(Credit:
Ace Bayou)
We have a soft spot for furniture maker Ace Bayou, because one of its media chairs appeared on Crave just days after we launched. In fact, we were hoping that our bosses might take the hint and buy us one to celebrate. We're still waiting.
Now the company has updated that model with its new "Wireless Audio Recliner," which has all the accoutrements of the earlier version (except for the leather), including a built-in 2.1 sound system, two speakers, and a subwoofer. But it does it one better, by doing away with those unsightly wires.
It's not clear what type of wireless technology it uses to connect to media players and game consoles, according to Slippery Brick, but the company claims that the chair itself somehow amplifies and improves the sound quality. Whatever. What we really want to know is whether this model, like the previous one, gives massages.
The Quest 300 series
(Credit: D-Box)If you've always envied those simulation rides at the fun fair, here's your chance to own a lifetime's worth of rides. D-Box's X3me and Quest chairs are leather recliners with built-in actuators that pull you into the onscreen action by rocking you around in sync with the movie's movement and sound.
A D-Box ride works with a D-Box decoder box or a PC that sits between your media player and D-Box chair. First, D-Box engineers code the motions in a particular movie into a series of motion controls that can be read by the decoder box and subsequently translated to the chair's hydraulics (actuators). These motion codes are constantly updated on the D-Box site as new movies are released. What this means is that only movies which have been coded by D-Box will work with the chair.
Capable of up to 2Gs of acceleration and 100 movements per second, it might be a good idea to keep some bags around if all that motion induces your gag reflex.
At more than $13,110, the X3me (comes with three actuators) may be a moot point, though D-Box has some less-expensive alternatives. The Quest is the same chair but minus one actuator and about $4,140 off the price. And if that cost still proves a little too heavy, D-Box also has the Universal Motion Platform, which lets you plunk your existing recliner onto a moving stage (with a choice of either of four or two motors).
(Source: Crave Asia)
(Credit:
StudioAV)
The last time we saw a set-up like this, we were trying to figure out how to spell Nebuchadnezzar without much luck. But this takes the concept behind the "G-Tech Neber" to an entirely new level, out of the clinical category and into the living room.
Despite its Pottery Barn-inspired name, the "Maya Single" media apparatus impressively features an architecturally designed chair with strategically positioned 60-watt speakers, subwoofer, and 32- or 26-inch screen perched precariously by a metal arm hanging overhead, all accented with natural wood trim, according to T3. The sound system definitely puts it ahead of the similarly inclined "Alternative Computer Control System" but, for pure technological appointments, it still falls short of the "Aura."
Still, the Maya is one sweet ride. The only major drawback, so far as we can tell, is that it doesn't fully recline.
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