Open Box Omnirax Force 36 Audio/Video Workstation Level 1 Black

Bought mine in 2008 Working great very durable

One of the main reasons I purchased this model was the height of the monitor for my large Mac screen. The other stations have the monitor shelf much higher, but other people I know use smaller screens for them. The side cabinets, although don't 'wrap around' you, they are still angled towards you to make accessing the rack equipment much easier. Mine came in six boxes, which I had shipped to the local guitar center here in Jacksonville, so if there were any damage during shipping, it would be easier for them to take care of shipping it back instead of me. It arrived on a weekend my husband was gone, which left me to pick it up by myself. The store staff was extremely helpful with loading it for me (and yes, the top of the station IS 7 feet long and that box in particular REALLY requires two people to move.) I was able to get most of the pieces inside by myself strapping them to a hand truck and rolling them in, but the tabletop required the help of my neighbor and carrying in by hand because of the curved surface would not stand up easily on the hand truck. Although I was quite worried about damage done during shipping, I was quite relieved to see there wasn't any damage, even though they were packed in cardboard boxes. Kudos for the inside packing, as well. Nicely wrapped with plastic and had styrofoam protecting all of the key areas. I was really concerned with the 7 foot top since the box started falling apart with all of the moving to get it loaded, unloaded, hand truck, no hand truck, and finally moved in by hand. But the 7-foot piece had absolutely no damage on it at all. Now, putting it together... I HIGHLY recommend a drill or electric screwdriver. I put it together with a regular screwdriver, and could have had it finished much sooner if I had a different one. I started timing how long it would take to put together, but had to give up on that. You put together the bottom cabinets first, then assemble the top cabinets and shelves, and then put the top on the bottom cabinets and fasten together, so since I had to wait to have a neighbor's help, I gave up timing it. The directions could have been a little bit better (mostly written out with a couple of pictures) and I only put on one piece backwards out of them all. So there wasn't much time in having to take to fix it. It IS extremely heavy, and I am glad it has strong casters on the bottom to be able to roll about once it is completed. It is very thick pressboard, but very sturdy once it is assembled. I have to move it into a different room next month (once the soundproofing is complete) and I was worried about having to take it apart to move it, and putting it back together again, but there are several bolts that can be unfastened (not screws that go into the pressboard) that will make it easy to separate into three pieces to move it and easy to put the bolts back in (also beneficial considering we are a Navy family and the possibility of having to take it apart to move are pretty high). Only one of the pre-drilled holes on the lower cabinet was stripped, and instead of drilling another one through the fascia, I used a rack blank in the bottom of the cabinet to hold it together better since I don't have equipment going all the way down the left rack yet. Now that it is assembled... I absolutely LOVE it and I am so happy I paid a little more for it compared to the other production stations Guitar Center carries. I highly recommend it. It is so much better to use ergonomically than what I was using, and I am amazed by it. It is perfect and I can spend a lot more time doing what I love because of the ergonomics. I HIGHLY recommend. It is definitely worth it to pay the extra money for.

I'm setting up a project recording studio and rehearsal space and I needed a place to stash all the associated gear - power amps, processors and so forth. I ended up with an Omnirax Force 36 because it seemed the best combination of rack space, desk space, esthetics and value I could find. So far, I've been pleased with my selection. Shipping/Packing I ordered this from Guitar Center because I could get it shipped directly to the store and pick it up myself. This is a heavy order-- over three hundred pounds -- and you will not be able to load it by yourself without damaging the unit. The same is true for unloading it once you get home with it. I forget exactly how many boxes this is packed in, but I think it was around six or seven. I have a standard 6-foot bed in my pickup and the desktop had to be loaded last so that it could stick out over the top of the closed tailgate. However, all the pieces did fit in the truck with no problem. The desktop is a single piece over 7 feet long, so don't try to pick this up in a car. You might have a problem even with an SUV. I have a lot of experience with knockdown furniture of this type, and I've found that when shipping large, heavy pieces with this type of finish, something always gets damaged in transit. For that reason, I had this shipped to the store. That way, if a package appeared crushed, broken open or otherwise damaged, I could show it to the store personnel and THEY could handle the process of getting it replaced. There was some minor damage, but it was all in places that weren't visible once the workstation was assembled, or could be easily concealed. However, as long as hundred-pound items are shipped packed in cardboard, they will get damaged by the machinery used to sort, route and load them by the shipping companies. Quality This may be knock-down furniture, but it's heavy-duty and well made. No expletives were harmed during the construction of this console! I've built A LOT of knock-down furniture and this some of the best I've seen. Pre-drilled holes match up, hardware fits, no missing pieces, parts were labeled properly and so forth. Finish is good. The binding around the edges is also designed to handle a lot of wear and is nicely installed. The edge of the binding lines up properly with the edge of the desk and the binding is very firmly seated. The keyboard tray is sturdy with a good, solid feel, although it's lower than I would have liked. It's almost like typing with the keyboard on my knees rather than on a desk. However, there's no wobble or bounce and plenty of room for your mouse. All of the wood pieces are at least 3/4" thick and some are 1". There is no play anywhere in the unit once it's assembled. Yes, this is a pricey piece of furniture. However, remember that this is aimed at a specialty market and the price is, therefore, somewhat higher than standard consumer knock-down items. After a LOT of time spent reviewing the choices available to me for a workstation, I kept coming back to the Force 36. It has space to mount everything I wanted, it looks really cool and it's a quality piece of furniture. Assembly The instructions could have been improved by having pictures/diagrams next to each step, rather than just a few big diagrams, but that's a small thing. Overall, assembly was straightforward and uncomplicated. You will need to have help. Although most of the Force 36 can be assembled by one person, you will definitely need a second pair of hands when it comes to dealing with the desktop, which is a single piece almost 8 feet long and very heavy. The instructions strongly suggest the use of a power screwdriver and I definitely agree. There are a lot of screws and you just don't need that much wrist and forearm exercise. I didn't have to drill any extra holes or force-fit any parts. I didn't need a rubber mallet to pound things together. This is a big workstation, so make sure you have plenty of space for the assembly. I had a 10x10 work area and that seemed to be none too big. Also, assemble it in the room where you're going to use it. Unless you have double doors or unusually wide doorways, you probably won't be able to move it from one room to another. It does, however, roll very easily on a hardwood floor, so you can reposition it within a room pretty easily by yourself. Most knock-down furniture I've seen has little stick-on labels attached to each piece identifying it as "A", "D", "Left", "Right" and so forth. The Force 36 has this information hand-written on the raw edges of the pieces. In some instances on mine, descriptions had been written, scratched out and re-written. In practice this causes no problems, but it does detract from the impression of quality. One problem with melamine-finished items like this is that tightening the screws used for assembly can cause the finish to flake off around the screw. This is really unsightly. With this in mind, Omnirax provides a special type of screw with a "cup" underneath the head that seems to be less prone to causing the Melamine to flake off. For some reason, not every screw that is seated into melamine is one of these special screws. The parts include what are called "silver screws" and these, although they do not have the "cup," are used in several places where they seat into melamine. Note that the "cupped" screws will damage your finish if you sock 'em up too tight, so you'll want to be careful as you screw them in. I seated mine just a hair above the surface of the melamine. There is a large angle iron that goes across the back of the desk support and attaches to the desktop. From the diagram, it wasn't clear to me that the iron is attached on the back side of the desk with the top of it projecting toward the rear. There are a number of strategically located ports in the Force 36 to allow cables to route properly. Each of the two racks that support the desktop has a large port on each side for cable routing. As a nice finishing touch, hard plastic inserts are included to fit into the ports so that the raw wood in the center of the port is not visible. The inserts work nicely for the ports on the outer side of each rack. However, the ports on the inside of the racks (i.e., facing the knee space on the unit) don't have clearance to be inserted from the outside of the rack. I had to insert them from inside the rack. It's not a big deal because the area isn't really very visible anyway and they cover up the raw wood just fine, but the inserts have a flange around them on what should be the outer edge that gives them a more finished look when installed from the proper direction. Miscellaneous Be aware that the back of the unit is curved/angled, so you will not be able to snug it right up against a wall. It's going to project a good ways out from the wall. I don't find it to be awkward but it points up the need for a large room. Mine is 20'x20' and the unit sits quite nicely. You would really want to think twice about putting it in a 12'x12' space. The Force 36 comes with a bag of rack screws and isolating washers, so you should be able to mount most of your gear. I haven't used all the rack rails yet, but the ones I've tried so far seem to be properly spaced and drilled. Support I called Omnirax prior to buying the unit. They're very helpful and pointed out that they can build any additional furniture I might want to match the Force 36 -- bookcases, printer stands and so forth. That might be useful in the future. Conclusion Although the Force 36 is a stretch, price-wise, I'm very happy I spent the money and would definitely do so again. It should last me for a very long while and I don't see myself outgrowing it in the near future. Also, all guys at the music store where I picked it up were extremely jealous. (Okay, that's not a good reason for buying it, but it does indicate that it's probably a pretty cool piece of gear.)