Surround sound with SOFA
When I was first approached to test the Lovesac Sactional with StealthTech surround sound, I’ll admit, I was kind of dubious.
I mean, how on Earth could a sofa have surround sound?
What would that even be like? And would the sofa be less comfortable because of it?
I am no stranger to buying sofas or surround sound. I love to redecorate, so I’ve bought several sofas in the recent past.
I have fairly good knowledge of sound systems because my family is full of nerds, and since my husband needs to experience movies in a visceral way, so we’ve always had surround sound.
I’m hard of hearing (and, depending on some conditions, profoundly deaf), so although I personally can’t enjoy the benefits of it overmuch, I like the joy it gives my family.
I was intrigued about how the Lovesac Sactional with StealthTech would hold up to my family’s high expectations for style, comfort, and sound — but it turns out they were the perfect testers for the product at hand.
WHAT’S BETTER THAN sinking into your couch, cuddling up under a blanket, and starting a movie for a relaxing night in?
Add snacks and a glass of wine, and it’s nearly as good as when you could stroll through the aisles of Blockbuster with your friends.
But video stores are out, and hidden surround sound has arrived.
Surround sound speakers can be ugly and hard to assemble,if you want to mount them and hide wires.
If you rent or move around a lot, that method might be completely impossible. To remedy this, Lovesac has boosted its Sactional couches with StealthTech, which includes hidden speakers and subwoofers.
I’ve been living with one for a few months, and it has proven just how bad my standard TV speakers were.
Once it’s set up, you can easily control the volume, and it feels like being in your own private movie theater, without the sticky floors.
Sactional couches are made up of seats and sides that you can configure however you want.
StealthTech adds a subwoofer that screws into the bottom of a seat (you just need your hands, no screwdrivers here!), and new sides, called Sound and Charge, that visually look the same but are internally equipped with front- and rear-facing Harman Kardon speakers that use Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
They also have a wireless charging pad built-in, so you no longer have to finagle a charger to reach you while you lounge.
Just take note of where it is so you’ll remember when the cover is over it.
Those sides plug into the subwoofer, which is then plugged into the wall. Once you have everything hooked up and ready, you can turn the seat over and set up the couch as normal.
Until you turn the system on and hear it, you’d never know this was anything but a plush couch.
Included in the StealthTech line is a center channel that plugs into your TV (and then connects wirelessly to the subwoofer).
This center channel alone sounds great, like adding a standard soundbar to your TV. But the real draw, obviously, is the hidden speakers and subwoofer in the couch itself.
The discreet surround sound is impressive. My October scary movie marathons were a little spookier using this system.
I rewatched Signs for the hundredth time, and hearing that alien clicking coming from over my shoulder was chilling.
There’s a remote for quick controls, but the app is a great addition. I selected my couch’s layout and where each StealthTech piece is—there are currently only recommended layouts, so if yours is different, you can only choose what’s closest to it.
I was also able to choose the color and type of fabric for my cover so the sound is properly adjusted to travel through it.
You can cycle through four sound modes: movies, music, TV, and news. Those auto-adjust the speakers and subwoofer to what Lovesac thinks works best for that mode, but you can edit as you please, add more bass, and adjust the speaker balance and treble.
You can also turn the entire system off, which I do when I just want some background noise from the TV.
Sactionals are meant to be organized and reorganized as you add more pieces or your living space changes.
You can make U-shaped, L-shaped, square, or regular old rectangular couches. In theory, they are simple to put together—no tools are needed and all the pieces connect with clamps and wooden squares called shoes that the feet click into.
In practice, they’re actually quite annoying and hard to deal with, and the pieces come in so many heavy boxes.
They ship through FedEx, so you may want to have some cash or freshly baked goodies for your delivery driver.
For this price, someone should really come and set it up for you.
Trying to add the new sides and subwoofer seat to my completed setup was exhausting to do on my own.
I ended up having to wait for my partner to get home to help me finish. When it was all done, I couldn’t figure out why the subwoofer wasn’t working.
Then I realized the plug had come out from the actual device, which was underneath the seat. I had to pick up the whole thing.
I wish it was designed in the same vein as storage seats you might find in an Ikea couch, which are on hinges, so if you needed to reset or replug in the device you could just lift up the top of the seat.
Lovesac does have storage seats, but they aren’t compatible with the subwoofer.
Lovesac Sactionals are one of the best couches we’ve tried, but also one of the most expensive. A standard three-seat sofa, which in Lovesac world includes three seats and five sides, costs nearly $4,000.
THE SACTIONAL
The sofa itself is a dynamic, modular sofa that you purchase by the section (seats and end pieces/backs). You can make it as big as you’d like or as small as a chaise lounge.
I have six pieces and eight sides, and right now, it’s set up in a C shape in my living room.
The cushions come in either a foam-filled or cushy down blend, the 200-plus fabric options are made of 100% recycled materials, and the frame is a combination of hardwood, steel springs, and multiple-density fiberboard (MDF).
There are two arm styles to choose from — rectangular or rolled arm — and the feet are about an inch and a half tall and made of solid wood.
The StealthTech surround sound and charging stations can be put in any of the sides, which transforms them into speakers with a wireless charging port on the top of the side.
Additionally, we have a charging station with USB and USB-C ports in one of the sides of our sofa, where we have charging cords installed.
The only caveat is that you need to have a power source nearby the sofa to power it, which can be logistically challenging for some homes.
The prices start at about $3,000 for your standard three-seat sofa, and the sky is the limit.
My configuration with StealthTech is almost $10,000 (yes, you read that right, but more on that later).
The hard parts of the sofa i.e. the frame and feet have a lifetime warranty, and the soft parts —covers and cushions — have a 3-year warranty. The founder and CEO of Lovesac, Shawn Nelson, tells Best Products that no matter what upgrades they make to the sofa, they will always be backwards-compatible, meaning the technology in your Lovesac couch will forever be upgradeable.
For example, if you already own a Sactional, all you need to buy is the StealthTech upgrade to get the surround sound, and it will fit in your model.
Depending on the fabric you choose, the sofa will arrive between 2 and 6 weeks from the day you order. Rather impressively, the sofa arrived in just 7 business days.
The delivery is free, and it’s standard FedEx delivery.
They drop the boxes at your front door, and you’re on your own from there. I was there when my boxes arrived, and I did tip the driver because, holy hell, it was a lot of very heavy boxes.
Each box contains one element of the sofa, either the side, the base, the cushion, the tech, or the covers.
Putting it together is a process, and I’ll be honest with you — it’s not a short one. Before you begin, you should check out this page that shows all the different configurations that you can do based on how many chairs and sides you have purchased.
The pieces connect via the feet — which resemble wooden cupholders — and U-shaped steel brackets that affix the pieces to one another.
The seats stay on the base thanks to Velcro, but the pillows are moveable.
LOVESAC
It took my husband and me 5 hours to put the entire Sactional together and another hour to figure out the surround sound.
Thanks to an unhealthy amount of Ikea shopping in our lives, our marriage can withstand any flat-pack build, though we both used the F word more than 10 times each.
It wasn’t because it was unclear what to do or how to do it, but simply because some pieces were just plain difficult.
The hardest part of the installation wasn’t the tech — that was very straightforward, and the instructions were easy to follow. No, the hardest part of the build was getting the covers over the frames and pillows, with the seat cushions being the absolute most frustrating part of the installation.
Imagine trying to shove a shoe on your foot that’s two sizes too small—that’s what it’s like to put the seat cushion in the cover.
