Configuring Chorus® for album collections
More information about customising Chorus record storage for your home – from 800 albums to thousands…
Is Chorus vinyl storage ‘free-standing’ furniture?
No. Chorus Wall and Island cabinets are securely anchored to your wall or floor. This is essential for safety and is designed to ensure that the furniture can’t be tipped over by accidental force.
What’s the minimum starting configuration of Chorus Wall or Island?
Chorus Walls and Islands are available as standard in two, three or four-row heights. You can have as many columns as your space allows but there are a minimum number of columns you need to start with, as follows:
4-row high Chorus Wall or single-sided Island
Starts at 3-columns wide = 12 shelves / 960 standard albums (1.63m high x 1.16m wide)
3-row high Chorus Wall or single-sided Island
Starts at 4-columns wide = 12 shelves / 960 standard albums (1.27m high x 1.56m wide)
2-row high Chorus Wall or single-sided Island
Starts at 5-columns wide = 10 shelves / 800 standard albums (0.91m high x 1.94m wide)
All double-sided Chorus Islands have a minimum starting configuration of three columns, irrespective of the number of rows.
Can I configure five-row high Chorus Wall or Island to increase record storage capacity?
Yes, but you’ll then need a step stool to finger flip. Unless you’re a basketball player.
What’s the difference between a single-sided and double-sided Island?
A single-sided Chorus Island has extending vinyl storage shelves only along one face. The back of a single-sided Island is a fully panelled, veneered or painted flush back for a super clean look. Islands work great as room dividers.
A double-sided Chorus Island has extending shelves on both faces (so it’s about double the width of the single-sided Island and can take double the album capacity). Double-sided Islands are especially useful for creating a vinyl library room.
Can my floor take the weight?
Vinyl is heavy and every fully loaded, 4-row column will weigh about 135kgs (including the weight of the shelves and cabinetry). When you request a quote, we’ll ask some questions about your home and the floor of the room where your Chorus furniture is to be installed. There are usually no issues with Chorus Wall installations but we do need to carefully consider Island installations as follows:
With Chorus Island furniture of any height and width installations are okay if:
You have a solid concrete floor
The room where we will install is in a relatively modern home. It’s almost certain that the floors will be supported by wood joists of a modern specification that can take the weight
The room where we will install is in an older home where floor joists have been upgraded to modern specifications
For Chorus Islands in 3 and 4-row heights, installation may not be possible if you have an older house (eg. Victorian) where the room where you want the Chorus Island installed:
Is on the ground floor
Has original floorboard joists (ie. they haven’t been upgraded to modern standards)
…And those floor joists run in the same direction as the intended Island installation
In respect of Islands, we may ask you to get a professional opinion from a local tradie/builder about your floor before we can quote confidently.
Can you create an entire room of vinyl storage shelves?
Absolutely. Many collectors dedicate entire rooms to record storage so we developed Chorus with vinyl libraries in mind. We design your library with a combination of Chorus Wall and Islands in a configuration to suit your space and wishes. The larger your collection, the more you’re going to appreciate the game-changing experience of the Chorus extending shelf system.
For vinyl libraries, we can also offer a turnkey service – from design to emptying, refurbishing and redecorating the room prior to installation. This work can also involve repositioning of radiators and plumbing, plug sockets, replastering walls, installation of ventilation etc. Our installation partner is an outstanding building business, fully qualified and insured to deliver a project that is compliant under the CDM regulations, Building Control and HSE regulations.
The quote-to-order process for vinyl library installations is slightly different to normal orders, as follows:
Prior to quoting, we’ll have a more detailed discussion with you about your room and fully scope out your requirements
We’ll provide a provisional quote and a provisional Chorus layout/design
If the design looks about right for you and you wish to proceed, then we’ll need to conduct a site visit. This is to assess any issues that we might face with a large and varied installation. We’ll need to investigate your floor (and floor boards if appropriate)
The site visit is chargeable in advance (your provisional quote will show you how much). If you go ahead with the order, the site visit charge is taken off the final price of the installation
After the site visit, we’ll be able to consider any design changes you want (or we recommend) and whether the provisional quote reflects the requirements. In some circumstances we may need to alter the provisional quote
Whatever the case, we’ll then issue the firm quotation for you to accept and the order will proceed as for any other sale.
Is Chorus record storage available for commercial premises?
Absolutely. We customise and configure Chorus for record stores, vinyl bars and cafés, hotels, libraries etc. We work with architects to provide specifications for any design and fit-out project. We can work on a supply-only basis to qualified shop-fitting businesses or provide full installation.
My record collection will expand. Should I order more shelf columns now?
We always recommend buying at least one column more than your current collection requires. This ‘empty’ column can be installed without the extending shelf and vinyl tray. Instead, we supply veneered or painted shelving in its place – and at reduced cost. You can use it as display shelving for your favourite objects until your collection expands. When it does, simply call us to order the extending shelves and we will courier them to you. They are very easy to install yourself.
Extending your Chorus Wall or Islands at a later date
If you don’t want to order an ‘empty column’, we can always extend your Chorus Wall system at a later date either by adding a new Wall or by integrating with your existing Wall.
If you decide to add a new Wall, you’ll have a ‘double panel’ thickness at one end, plus visible join lines in plinths and top.
Integrating Chorus requires some custom design, plus disassembly of part of your existing Wall. It will cost you a little more but you’ll have a more seamless look.
Note: You’ll always have join lines in the top, base and and plinth where the length of any Wall or Island extends beyond six columns (2310mm).
Can your system accommodate hi-fi components?
It’s not possible with Chorus Wall because of the anchoring system (which prevents efficient cable routing). We will consider custom design for Islands – please contact us for a call back.
What finishes are available?
Cabinetry
Standard finishes are:
American Black Walnut premium wood veneer with a satin, hand-oiled finish
European Oak premium wood veneer with a satin hand-oiled finish
…Or a white painted finish with a satin finish
We can supply cabinetry in other wood veneers (such as cherry, beech and more) and in other painted colours. There may be additional costs and extended manufacturing times for exotic wood veneers or other painted finishes. Please contact us for a call back.
Extending shelves
Each extending shelf has an aluminium tray in which your records are placed. The tray comes in six standard premium powder-coat finishes (see our Configuration and Pricing page).
We can also supply any colour in the RAL system. These will take a little longer to manufacture than our standard finishes.
Swatches
We can provide you with swatches (from stock) of our powder-coat finishes for the aluminium vinyl trays.
For non-standard veneer finishes, we may direct you to our supplier sites to view images of the veneer online (with the usual caveat that it’s hard to guarantee colour accuracy online). If you want to see your considered colours in real life, we may be able to send samples on request.
How do you accommodate skirting boards?
We can custom-build Chorus record storage furniture with a base and plinth to match customer skirting boards of most heights and thicknesses. This ensures the furniture fits snugly to your wall and minimises the gap around your skirting board. When we prepare your quote, we’ll ask you about the height and thickness of your skirting boards.
Please note, the standard configuration base frame height is 130mm to 280mm and we can accommodate skirt thicknesses up to 60mm as standard. The pricing is the same if your system stays within those dimensions. We can customise further outside of those dimensions for a small extra cost.
Please note that accommodating skirting boards taller than 280mm will require a higher base frame. For 4-row Chorus Walls, the higher base frames will raise the level of albums on the fourth row, and possibly above eye height. This may make it a little less convenient to finger flip, but not much so.
Can I fit your extending shelves into my existing static shelving?
No, because they are specifically designed and built for the Chorus furniture ‘system’, have set dimensions and require exceptionally tight-fitting tolerances.