Valencia Home Theater Seating Oslo XL Recliner Review

Most people who purchase this type of “entertainment-centered” seating, tend to purchase several units tied together in single or multiple banks of chairs. But what happens if you don’t have a typical home theater and are looking for a single, comfortable recliner to enjoy your music or movies from? Are you stuck with going to a big-box superstore or looking at high-price trendy furniture stores for options? Valencia Home Theater Seating has several styles of HT seats, with reams of customizable options to choose from, and they were only too happy to get my opinion on how one of their recliners would work as my main music listening chair.

If you frequent any of the Facebook or Instagram Hi-Fi groups or pages you’ve no doubt seen images of some really nice listening rooms built around people’s stereo systems. A fair number of these setups that I’ve seen feature the classic Eames lounge chair as the seat of choice at the listening position. It’s easy to understand why, the design is timeless, and it does lend a definite sense of style to any room that you find one in. But while I personally respect the look and choice of such a fashionable piece of furniture, I’ve never exactly found them to be the most comfortable chairs. I’ve sat in several of them over the years, some original examples, and some nice copies, and never could I quite get comfortable for anything other than a short stretch of time sitting in any of them.

Now my stereo listening room/studio won’t be showing up in the pages of Architectural Digest anytime soon, but I spend a lot of time there for work and play. I’d been looking for a proper listening chair to replace the old, but comfy, office chair I had been using for a while. Sort of an official “Secrets dedicated listening chair” if you will! I say that half-jokingly but honestly, we all want a comfortable chair to relax in when listening to music or watching a movie and I knew I wanted something relaxing to sit in but still be supportive. I certainly wasn’t after one of those chairs that almost swallows you up as soon as you drop into it, but I did want to be able to recline if I wanted. After reading Robert Kozel’s review of the Valencia Tuscany Home Theater chairs, I looked through the company’s website and saw that they had options for single seats too. Speaking with one of Valencia’s representatives, they suggested I try out an Oslo XL chair as a single recliner to see if that would meet my requirements.

The single Oslo XL recliner was unboxed and assembled in my studio listening space in my standard listening position. When seated, the chair puts me at a good spot where my ears are located roughly at tweeter height for most speakers that I have coming in for review.

The chair was well packaged, arriving in a single large box, and came in two main sections, the seat base, and the seatback. It’s recommended to have a second person help with the unpacking and assembly. Once both sections were unwrapped, the seatback easily slid into position on metal guides.

Once in place, two electrical connections needed to be completed to connect the two sections. This was made easy by well-labeled locking connectors that solidly snapped together. After that, all I had left to do was to plug the chair into a power outlet.

Besides the blue cup holder lights that come on at the push of a button, there is also a strip of blue perimeter LED lights at the base of the chair that will also come on too. This is more useful in a dark home theater but fun to have nonetheless if I ever decide to do any listening in the dark.

The main controls are in a row of four buttons located on the inside of the right armrest. The first controls the amount of recline, the second controls the amount of lumbar support, the third controls the angle of the headrest, and the fourth turns the cup and perimeter lights on and off. There is also a USB charge port located with the buttons for easily charging your phone or tablet.

On top of each armrest, ahead of each cup holder, there is a round metal socket meant for attaching optional accessories such as a wine glass caddy, a tray table, and a tablet holder. Both armrests also feature lift-up covers that reveal deep storage compartments for remotes, controllers, manuals, etc.

Valencia clad the Oslo XL seat I was sent for review in a rich chocolate brown Italian leather which was soft to the touch but seemed durable enough for expected repeated use. Valencia has several customizable options for leather type, color, stitching, etc. And as this is an XL model recliner, the dimensions are roughly 1.25-inches wider and 2.25-inches higher than the standard Oslo chair. The seat has a 300-pound weight limit. A 400-pound limit is available as an extra-cost option. The company offers a standard 3-year pro-rated part and labor warranty on the chair with extended warranty coverage available.

The Valencia Oslo XL recliner is an eminently comfortable place to sit in and it just continued to improve as it has broken in over the weeks. As I mentioned earlier, the Oslo XL is not one of those super plush chairs that will suck you up when you plant yourself in it. It provides comfort along with needed support which is what I was after in a listening chair. And while other members of my household who tried the Oslo XL seemed to agree with my general assessment, it also became quickly apparent that we can each have different things that we look for regarding comfort. When reading Robert Kozel’s review of the Valencia Tuscany seating, he really appreciated the lumbar support feature as something he couldn’t live without. I on the other hand had no need for the lumbar support, keeping it at its lowest possible setting, but the motorized headrest? Magic, I tell you, sheer magic! After living for years with home theater seats (from another company) that have almost no head support, it’s absolutely wonderful to have it here!

The Oslo XL’s fit and finish were excellent on my review sample. Nothing felt loose or haphazardly put together; the chair felt solid and tightly assembled with sturdy wood construction and a heavy gauge metal frame. The motion of the motorized recline, lumbar support, and headrest was smooth and consistent with the mechanisms sounding very quiet during operation. The rich brown Italian leather along with the diamond cross-stitching gave the chair a quality, expensive look and feel with practical durability that looks like it will wear well over time. The couple of extra inches of space available in the Oslo XL may not seem like much on paper but, in practice, I definitely appreciated the extra room for my arms and elbows.

Whether just sitting or fully reclining in the Valencia Oslo XL, it provided a place I truly enjoyed being in when listening to my favorite music or assessing a new piece of gear. It can be hard to appreciate how important having a comfortable media chair is until you start living with one. It’s fair to say that having this chair has added to my musical enjoyment more than I was even expecting. The only problem with the recliner lately is that I’ve had to fight family members for some time in the Oslo XL. Everyone comes down to my studio to sit and hang out in it! I suppose there really can’t be any higher compliment than that.

The VALENCIA HOME THEATER SEATING OSLO XL is a comfortable and desirable recliner that should find favor with any music or home theater enthusiast.

The Valencia Home Theater Seating Oslo XL makes for a fantastic single media seat/recliner to use with a HiFi system. With assistance, it was easy to assemble, and the quality of manufacturing was outstanding. In use, its comfort, available convenience features, and all-around good looks made for a welcome place to be for long listening sessions. And while my use case is a little irregular, one visit to Valencia’s website will open a customer up to an array of styles and a wealth of customization options to choose from, whether you are looking for one seat or enough to fill a large home theater installation. So, if you are in the market for home theater-type seating I would strongly suggest you check out what Valencia Home Theater Seating has to offer. Leave the Eames chair for the “Hoity-Toity” audiophiles out there, I’ll take the comfy recliner any day of the week! Enthusiastically recommended.