Sturdy and lightweight. Sleek, modern, yet elegant styling. Very inexpensive. An optional DVD/Videotape unit also available.

None really. If you saw "The Ring," you might want to think twice about having this in your living room.

This is a review of the KAXAS Rack. The Kaxas is one interesting piece of furniture. It has a dual purpose: it can be used as a coffee table w/magazine and knicknack storage area, or a very streamlined yet elegant tv stand. The latter of which was my reason for its purchase. For $59.00 regular price, you really can go no wrong. It now supports my 125 pound Philips Widescreen 30" HDTV quite nicely. And the ample glassed-in storage area below holds a VCR, DVD player, or any other component you. The metal leg supports are quite rigid, and without the tv it supports, is quite lightweight for easy mobility. The only weakness I can think of is its very low profile--I wish it was about a half a foot higher. However, there is also a larger unit--for $79.00--- that's about a few inches less in width. One added note of trivia: The KAXAS is featured as housing Naomi Watts' television and VCR in the movie, "The Ring" Coincidentally, one might be a little trepidatious having this unit in their owen living room---just leave the VCR out!

Similar Products Used:

Sound Organisation Z545 audio rack.

stylish, construction, mobility, open architecture

slightly shallow depth (15 1/2 inches) for full size components. TV depth is OK

IKEA Timra Audio Video rack for 28 inch tv and 6 components. I just finished assembling this unit and am impressed by the quality build and stylishness. Very heavy wood and metal construction materials and even wood dowels are used to secure the pieces. It takes 2-3 hours to assemble. It holds all my pieces: amp, preamp/processor, CD changer, DVD, VCR, 27" TV and even has plenty of room on top for the center channel speaker. It has casters to move it around when I want to get in back to change wires or components. The design is open architecture -if like to hide your components, this is not for you. My only complaint is the depth is slightly scant forcing the components to hang out an inch or so. Overall nice piece of furniture for the $$.

I give 5 stars to IKEA TIMRA audio rack, cuz for 100 bucks it delivers quality, features (casters) and looks (it's very tall with fine wood and two alluminium tubes... You could get as pretentious as you'd like with other "posh" brand names out of the fancy furniture world but this is a nice thing for what its built. they also have a tv stand designed in the same way.

Affordability

Your audiophile friends will laugh at you.

I purchased both the TVING entertainment rack and the STYVVIK (?) speaker stands, so this is a review of both.

The speaker stands are definitely not audiophile grade... they aren't rock stable, you can't sand fill them, and spikes will only make them more unstable. I have the uneasy feeling that they might be robbing some bass response and midrange clarity, I can't be sure. The good part is that they do what they intend to do; hold the speaker off the floor. They are adjustable for any reasonable height, tilt back (if needed) and will hold more than you think. I have a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors set at 26" and level (not tilted) and am not worried about them falling off. Add some kind of padding or sorbothane to keep them from slipping off. Any larger speaker would look ridiculous, and give your audiophile friends another chance to laugh at you. A word to parents: these things are not child resistant (is anything?)

The TVING rack is a very nice deal, and fits perfectly (cosmetically) with the speaker stands. Television, receiver, and all the sources have a place. Simply put, what Ikea makes is not solid cherry, mortise and tennon, will-to-your-grandkids-'cause-it-lasts-forever type stuff. It is, however, head and shoulders better than anything you will find and Circuit City or Best Buy and at lower cost. Its laminated MDF like the other stuff, but laminated EVERYWHERE. You will not see unfinished material if you look underneath.

In brief, none of this is the same caliber as Target, Bellogetti or the other audio-specific manufacturers. The price is right, and they do their job without straining. I still look forward to a pair of Target speaker stands to see if there is a real sonic difference. Until then, I see no reason to bash these products.

They are good and cheap. They're just stands for crying out loud. save your money. They are adjustable. It also tilts.
3 stars cuz good value, but appearance is plain.

To be honest, these stands just plain suck. They remind me of the music stands we used in High School to prop up our sheet music. They are unstable, unatractive, and lame.
The hidden cord run can not accept heavy gauge speaker wire, there are no spikes and you have to (read must) point the things up to get you speakers to stay on them.

Yes, stands are just tubes of metal but you get what you pay for.

(I took mine back.)

I also just purchased the timra audio rack from Ikea yesterday.Easy to put together and it seems to be very sturdy.The colors are great and it looks beautiful in my home.My separates seem to fit in just fine.I give it five stars because for $99 dollars its an easy hot pick!

Bought these stands to get my satellite speakers off of the entertainment center(too high). I see how placement affects the sound for both music and movies. Before, the sound went above my head and sounded unnatural. Now the soundstage sounds much better and the vocals for movies is even more anchored to the center of the TV.
These stands are totally bargain basement and not very sturdy, but if anyone has alternatives like a home depot solution or different DIY ways of getting speakers to the right listening levels, let's hear the solutions.

What would be good material to place speakers on (concrete, wood) and what makes a decent stand decent (materials used and the way it's put together)?

4 stars for allowing me to hear the difference stands make.
3 for overall build and quality

Inexpensive, adjustable, hides the wires from view by going down the length of the stand.

stability

I'll admit to buying a black pair of these speaker stands from IKEA. I'm actually using them with my Mission 700s and I'm getting very good sound from them. They're not as bad as they seem but they do the job if you're looking for an inexpensive pair of speaker stands. They cost less than $100 Cdn. for the pair. I should mention that these speaker stands are to be used with either bookshelf or surround speakers. If you need stands for your floor standing speakers then these speaker stands are not for you.

The speaker stands allow the listener to adjust the hight of the stand and the tilting angle of the speakers. The weighted base is heavy but not perfect especially if the floor is not very level. I've placed small pieces of binding material to keep the stands level and stable. One feature that I like about these speaker stands is that the speaker wires can be threaded up the stand to be hidden from view.