NOW MY FRUSTRATION REALLY CAME TO A BOILING POINT! As soon as some bass heavy parts began playing during the movie the unit began to rattle and vibrate ridiculously on the left side. I could not believe what I was hearing. This nearly two thousand dollar specifically marketed as high end home theater furniture sounded like a cheap particle board constructed Wall-mart entertainment center. Wow, just Wow! Turns out first issue was the very thin MDF side panels were slightly warped and second they where not built to the proper dimensions and leave business card sized gaps between them and the slots in the support beams used to insert them. There is also at least a 1/4 inch gap front to back between the support beams and the side panels. I contacted Salamander again this time via Facebook for some help with this issue and their response was price less."Hello, sorry for the delayed response.There are a couple of things you can try. The most popular solution is that you get some silicon caulking and run a thin bead of it down both sides of the side panel. The other easier but not as attractive option would be to wedge something like business cards in to the side panel while its still in place.I hope one of these solutions work out for you. We have found that they have for our other customers who have run into this issue before."Silicone caulk and stuffing business cards onto an almost two thousand dollar piece of furniture whose sole purpose is to be a home theater entertainment center, but it can't handle some bass from a sub. I kid you not! I could just in-vision people coming over and seeing the new entertainment center and noticing business cards stuffed in the side and me sitting there hoping they don't ask how much I paid for it. As far as the caulk goes after you make a mess and apply it what happens when you want to make a change from the regular side panels into perforated ones because one of this units supposedly good features is that its modular and you can customize it when needed, so how do I go about removing the caulk when I wan to make that change? I know for a fact this issues has affected quite a few people with this unit and similar ones. I figured I would try one last thing and see if it worked before going through a very long process of dis-assembly and returning this heavy crap. I ended up yet again removing my 65 inch TV and the 87 inch heavy top and stuffing felt, the type used on the bottom of chairs so they don't scuff the floors and wedging them in the gaps inside of the support beams until the MDF sides were tight to the beams. It worked only okay. It still vibrates a bit and the process of stuffing more felt takes a lot of time and effort so eventually I will try stuffing more but for now it is tolerable. This will be my last purchase from this company and will never recommend it to anyone!This garbage continues to astound me with how absolutely terrible it is. I realized I needed drawers for this lousy piece of junk since there is no separating middle panel underneath the double width shelf just two doors concealing a giant space where you cannot neatly put anything away. So I purchased the overpriced drawers and lo and behold the drawers are made equally as terribly as the entire A/V unit. The tracks make tons of noise and do not align properly. The Drawer face metal hinges either rub or bang into the black metal support pieces and the drawer comes to a stop metal on metal(tracks from the drawer and the track on the metal beams hitting each other at the end of the track) which should sound great when playing some bass along with the warped MDF sides that already rattle. And the best part is the giant useless gap your left with between the bottom of the drawers and the base piece because for some unknown reason Salamander could not make more than one size and style synergy drawer so since my shelf was static I was stuck with moving the drawers up far enough to be flush with the shelf so it did not look weird but I was then left with the weird gap. This would be almost comical if I was not so infuriated.. I am sick of this hunk of garbage and I am sending everything back regardless of restocking fees or having to pay return shipping or whatever on all the additional garbage accesories I had to buy to try and make this piece of junk functional. And speaking of additional overpriced lousy made accessories... Who makes high end A/V equipment furniture and does not take into account that most A/V receivers run deep. Salamander that's who. Because why would they manufacturing their furniture deep enough to appropriately accommodate equipment when they can charge you another $200 dollars for the privilege of 2 to 3 extra inches so your receiver is not making their cheap plastic rear panels bulge...

I'd say this wasn't the easiest to put together. Lots of little pieces and instructions suck. Overall I like it. Took forever to get shipped.