Experiencing Chorus® record shelves

What’s the Chorus browsing experience really like and why does it make vinyl life easier? The revolution explained…

How does the Chorus extending record shelf change my experience?

We all love the finger-flipping experience of exploring vinyl at a record store with LPs stacked face-on in bins in front of you. But we also know that this storage set up doesn’t work at home with large collections. Most people have to stack end-on, on static shelves, for space efficiency.

The revolutionary Chorus record storage system changes everything. With its extending shelf, you can now get the efficiency of end-on stacking with a finger-flipping record store experience. Going from finger-picking frustration to finger-flipping goodness has two key benefits:

• It’s much easier to store and explore your record collection, especially if you have lots of older albums with thinner, less-than-perfect spines. It’s the finger picking which damages cover spines (and possibly yours too if you’re craning your neck to try and read them)

• If you have lots of new albums, an extending shelf is simply the very best way to avoid damaging them from finger picking. You’ll keep them looking great for years

Simply put, if you love and care for your record collection, we’re confident you’ll love Chorus. We believe it’s the best end-on vinyl storage system on the planet – that’s what we set out to achieve.

Does it take long to get used to the change?

Give it a week… and then you’ll never look back. A weird thing happened at a customer clinic when we were prototyping the extending shelf. Every person approached the shelf as if it was a static shelf – fingers forward and primed to dive into the stack to extract a record. That’s brain/muscle memory in action! Of course you should approach the Chorus extending shelf with your fingers out, palms upwards and cup them under the bottom edge of tray (it has an integrated handle). Then pull. That’s the ‘hallelujah!’ moment, a phrase used by one of those customers. Once you get that idea into your memory, vinyl life changes for the better. Forever.

What’s a good analogy for the new experience?

It’s like the kitchen storage cupboard in every home. Accessing all the stuff at the back is such a pain that most people with super-busy lives just go for the things at the front. And when they get round to the occasional clear out, they find things bought months and years ago and probably long beyond a use-by-date.

LongPlayer’s Chorus vinyl storage furniture makes exploring and accessing your albums so much easier. With traditional, static record shelving, going through your collection is a pain. Every single vinyl lover with a large collection that we’ve ever spoken to says the same thing – there’s vinyl in their collections that’s been forgotten and not played in years.

Thankfully, vinyl doesn’t have a use-by date. And exploring and finding hidden gems again can be a truly wonderful thing.

How do you keep albums upright? Are they tightly packed?

No! Never! Here’s how we do it…

Stack records onto the record tray, gently manipulating them to almost upright as you go. Stop adding any more records when the stack is about 30-40mm from the right-hand-side of the tray. Now, using a flat wooden kitchen spatula inserted towards the bottom of every 10 or so albums, spread the records gently across the whole space. Gravity will keep your records happily upright with little pressure on either side of the vinyl. It takes just a few seconds of spatula action to get your LPs sitting happily vertical without the squash.

How much finger-flipping space do I get with Chorus?

Depth-wise, with the shelf fully extended you’ll see more than half the album face (approximately 185mm). This width comfortably fits a hand and allows for easy finger flipping.

Width-wise, across the stack, if you stack as we have described above, and then you apply light finger-tip pressure on the face of the album stack, you’ll have about 50-60mm of finger-flipping space. In use, it’s absolutely all you need. It’s the perfect trade-off between keeping your vinyl nicely vertical and making exploration and access easy. Check out our video to see finger-tip compression and finger flipping in action.

(PS. don’t you just hate it when you go to a record store and the bins are so tightly packed that finger flipping is impossible?!)

How much gap is there above the albums when stored in the shelf?

A standard 12” vinyl record has a cover measuring approximately 313mm high. When closed, the Chorus vinyl shelf provides about 23mm of space above that.

Is the fourth row in a Chorus Wall too high to finger flip?

Great question. No! With a standard base height, the top of the album in the top row of a four-row Chorus Wall or Island will be about 50mm below the eye-height of an average adult UK male, and 30mm below the eye-height of an average adult UK female (based on anthropometric measures). The top of the cabinet is 1.64m. In practice, finger flipping is easy – your arm might be raised just a little above your shoulder.

Do I need to open the shelf to put my records back in place?

It’s entirely up to you but it’s not necessary with our shelf design. With the extending shelf closed, the roll-over front edge of the shelf makes it much easier to put your vinyl back without damaging the album cover. Just make sure you don’t overstack.

Can I write on the face of the shelf edge?

Labels

We provide sheets of clear, matt, easy-to-remove Avery labels. You can write or inkjet print on these. The label size is 80mm wide x 18mm high and we supply 120 labels on three sheets.

Pens/pencils

Permanent markers are a no-no. You might try liquid chalk pens or Staedtler Lumograph pencils (chinagraph) but please be aware that the liquid chalk pens may leave ‘memory imprint’ once wiped from the powder coat. If you want to use these, we suggest testing a pen in an inconspicuous place on the powder-coated record tray, wipe it off after a few hours and see what’s left. Chinagraph pencils tend not to leave clear enough writing.

Does Chorus vinyl storage furniture provide acoustic benefits?

Every room and sound system is different but, in general, a room containing Chorus Walls and Islands in certain positions can improve the acoustics of the room. A Chorus Wall placed at the back of a room will absorb sound waves and prevent reflection back into the room.

Can the extending shelf slides fall out?

No. There are three safety systems that prevent this happening.

Can a Chorus Wall or Island tip over?

No. Chorus Walls are securely anchored to your wall and single-sided Islands are anchored to your floor. Double-sided Islands are freestanding – the centre of gravity is so far back that it won’t tip.