My Parents have Ascends....

[Lou-the-dog]

Curtis, I'm sure there's some personal satisfaction in taking part in rekindling your parents enjoyment of music. Knowing that the Ascends were part of making someone else happy also puts a smile on my face too. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Randy

[curtis]

Randy, talked to my Mom today and she said my Dad was very happy...and yes it does feel good. Last night my aunt and uncle were at the house and my uncle grabbed some CDs from his car to give the system a test. Mom said that he wants to get a pair, but my aunt said he had to finish some other things first.

My Dad today even purchased the used set of of CBM-170's and nice stands from Audiogon today...I helped facilitate. He is excited about getting the HT setup.

The fun part will be teaching him how to use an HT receiver instead of his two=channel receiver.

-curtis

[curtis]

Hey...here is an update on my Parents' setup.

They just took delivery of thier custom entertainment center. Here is a picture of it at the shop:



The big opening was designed to hold a 50" Samsung DLP or 50" Sony LCD later this year. A CMT-340 will be ordered soon to sit on the glass shelf above that opening.

-curtis

[Gregisme]

sweet!

how much does something like that go for, going custom like that?
Are you saving money by going direct and eliminating the furntiure store markups? Or, does the extra cost of having something custom made negate that benefit?

[curtis]

It cost them about $2K.

I have not seen it upclose yet, but knowing my Parents, I am sure it is of pretty high quality.

They saw something they liked at the shop, and then asked for something similar but to their own specifications. My Father showed me drawings 6 weeks ago. Looking at furniture costs at stores, I think they got a pretty good deal.

-curtis

[Gregisme]

sounds like a very good price. I've got a unit coming that's not that dissimilar to the bottom half of your parents custom unit, and it's costing me $1750, pre-tax & shipping. It's a standard design, but they individually make them, I guess. It's made of crosscut oak, which may or may not be more expensive than the wood used in your parents unit, I don't know.

It's taking forever to arrive, hence, part of my delay in finally getting some sort of system set up.[V]

[curtis]

Looks like it would be about the same price...my Parents' cost is with tax and delivery. I am not exactly sure of the kind of wood or finish that was used.

Please post pics of yours when it arrives.

-curtis

[Mag_Neato]

Makes me ashamed of my $200 IKEA setup [:I]

Ed

[Gregisme]

Don't feel so bad. I saw a guy over avsforum post a picture of the wall unit that sits below his wall mounted plasma, and it looked nice. Very simple wood unit, adapted from a shelving system from Ikea. It looked modern and sleek, and cost a whole lot less than what I'm spending for mine..

Made me want to cancel my order (too late) and do something like that too. Granted, it had less storage space, at least in the configuration that he was using.

Curtis - I'll definitely share pics when I get things relatively in order.. just as long as you guys promise not to laugh at my 20" 17 year old TV! (I'll be jumping to a 42" plasma within a year, so I guess I can tolerate a little deserved sarcasm). [:I]

[Lou-the-dog]

Those old TV's just never die. Was waiting and waiting for my 27" Zenith console (that we bought with our wedding money) to die and it just wouldn't. I really wanted to be able to say, "gheez the TV just shelled out and I guess we'll just HAVE to buy a new one...OH DARN!" Finally gave up on the "death watch" because it just wasn't going to happen and convinced the better half that we "NEEDED" the Mits.

Randy