Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a robust and carefully designed stand over all. The heavy black base is some sort of dense plastic so far as I can tell, with a sturdy aluminum frame hidden beneath to which the aluminum mast attaches with bolts. (By the way, the Amazon illustration makes it look as if that mast is black or dark gray; it is instead a silver, matte aluminum, at least in my stand--a very solid extrusion.)
There were a couple of issues. 1) The ball mounting between mast and the bracket that attached to the back of the tv didn't provide enough friction to keep my 32" LCD TV level, even with its thumb screw tightened down. This may have been because my TV includes a built-in DVD player and thus is heavier on one side. However, the TV also tended to tilt forward. The fix for the unwanted tilting cost me $0.72 for hardware plus the time for a little figuring and drilling. 2) While the two shelves and the TV mount adjust up or down by about 6" via slots in the mast, I wanted the TV mount and one shelf to be lower. Cost was a little time to drill a couple of holes in the mast and relocate the items. The shelves are tempered, smoked glass. They and the bolts & brackets that anchor them are quite sturdy, with the shelves cushioned in flexible, clear plastic to avoid cracking.
The assembly diagrams are simple but clear. All the possible brackets, bolts, nuts, etc. for various permutations of mountings are included, packed in clear plastic sleeves with numbers corresponding to the numbers in the assembly instuctions. One bolt was misnumbered, but there was no real confusion since the assembly diagrams include full-scale drawings of each nut, bolt and washer. When standard assembly is completed the TV will tilt and pan by maybe 30 degrees (my modification reduced this). The TV is positively attached to a stand that would be quite difficult to overturn, even if one tried.
The wire guides are heavy cardboard that one bows and then fits into slots in the back of the mast extrusion. I would say that the jury is out on their durability. Customer photos that I have seen of Sanus's larger stand show dangling cords, which suggests to me that the guides are not of the best. I may replace them with plastic sheet cut to size--or just use duct tape, which would fit within the wire slot and match the mast. Update: I have tried the wire guides out some more, including a lot of pulling on them, and they actually seem secure. It may be that users are not willing to flex the guides as much as required to install them. It seems like they should crease permanently, but they do not and so work well.
This is Sanus's medium size stand, according to the box, and I would recommend paying attention to weight limits and upsizing to the large stand if you have a really big tv or even one near the upper limit. Any reasonably handy person should have no trouble assembling the stand, especially if they don't have the off-balance TV problem that I mentioned. Even standard assembly will take a while, but that is because of the care taken to make the stand sturdy. A non-handy person probably should avoid or find a handy friend.
To sum up, I am quite happy with the stand.
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Sanus Systems Ffmf2A-Sb1 Platinum Furniture Series Medium Flat Panel Tv Stand (Black)
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