[Kennyd]

Some may remember me mentioning the long ago (5 years) started but never finished entertainment center that was taking up a huge portion of my woodshop. Well, I finally got off my *ss and finished it! (still need to mount the drawer pulls though) The motivation was a new Samsung 55" LED TV, and a great deal on a piece of granite for the top. My wife and kids pestering me had a little to do with it also...

Some Facts:
Just under 8' wide
2' deep
Cabinet grade MDF core red oak veneer material used for the carcass
1"x3" red oak used for the faceframes, doors, and drawer fronts.
Perforated metal used for the door filler for airflow
Clear semi-gloss water based top coat x4- PolyAcrylic
Weighs a ton! Probably 200 pounds without the top.
Accurride drawer slides and Blum hinges used.


Here are some phone pictures:

 

[mjncad]

Very nice Kenny! I need something for our 52" TV. Since that is a beast, how do you handle the God awful chore of connecting wires and cables without having to be a contortionist?

Thanks for posting!

 

[Kennyd]

Very nice Kenny! I need something for our 52" TV. Since that is a beast, how do you handle the God awful chore of connecting wires and cables without having to be a contortionist?

Thanks for posting!

Thanks Matt! There is no good way for sure...it all has to be done while it's pulled away from the wall. Behind the center section where the drawer and center channel speaker is there is a large area to tie up all the slack in the cables. I will be pulling it back out soon to install a new SS reciever and HD DTV DVR so I will get a picture from behind for you.

 

[RandyM]

WOW! That is beautiful. Very nice job Kenny. You will get years of enjoyment out of that. :good2:

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Very Nice Work For Sure!

 

[eepete]

Oh my, that is nice.

Next step for you: :munch:

Pete

 

[Kennyd]

Thanks guys...sorry for the bad pictures:dunno:

 

[jenkinsph]

Kenny,
Good job:good2: I enjoy woodworking and would spend more time with it if it paid.
Did you machine the granite yourself?

 

[mjncad]

Thanks Kenny, I would like to see how you do your cable management.

Working with wood has always been frustrating for me, so I don't have the tools to tackle such a project.

 

[Kennyd]

Kenny,
Good job:good2: I enjoy woodworking and would spend more time with it if it paid.
Did you machine the granite yourself?

I did not do the granite...it was actually a CL find, already cut that size, 3 sides profiled and polished-10 miles from home for $400. I had estimates from shops for $800. The stars aligned for me that day!

 

[Kennyd]

Here you go Matt, I installed the new Yamaha RX-V667 AV receiver with iPod dock, and a new UPS/AC line conditioner and tidied up the cables a little more. I still have to upgrade my DirectTV DVR box and dish to HD, and possibly mount the TV on the wall but we can't decided on that yet. I also spend a lot of time reprogramming my Harmony remote for the new devices (AVR and TV) and tweaking it to work with the iPod dock.

 

[mjncad]

Thanks for the pics Kenny. I like how you provided space for the evil wires to be stashed in the back on the unit. Cable management is always a frustrating task for me.

My suggestion is for you to keep the TV on its stand on the table.

I've got a spare 37" LCD TV that we just acquired, and my wife wants it in the master bedroom, which is fine by me. Since she only plans to watch TV, I'll probably hang it on the wall above a sofa. Of course I still have to find a place for the evil cable box.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

My suggestion is for you to keep the TV on its stand on the table.

I'd say split the difference...I've seen a few setup on "poles" mounted to the cabinet and I've been a big fan of them. When the time comes, thats what I'll be shopping for....something like this:

Obviously forget about the base on that one, but the concept would hold true... Dunno how feasible it would be now that construction is done...

We wall mounted the one in our bedroom, and while its nice, IMO for the bedroom its fine, but I cant picture a wall mount in the living room..

 

[RandyM]

We wall mounted the one in our bedroom, and while its nice, IMO for the bedroom its fine, but I cant picture a wall mount in the living room..

Please explain. What are your concerns.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Please explain. What are your concerns.

Well in the BR its just a "plain TV" hanging on the wall with a Cable connection...So its fine...but with any accessories attached to it such as the Wii, DVD Player, etc.. I couldnt hook any of them up nicely and hide the wires.. Even at Christmas, we got an HD Camcorder and I couldnt get my hand back there to hook up the DVI so I said to heck with it...yeah I suppose a different mount would work to solve that. And yeah I suppose a person could install a 6" conduit in the wall to snake any new wires in.

Its more of a "Static or not" question...I can just see in a couple years the little one wanting the latest newest game console...will I have the necessary wire passed in the wall? the novelty of wall mounting is quickly lost if you have a rats nest of wiring hanging under it.. :munch:

 

[RandyM]

Got it, thanks. One would think with all the new technology today they could come up with a better way to connect all this stuff. Maybe it is just me but the current connection system seems to be getting to be old technology. Any one of the manufacturerers steps up to the plate and addresses this they would have a gold mine.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Got it, thanks. One would think with all the new technology today they could come up with a better way to connect all this stuff. Maybe it is just me but the current connection system seems to be getting to be old technology. Any one of the manufacturerers steps up to the plate and addresses this they would have a gold mine.

Being in the tech field by trade, I think thats why I'm a little gun shy about burying wires in the wall....Fine right now but watch, in 3-4 years a new spec HDMI+ or some other jazz will be out and getting a new TV for the bedroom also ends up being a sheetrocking/repainting the bedroom job. :lol:
At least with the "pipe" mounting, you can pass & hide any wires in there, and still have the "illusion" of the TV being on the wall. Or in the case of my camcorder....pass an HDMI "spare", so even if the inlaws are over and want to watch something we just shot with the Camcorder or something on my Droid, I could just plug it in IN the cabinet, keep everything super neat & tidy.

 

[Kennyd]

If you have a good AV Reciever (AVR)...then you only need one HDMI cable, the power cable, and an optional Cat5 ethernet cable to the TV. ALL other things plug into the AVR, so you don't need a 6" conduit running to the TV. With the advent of HDMI, a lot of cabling has been eliminated already.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

If you have a good AV Reciever (AVR)...then you only need one HDMI cable, the power cable, and an optional Cat5 ethernet cable to the TV. ALL other things plug into the AVR, so you don't need a 6" conduit running to the TV. With the advent of HDMI, a lot of cabling has been eliminated already.

This is where my knowledge...in this case, Lack Therof :lol: of AV Equipment shines thru! :empathy:

 

[Kennyd]

This is where my knowledge...in this case, Lack Therof :lol: of AV Equipment shines thru! :empathy:

Well, in short it's like this: The AVR becomes the "switching" center, and the TV becomes just a "monitor". All components like the DVD Player, Blu-Ray player, CD player, Cable box/Satellite box, DVR and Game Consoles are plugged into the AVR. The AVR then switches to whatever input the user selects-and whatever sound program you decide for that input and sends the video to the TV/Monitor, and the sound to the speakers (5.1 or 7.1 surround sound)

This sounds cumbersome, but it all can be handled seamlessly with one Logitech Harmony remote where you setup "activities" like for instance, "Watch TV" turns on the TV to the proper input, turns on the Sat box/DVR, and turns on the AVR to the proper input all by pushing ONE button on the remote. All the buttons on the remote now control that activity, like the PLAY, STOP, PAUSE, FF, RW for the DVR. Now you want to watch a movie on Blu-Ray? Just press the "Watch a Movie" button...the Sat-box/DVR turns off, the Blu-Ray player turns on, and the AVR selects the Blu-Ray as the input and your watching a movie...and now the buttons on the remote control the Blu-Ray player! All with ONE button push!

If you have multiple remotes laying all over you TV viewing area, I encourage you to look into these remotes. The programming is done with your computer-and all data is stored online so if the remote is lost or destroyed-you just plug in the new one and download your old setup in one minute.