Customer Reviews

Techcraft SWP60 60-Inch Wide Credenza (Walnut)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This thing is huge and very heavy. FedEx was lucky I was in the house when they made the delivery, because for sure, the driver would have a sore back after carrying this fine piece of furniture. It took me I think a little over 2 hours to assemble this item. Everything was perfect when it comes to placing the screws, doors, hinges, etc. Seems like this was perfectly outlined and planned in the factory for consumers to assemble all the pieces together without any glitch. My goodness, when it all came together, it looked like it was made from solid wood. Fine piece of art.

Now for the negative. This is the deciding factor for consumers whether to get it for looks over funtion. When I placed my Pioneer Elite 84 in one of the racks, whoa, I cannot close the door and this piece lacks in depth. For those people with the new huge audio-video receivers,I would say measure them first before buying this piece of furniture. Heads up to all of you guys, depth is a little less than 18 inches.

So, what i did is cut the back thin wood portion to give way for the receivers connections (back of the receiver). Now, I can close it after making some modifications on the back side. Ok, the result after making some modification. If you place this furniture on a wall where people will not see the back side from the sides, you are good. But if the back portion can be seen wherein wire connections are noticeable, you may see a little part of the back portion of the receiver hanging out because of the cutout I made so I can push back the receiver further so I can close the door.

My verdict, I gave this only 3 stars since the company failed to consider the depth of big and huge audio-video equipment. Did I make a bad decision for buying this product, my answer is no. For the price of it, I think I am alright though making some modification. This is a case to case basis for audiophiles wanting all their equipment flawless. For some, this is a good buy, but for others, it may be a pain.

NOW, YOU DECIDE!!!

We just purchased this TV stand (somewhere else) and LOVE it! We were concerned that our DVD player and speakers may not fit into the unit but to our surprise everything fit perfectly and we still have plenty of room for DVDs. Our 42" flat screen looks great and we have lots of room on the sides which is what I wanted. I was worried that it would make the TV look small but it does not. The middle door has a screen over it instead of glass which would be great for speakers. One thing I love here is that they make this part sort of optional and the screen can be removed and another piece of glass (not included) can be placed there instead to match with the other two side doors.

It was quite heavy and bringing the box up to our 3rd floor apartment was interesting. When I first looked at the assembly directions it felt like a daunting task but after organizing all the parts and making a game plan it wasn't that bad. It took us about two hours to put together. The parts are made of a very thick and heavy weight particle board with thin wood paneling on top making it look almost like solid wood with slight grains and knots. The fact that it is not solid wood is what is keeping the cost down (sort of). Though I would have preferred solid wood construction, this is the next best thing. This stand has weight and looks like it is solid. We are very pleased with the end result,
this is a very elegant and beautiful piece of furniture!

Written specifically for the Techcraft SWP60 Veneto series.

INTERIOR DIMENSIONS: I couldn't find these in other reviews or on the company's website, so I had to buy it and pray. Left and Right compartments are 17.75"D x 18.125"W x 16.5"H. Note that you can only see 14.5" of that height - the top two inches are covered with a decorative, necessary board.

Remember to account for the shelves you plan on using - they take up just less than .75" each. Also note that interior hinges keep you from using 100% of the depth and width at the same time. That is, you may have to push something back about a half an inch from the front if it is a full 17" wide component.

The interior dimensions of the middle compartment are exactly the same except the width is 18.75 inches - a little extra to accommodate many center channel speakers. My Infinity C25 fits nicely. They basically made this thing so that the three front doors have exactly the same size frame, and the interior dividers are just slightly to either side, so that the side doors rest on them, and the middle door closes with a protruding magnet.

Also worth noting is that there are only three holes pre-drilled for the shelves - in the middle and one to the top and one to the bottom. Obviously you can drill your own, but you should be precise because the shelves are pre-routed so they rest nicely on the metal cylinders that hold them in place.

SIZE COMMENTS: So, I have a nice old house that just doesn't have the huge rooms that some of the new, almost obscenely large homes have. I wanted the six compartments, demanded something where the center channel speaker would not look asymmetrical, but still wanted the unit as small as possible. In fact, going much over 60" width would be a bit much. After using this unit for myself, I don't think they could make a 6 compartment unit with less width.

I have my main receiver and the notoriously deep Sony 400-disc changer(~21.5" deep)both on the left side. They fit fairly comfortably from a height standpoint, but I don't have a millimeter to spare on the CD-changer because I wanted the shelf in the middle to give the reciever at least a little bit of ventilation space. And they had to be that way (DVD player on top) so that the IR signal recievers were seeable through the glass. I can also see both LCD screens well, but the top of the DVD player is difficult to see through the glass, and with that 2-inch piece that hangs down, you have to turn the CDs to their side about 30° to get them in. I'm just pointing out that you really have to measure if you have a lot of components.

I managed to also get my center channel in the center compartment with the shelf in the middle position by using the extra 2 millimeter indent up top by putting the shelf and speaker in, and then putting the metal cylinders in to hold the shelf up. Below that, I managed to cram my secondary receiver with whole-house speaker switch on top, and Wii to the side. Luckily, this doesn't look messy because of the mesh cover, but it is tight*. I justify it because the speaker switch is not deep and does not cover much of the venting, and I don't play that amp too hard.

On the right, I have a laptop acting as a music server. It's fairly comfortable to use in *short bursts* sitting on the floor.

THE BACK: I never even thought about putting it on. Honestly, I'm not sure I could get the two big Sony components in the right side without tilting them (which I can't do when they're both in there) or taking the door off.

Also, that 400-disc changer hangs out an inch or so. I put it on the top also so that I could push the whole thing all the way to the wall, rather than just to the baseboard.

All this said, I am super happy with the size of this thing, but you have to consider it carefully. I stapled tie wraps into the exposed MDF on the back and used velcro cable ties to ensure there isn't a mess of cables on the floor that gets in the way every time I move this thing back and forth. But it's actually fairly easy to work on just by moving the whole thing front and working on the connections with no obstructions. You can't see the wall through the glass when this thing is in place anyway because it's neatly full of components.

LOOKS: As I said, I have an antique house, and would normally be disgusted at the thought of putting modular furniture in there, and the price seemed way too cheap to be decent. But, it's not like I'm going to find some beautiful, old, well-built piece of furniture that's going to hold electronics funtionally. I love electronics, and don't think they should be hidden, but they also shouldn't be obscenely out of place. This was the perfect solution, indeed. It really does look fantastic, and I see how they kept the costs low without making it look crappy, so it's not too good to be true.

Everything you can see with the doors shut have a really great veneer, and everything inside is a cheaper, but not totally horrible veneer. The color is deep and rich. As I said earlier, they kept all the door frames the same size to cut down on cost, made it modular and easy to ship (It is only about 105 pounds, by the way), oh...and the sides and legs are one piece, so there's no seams there. Also, all other seams are well hidden, although mine is staying together very nicely with no apparent separating anyway. I think it's just a matter of making it a point to turn those metal discs that grip the screws a full quarter turn plus.

I've looked at all the ~$1500 models at Best Buy and they (honest to God) don't look as good. Perhaps I'm not into space-age or overly contemporary. But this fits my home just fine - it's not trying to be something it's not, but it still has enough class to keep up with the rest of the place. It stands off the floor and you can't see a single wire (obviously, the wall has a pass through in it).

So...extremely happy with the looks and quality.

ASSEMBLY: I can't imagine anyone would have any trouble with this unless they've literally never picked up a screwdriver before. It might take a good hour or so if you're taking your time. Remember to adjust the depth (as described in the manual) of the doors as well as the height if you want to make them not scrape. Just be patient...

CUSTOMER SERVICE: I was annoyed that they never wrote me back when I asked them about interior dimensions, but - to give them the benefit of the doubt - perhaps it went to junk mail. Either way, they redeemed themselves by allowing me to make an automated request online to replace two doors that had minor chips on them. They sent it quickly and now I have perfect replacements.

BOTTOM LINE: Absolutely deserves five stars. Don't count it out if you have a lot of big components, just plan carefully before you buy. One thing, though - the company should really publish the interior dimensions.

We found the TV stand on Amazon, but wanted to see it in person at the store before purchasing. This item was available and on display at Circuit City and we ultimately purchased it there for ~$400.

I agree w/ R. Villa that the depth of the A/V cabinets is shallow for some of the largest equipment out there, especially once interconnects are made. As I've had to modify past entertainment centers as the other reviewer has noted, this was not unexpected to me.

The unit was packaged nicely and is very heavy. Assembly instructions were fairly easy to follow and once assembled the finish is very nice. Stand has a rich, contemporary and elegant look.

The unit fits our 61" Samsung DLP perfectly.

Very pleased with the purchase.

While the quality of the item seems slightly above the norm, customer service from this company is dreadful. My new equipment sat around in boxes waiting for a replacement for a damaged shelf that was delayed, then delayed again, by mix-ups on the company's part. Their refusal to budge an inch from their standard process, even though it meant further delay for a very unhappy consumer who had gotten tired of run-arounds and excuses, is a far cry from the real customer service I've experienced elsewhere. I will never buy another TechCraft item.

So I spent many days researching tv stands, and having a hidden center channel rack was one of the biggest criteria. Especially one in which I could mount a decent center channel. In the end I found this Techcraft to be the best - on paper. It had the largest center channel shelf of pretty much any stand I could find, able to accommodate 18" wide. And as already mentioned in previous reviews that's just able to house a Polk CS1, which is a pretty decent center channel.

I purchased the stand in black from another site, and when I got it I was very happy with it. It's not too difficult to assemble and the quality was very good. All in all it turned out to be a very sharp looking stand. But one thing I noticed right away was the inside of the center door - the one housing the center channel. The mesh frame, as well as the frame of the door itself, makes the mesh opening much smaller than it appears from the outside. You can kind of see what I'm talking about in one of those review pictures where the door is open. So while the shelf is able to accommodate 18" in width, the actual mesh opening for the sound is considerably smaller. When I placed the CS1 on the shelf and installed the door I noticed just how bad it was. I would say the mesh frame (made of a strong cardboard) covered about 75% of the woofers and almost covered the tweeter entirely. This was unacceptable. I spent an hour with a dremel carving off the top half of the cardboard frame - so that way the mesh went all the way to the door frame itself. After doing that I would say that only about 10% of the woofers are blocked (now by the door frame itself) and the tweeter is pretty much clear. I was pretty happy with what I did.

The next day though while watching a movie I noticed that the center channel sounded ever so slightly muffled, or almost like it had an echo to it. So what I did was rig the door so I could open it and close it while sitting in my normal seating position. While continuing watching I opened and closed the center door and could definitely hear a *slight* difference. The CS1 sounded a bit more clear and bright while the door was open - and didn't have that mild echo to it. So even with the mesh frame cut out there was still a slight sound quality hit to the CS1 when the door was closed. I haven't decided yet if I'm okay with this and I may just end up placing the CS1 on top of the stand (since the tv will be wall mounted). I'm not too bothered though, I still feel like I got a great looking stand for a great price, and I can just used the center channel shelf for storage. The mesh would still serve a purpose as that's where I put my receiver as well, and it's good for that to get some air.

So - great stand. Solid and good looking. But I wouldn't recommend it for a larger center channel. Having most of the speaker blocked by framing is quite unacceptable.

This TV stand was perfect for our 60" 200lb LCD TV. It looks nice, hold the weight, and wasn't too hard to put together...once we received all the necessary parts. When we received the box not only were the edges of the top piece damaged in several places, but all the hardware to put it together was missing! I called in and eventually they sent out a new top piece and all the hardware at no extra charge of course. To my dismay, the new top piece still had a few small dents in the edge, but much less noticeable than before so I decided to just let it go. The design, function, and quality are great, but I have to say that the packaging leaves some to be desired.

Great TV stand -- even fits the 67" Samsung DLP we have (0.25" overhang on each side, no big deal). Looks very nice, assembly was easy. My only issue is that the finish seems to nick/scratch very easily, revealing the lighter wood underneath. So buy a touch-up pen.
The shipping was an issue -- the original tracking number given via Amazon didn't match at all with the shipping company CEVA, so the item was lost for about a week before it got delivered. It just showed up one day.
A note on the assembly -- depending on your AV receiver, it might be best for heat dissipation reasons to leave the backing off. Also, I found it useful to bore several 1.5" holes through the vertical boards inside to allow me to efficiently run cables and not have the proverbial "rats' nest" visible behind the stand.
Great product, great price, track the shipping carefully.

I purchased the Techcraft Veneto TV stand because we have small children that I want to keep away from the TV components. We ordered the larger, 3-door model in hopes of using the Techcraft mounting bracket to mount a large flat screen TV about the credenza without having to mount it on the wall.

The unit was VERY tedious to assemble. In addition, the wood scartches and chips really easily and because the wood color is dark, the scratches and chips show a lot!

I think the unit will serve its purpose of keeping the children away from the cable box and DVD player but I am sad that it show wear so easily.

I generally think of Sauder and cheap when it comes to "some assembly required" furniture. So far I have been pleasantly surpised by this unit. Assembly is quick, although I swear one of the guide pictures is mirror image. For the size of this stand it packs some weightand is well finished. My only gripe is the center door which is not smoked glass, but speaker cover material. It is good if you are going to put a speaker there, but otherwise it's hard to clean. Also for the record a large housecat can easily be put into one of the compartments on the side.