The Ballerina Sweetspot
It had to happen. We've had audiophile furniture, acoustic wall coverings, audiophile-grade power sockets, there was even a company making audio carpets. It was only a matter of time before someone started to think of the perfect audiophile chair. The Ballerina Sweetspot now completes the audiophile home catalog.
The Sweetspot listening chair by klutz design is the brainchild of Swedish designer Jonas Rylander and audiophile Michael Hollesen. Starting out as a plan to make a chair with hollow arm-rests to hide the remote controls that form a key part of today's audio experience. The two then proceeded to brainstorm what would then be needed from an audio chair, including a headrest comfortable enough to allow long-term listening, but not so large that it created rear-reflections and interfered with the sound, a lower than usual back, but with lumbar support, adjustable height to match the tweeter angle and feet that help isolate the chair from vibration.
Available from early 2010, the prototype of the chair is on display at Audio Concept in Stockholm. That might prove just a bit far for our audio comfort zones, so we hope to have details on prices (not just in Euros) and availability soon.
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Comments
I've contacted the distributor. The price for the Sweetspot is expected to be around $8,000. The company plans to build just 50 a year and they are all numbered. Sadly, someone has already bought chair #7... as long as it says '007' on the back.
Alan Sircom
Editor, Hi-Fi Plus Magazine
London, England
editor [at] hifiplus [dot] com
Haha :) Did he pay a premium ?
No, of course not - they have excellent national health care systems in Europe. :)
GOOD POST!
It really is about time. Good chairs that fit in a home are tough to find. An Aeron is great if you're single but refusal to part with it would pretty much assure you WILL stay single!
It took me two years to find a listening chair I liked. I settled on an a black napa italian job. A leather swivel chair with a matching ottoman that feels as though you are seated in a grand tourer like an Aston Martin DBS or a Ferrari 599 Fiorano. It even smells like a sports car. First time I sat in it I asked the sales person where the steering wheel was...a double entendre about the feel as well as the price.
What this means to me is hours of comfort. No plush chair backaches to go with the plush chair penchant for making one drowsy.
The price? 2 grand less than this. I've got two ears but only one back.
Oh you're so clever! Have a bling bling new year!