Sanus DFV49 AV Stand Review

Sanus DFV49 Build Quality

Many times when Audioholics reviews AV furniture it is from an enthusiast's perspective. An enthusiast is someone who regularly gets behind his or her gear to add, subtract, or just generally play with the objects of their addiction. The fact is that most people buy a display, maybe a home-theater-in-a-box, and a DVD/Blu-ray player and they are done. Add a cable satellite box and maybe a game system and they may not touch their gear until the next format or game system comes out. It is very much a once a year or maybe less event that they are forced to add or subtract to their home audio setup. These are the same people that buy a display once every 5 years.

That doesn't mean that they should have to crawl inside of their component cabinet to make those changes. How many people have bought a piece of furniture from a big box store just to find out that the only way to access the back of their gear is to pull the gear out? Most manufacturers are looking to make access easier and easier all the while maintaining an aesthetic that will sell. Sanus has long been a leader in the AV furniture, display mounts, and speaker stands markets. Their latest offering, the Designer Foundation Series, is intended to mate looks with functionality.

Build Quality

One of the reasons I was interested in the DFV49 is its width. Most AV stands designed to hold displays these days trend toward 60" long. While this is fine, I've found that I need more room for speakers. This was especially true when I was doing the $1500-$2000 speaker shootout. On top of that, if I ever want to have a second sub (or review some of the larger subs), I'll need more room up front. The extra 12" will allow me a little more wiggle room. The weight rating of the DFV49's top shelf is 150lbs which should hold any display that you'd want to put on top of it (unless you are still rocking an old CRT).

The Designer Foundation (DF) series of furniture was designed by Cramer Studios for Sanus. The series consists of two different designs, a three shelf display stand and a taller but thinner four shelf component rack. Both of them feature tons of glass with just a few pieces of mocha stained wood accents. This review will focus on the DFV49 - the three shelf display stand.

The DFV49 arrived as all Sanus equipment has, plastic wrapped to a pallet. There was a bit of damage at one of the corners but peeling back the box, it looked like there was nothing but cardboard underneath. Honestly, in almost all of the internal boxes, there were large cardboard buffers between the edges of the box and the internal pieces. Later on, I did find one of the metal shelf pieces a bit bent but was able to get it back in shape with some pliers. I can't be sure this was from the external damage but it seemed likely.

When it comes to packaging and wrapping, other manufacturers could really take a lesson from Sanus. Inside the large box, there were directions and two smaller boxes the same size but half the thickness of the exterior box. The top box had all the hardware and everything you needed for the first few steps of construction. You literally did not have to open the second box until the very end (it only had the shelves and doors in it). Also, all the hardware was in individually separated packages. This made keeping everything separate very easy.

Each of the pieces of the DFV49 were well wrapped and protected. I was particularly impressed with the black powder coated shelves. They were wrapped in both a thin layer of foam and plastic wrap. With a finish as nice as the powder coat, you don't want it scratched in transit and in spite of the damaged box, these were in perfect order.

The DFV49 AV Stand has wood corner posts, metal shelf supports, and glass doors, shelves, and sides. The sides have wood accents but these are not structural in nature. The back is a series of four metal panels that are screwed to the metal shelf supports. There is a large cutout in the center where two black plastic panels can be bowed between in order to run wires or removed to access your gear. While the rear panels are technically removable, it will take a screwdriver to do so. What is nice is that the four metal panels and can be left off for additional room or just for permanent access. This makes the DFV49 stand quite versatile. In a proper setting, you may be able to leave off both the bottom panels for convenience or one of them if you have a particularly deep piece of gear. Most stands don't give you this sort of flexibility.

Each of the shelves is glass and sits upon rubber nubs. The internal shelves sit on nubs you insert into the metal frame while the top shelf sits on top of rubber that cover the screws that attach the endcaps onto the wood corners and a pair of rubber rectangles that you stick onto the metal supports across the front and back of the unit. In my particular installation, I appreciated the fact that the top is not permanently attached to the unit. As I'll only have a center channel on top of the unit, I can easily remove the speaker, the top glass, and access any gear on the top shelf. This does make moving the unit more difficult as your first instinct is to pick it up by the glass top. Instead, you need to slide it along by pushing on the wood corners. A fully loaded DFV49 will be nigh impossible to move (especially with a display on top) so I suggest you get it into place before you start loading it with gear. The endcaps are plastic but will probably scratch a wood floor. You'll want to buy some sort of aftermarket carpet/wood slides for under the endcaps to protect your floor. I'd like to see Sanus provide additional foot options either included or at least as an add-on for their furniture.

The idea of all the rubber under the glass shelves is to protect the glass from chipping or breaking but also to eliminate any vibration noise. With the metal back panels secured by six screws each, there is little chance that you'll be hearing noise from that side. The glass doors are buffered by sticky rubber stops you attach to the front of the metal shelf supports so that is dampened as well. The only real problem I found was that the side walls, which slide into slots cut into the wood corner posts, may rattle a bit. You can rig a DIY fix by using some scraps of the sticky rubber nubs and pushing them between the glass walls and the wood.

Sanus DFV49 Setup and Use, Conclusion

The biggest problem with putting together furniture yourself is following the directions. It is especially hard with the directions are vague or incomplete. I ran into a few problems (some of them my own lack of reading, some Sanus' lack of direction) that I'll warn you off of now:

• When you start, make sure the top of the wood post has the slot opening. This is for sliding in the walls afterwards. It's an easy thing to miss.
• Don't install the top endcap at first. This part doesn't come until after you've installed the side walls.
• The metal shelf supports have two sides. Make sure both shelves and the top support with the holes are all on the same side. This is for attaching the back panels.
• Don't install any of the sticky rubber nubs until the end. This is especially important on the corner posts. This will ensure better placement for the door stops and access to the screws in the endcaps if needed.
• The back panels come in two sizes - the bottom opening is bigger than the top. Make sure you have the right panel in the right opening.
• You can make minor adjustments to the door from the screws in the hinge. You don't have to adjust the bracket for minor fit and finish adjustments.

Putting together the DFV49 took me about three hours. If you follow a few of the warnings above, you should be able to cut that in half or maybe even more. It's not a particularly hard piece of furniture to put together but it can be tricky. The build quality overall was very good but I did have a problem with the hinge brackets. The brackets are metal which you attach to the corner posts. You then attach the hinges to the brackets. The problem was that the screws holding in the brackets weren't very robust and the wood underneath wasn't very good at holding such a heavy load. In one case the wood completely disintegrated under the force and wouldn't hold the screw at all. If this happens to you, you can switch that wood corner post for the once diagonal to it (now you know why I suggested you hold off in covering the endcap screws with the rubber nub). I had some Plastic Wood on hand so I just slapped some of that in there, let it dry, and screwed into that.

One thing enthusiasts will note is that there is no provision for a center channel. For people with on/in-wall speakers or small enough speakers to be placed in front of their display, this won't be a problem. You could also theoretically leave off one or both of the doors. I don't plan on setting a display on the stand. Instead, I'll be running a front projector and setting a center channel on the top. This actually places the center closer to ear height than a normal piece of furniture which will have it behind a screen and at least 9" lower. For those on the market for a piece of furniture, realizing the center channel limitations of this unit is important.

Sanus likes to tout their "convection" cooling system. This amounts to openings at the bottom and top that allows hot air out and naturally pulls cooler air in. This system works just fine for gear that doesn't get too hot (like most DVD players, cable/satellite boxes, etc.) but isn't really enough for your hotter items like an XBox 360 or some receivers. You can combat this by adding a fan or leaving off one of the back panels. If you find you have a piece of gear that runs hot, you'll be tempted to place it on the bottom to where the cool air is coming in. I find that just ends up warming up all the gear above it. Instead, I suggest that the hot gear go on the top shelf where its heat can escape the quickest.

The fit and finish of the DFV49 is generally excellent. While the metal shelf supports were not exactly true, they were not hard to connect to the wood corner posts. The doors went on quickly and only minor adjustments were needed to get them lined up. All the glass is tempered and smoke colored so that IR remotes will not have a problem but they will also reduce visibility of the gear from a distance. Up close, you can actually look through the glass top and see most of your gear so you can see if something has become unplugged. Rear lighting might be a problem even though the back panels are metal. While the top will likely reflect the light, the opening at the bottom in the back may allow light to reflect off the floor and through the glass shelves. Side lighting might offer similar problems. I'd have preferred to see perforated metal sides perhaps with a fan option. Aesthetically, all the glass delivers a very impressive look. I would have liked to have seen more ways to run wires other than just through that center back opening. Around the back of the shelves between the glass and the back would have been nice. While you could run a very thin (think TOSLink) cable, larger RCA style won't fit with the current design. A slightly smaller shelf would have helped (or perhaps a cutout in the shelves). Larger receivers and amps may have a problem fitting as well so the may have to forgo the backs if you want to use banana plugs or large size terminations on your connection. Make sure you measure properly before you buy. The only problem I had with the fit and finish was the stain. It wasn't well penetrated and the finish damaged easily. While you don't have to treat the DFV49 with kid gloves, you may want to keep a brown marker around to hide any scuffs.

Conclusion

The Sanus DVF49 AV Stand is definitely a very nice piece of  furniture. While it doesn’t allow the unlimited access or center channel provision some of the hardcore enthusiasts would like, for many people it has everything they need. The smoked glass gives your gear the look of floating in your room. The top shelf is rated at 150 lbs which is more than enough for most flat panel displays and the 70 lb rating of the two interior shelves should hold all but the most outrageous amplifier. The stain seemed a little thin and the assembly directions vague and incomplete at times, but once it is all together, you'll have a piece that you can be proud of for a long, long time. While many could argue with most component racks that they could be DIY'ed for less, the glass and powder coated metal combination makes this piece a bit higher on the value scale.

Sanus DFV49 AV Stand

$469.99

Sanus | Systems
Milestone AV Technologies (Americas)
2221 Highway 36 West
St. Paul, MN 55113
Toll Free: (800) 359-5520
Phone: (651) 484-7988

www.sanus.com

About Sanus Systems
Sanus Systems, a division of Milestone AV Technologies, designs and builds a broad variety of audio video mounts, furnishings and accessories that will satisfy even the most demanding audio/video enthusiast or interior designer. Every Sanus product is engineered to enhance AV systems and the surrounding decor. Today Sanus offers more than 300 products, including on-wall furniture, home theater furniture, TV stands, audio racks, wall mounts and speaker supports. Sanus products are available at thousands of retail locations nationwide; a store locator is available at www.sanus.com.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

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Metric	Rating
Ease of Setup
Build Quality
Fit and Finish
Appearance
Performance
Value