Bell'O PR-12 Chic European A/V Cabinet Review

[admin]

The Bell'O PR-12 is a beautiful piece of AV 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 floating sheet of glass hovering above the cabinet gives it a very chic and cosmopolitan look. The floating glass top will support up to a 175 lbs and has the width to easily support a 65†TV and probably up to a 70†if you don't mind the edges hanging over a little. The lower shelves have a 50 lb rating each and with 7 lower shelves with which to divide and hold your electronics, finding a home for all of it should not be an issue.

Discuss "Bell'O PR-12 Chic European A/V Cabinet Review" here. Read the article.

 

[corey]

Dave, you seem to dismiss as "hardcore enthusiasts" anyone with a center channel speaker that has mid-woofers larger than 5". I kind of think of 5" as a minimum, not "hardcore".

The last time I shopped for front speakers, I needed a small center, not too high, and 6.75" was the best I could do. I just don't get how you can rate this as excellent for features if it can't hold a modest center channel speaker.

 

[Rickster71]

Don't think it's that much of a problem if it can't accommodate a larger speaker enclosure inside.
A large center can always sit on top with the flat panel wall mounted.
Wondering if the mention of "hardcore enthusiasts" by Dave is a person that wouldn't want to compromise sound by having it inside a shelving unit instead of on top?

 

[MDS]

The design of any piece of AV furniture always requires trade-offs. My problem with most of them, even the nicer ones from the likes of Bello, is that often the height of the interior shelving is insufficient to hold a normal AV receiver. Most mid-range receivers are near 7" tall so an interior shelf height of 7" or even 7.5" really doesn't work unless you want to cook the receiver to death.

Space for a a large center is nearly always impossible. In order to accomodate a large center, the width of the cabinet has to be pushed out. That may also be a problem in some homes. I have the exact same problem because I basically have 86" of wall due to a fireplace on the right side wall at an angle. This limits the cabinet width to about 66" given that most floorstanding speakers are roughly 8-10" wide. So the trade-off is sacrifice the space for a large center channel speaker or mount the TV on the wall and put the center on top of the stand.

I originally had a stand built to my specs and was going to accept that any speaker upgrades would require me to use a center that is no more than 20" wide - exactly the limitation of this stand.

I've since changed my mind and bought a wood and glass stand with an integrated TV mount. It's only 50" wide but mounting the TV on the integrated mount leaves the entire top shelf for a huge center channel speaker. Being open it makes dealing with wire mess a bit of a challenge but there is plenty of air space for the components to breathe and was a trade-off I was willing to make.

 

[Guavamanh]

Actually, this console would be perfect for my Klipsch KL-120 center (15" x 17") if I took out the two shelves in the center. http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/kl-650-thx-specifications/

I've been having a hard time finding a cabinet for this center. I thought I hit the jackpot with this one. Perfect size, good ventilation system, nice design. However, it is too dark according to the boss (wife)... bummer. Anyone have any other recommendations for this unusually sized center?

I've looked at/considered:
Studiotech http://www.studiotech.com/index.asp?p=htc
Sanus http://www.sanus.com/us/en/products/av-foundations/av-component/CFV69
Salamander Designs http://www.salamanderdesigns.com/

This is a cry for help. Otherwise I might end up with something from Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn!

 

[Jarridh-sd]

Problem at home

Hi Again,

I was wondering if you had worked with Dr Graham Jones
in San Diego, he ment to be one of the best lung cancer doctors

Any help

Thanks



Lung Cancer
Asbestos
Mesothelioma

 

[digicidal]

This is a cry for help. Otherwise I might end up with something from Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn!

Welcome to my own personal hell. Here's what I have (yep from PB):

That center cubby is only 5 7/8" high... and although I've found a couple of centers that would fit in there... none that I would actually consider buying.

So now I'm giving up and just looking for something to mount the TV up off the stand with (can't wall mount since there's a window behind the TV).
Good luck - actually since you mention some pretty expensive options (like the salamander stands) you might consider just checking with some local cabinet makers or a finish carpenter in your area. There are tons of them that are desperate for any paying gig these days, and you might be able to have one custom designed and finished to your (and your 'boss') specifications for about the same money. Food for thought - I know if I didn't already have that PB crap (which I admit does look very nice - even if it sucks dimension-wise) that's exactly the route I'd be going!

 

[Guavamanh]

Thanks for the help, I'll look into custom options once we move in. I thought that route would be over budget ($1K was what I was hoping to spend, with $1.5k being the very top) Nice cabinet BTW

 

[BoogieNYC]

Hope Third Time's The Charm

I bought a 46" Samsung a few months ago and finally purchased the Bello PR-12 to allow me to house all my components in tandem with the TV and I bought the cabinet based, in part, on this review. I ordered it from Amazon.com and requested courier delivery but, somehow, they sent it UPS. Being that the box weighed 110 lbs, UPS rejected it and sent it back to Amazon. So I contacted Amazon and requested they do it right the second time around and send it via courier.

They sent it out the next day -- by UPS.

It arrived a day late (Friday) and the box looked about as damaged as the box in the photos contained here. But I hoped for little, if any, damage. I figured a small cosmetic blemish would be a non-issue and be the lesser of two evils (compared to having my equipment scattered all over my apartment).

Sure enough, I managed to open the box and the two front corners were damaged. So damaged, in fact, that the hinges were separated from the body and there were shards of espresso-colored wood-esque material all over the floor as I tore the box back.

After getting past the irritation, I called Bell'o and they told me to call Amazon regarding freight damage, which I did. I spoke to a supervisor (after about 20 minutes) and they told me to return the piece. I told them the box was ripped and torn up and the cabinet itself wouldn't even survive the trip. I was put on hold and when the supervisor returned to the line she told me to discard the cabinet -- after I offered to take pictures of all the damage -- and they would refund my money. I had two guys who work at my apartment building help me to get the cabinet out of the apartment because it was even more unwieldy with half the packaging around it.

When we tried to move it, it basically disintegrated.

Every piece of the cabinet came loose. The two glass doors, the front speaker-grille door, the top glass piece, the back, the bottom, everything.

It took about an hour or 90 minutes for us to collect all the pieces and get it into a wheeled garbage cart and out to the garbage area.

I ordered another unit from a local NYC carrier -- by COURIER -- and I am hoping the end result is better this third time around. I liked the color of the cabinet (it's not a shiny marbled color like the site shows) and it seems well built (if it's not abused by UPS). I still don't know if the center fabric-covered area is remote-friendly, but regardless, I think it seems well made and heavy, so I am just hoping it survives delivery and my eventual move (should be within a year). But the whole process is very disconcerting.

I also looked into Salamander and the Horizon N572 but for the money, this cabinet seems pretty solid. And down the line I'll mount the TV on the wall (in the mean time, it will sit on top of the unit). Everything seems really good about this product, so I'm hoping anyone reading this will avoid buying this type of cabinet from Amazon unless they ship via courier. They handled this situation as well as can be expected (except for the shipment) and I will buy from them again, but be careful when ordering something of this size from them and be diligent about the shipment and inspection of the receivables before signing anything.

 

[Audioholics]

That's crazy... It seems like the shipping methods are not all that ironed out , which is odd for furniture that's not terribly cheap to begin with.

 

[Pyrrho]

I find it strange that people buy such pieces of furniture, when they seem so poorly suited for the purported purpose. It seems only natural that a large TV would go with a large center speaker (because both are likely to be desired in a large room), so there should be room for one.

I personally use a stand that is like a wall mount, but is a stand, and the height is something that is variable in the setup (though not easy to change after one puts it together), below which are three glass shelves. I put a bookshelf speaker on the top shelf, vertically, just like my right and left speakers, and at approximately the same height. I have the TV mounted such that it barely clears the center speaker. Mine was cheap (less than $200 delivered; it is an off-brand thing I bought online several years ago), and can accommodate a very large center channel speaker. Mine is made of steel with glass shelves (the shelves are irrelevant to the structure, which is all steel), with no wood (though I personally rather like wood, if it is real solid wood, and not particleboard).

(My audio components are on another stand, as there is not enough room on the TV stand for them all, and I don't like components practically on the floor, where it is inconvenient to load BDs and such.)

I guess Bell'O is selling to people who do not care much about the sound quality of their systems.

 

[BoogieNYC]

That's crazy... It seems like the shipping methods are not all that ironed out , which is odd for furniture that's not terribly cheap to begin with.

Well, what's worse -- I just received a second shipment from a second vendor and selected "white glove" delivery. They walked it in and unpacked it. Looked fine, aside from two small issues -- or so I thought. The first was some of the rubber insulating holding the glass and the wood on the left door was loose. Upon closer inspection the reason why it was loose is because the door has a nice long crack inside it running along the top of the glass. The other "minor" issue -- the stabilizing leg underneath the cabinet was loose and came off...why? Because the bottom of the cabinet apparently had rotted partially and the leg cannot be reattached or glued.

Which means I can't and won't put anything in or on it, not with it wobbly enough to seem stable but obviously be anything but. I can't imagine killing a $2000 receiver or a $1500 TV because this IKEA-grade crap is ready to go poof a second time.

Next...the back left corner of the unit has a nice big crack in it -- just enough to barely be visible unless you're looking really carefully. The kind of crack that won't matter much until you try and move the unit, at which time the entire back piece will crack off.

I'm getting pretty fed up. Time to call Bell'o and see what they can do to save me from contacting my credit card company, the BBB and the Attorney General's office.

And Horizon.