Designing an Entertainment Center

[Robert Schaubhut]

This posting is all new to me. Bear with me.
There seems to be a love for woodworking in the creek and so, thus far, most of my time has been spent reading and browsing enjoying the atmosphere here. Much has been learned by me.

This thread will be an attempt to go through the steps taken to design an entertainment center. I am not sure how I will remember where I left off but you all seem rather forgiving, it may work and I may be able to finish. That is my intent. If a post is not responded to forgive me as one might forgive a lesser child.
First.
How much money do you have left after you buy the new big screen DLT?
If you want an Ent.C then you need to know what is going into it, i.e. size screen, height, width, and depth exactly as sometimes it all comes down to 1/8". Do you want to hang the TV or use a stand. The stand maybe the actual cabinet the manufacturer sells the tv in. What are the specs. for the stand or physical depth of a bracket you may use to hang that TV. Does it get hot and if so what is the recommended distance around it necessary to provide cooling. These are not questions between you and me they are statements and don't need a question mark after the sentence , I think.
We have made our first major step by determining a specific physical 3d space in which the tv will be.
This phase of the planning along with the physical aspect of making a story pole is the most difficult, and that is why it will be, I think, a help to try to go through this the way I approach it. My way is not the only way, just my way.
Shaz

[Eddie Howard]

Shaz,

I am looking forward to this discussion. Friday two men were asking me how to approach this in buying an E.C. and the new requirement doing away with reg. TV. I will be most anxious to learn from you.

Eddie

[Robert Schaubhut]

We will try to work through this Eddie. The up front work is so very important to making a custom piece. By up front I mean figuring out dimensions of all the important things the finished piece is to hold.
After the TV size is determined, the speakers can be addressed. My clients usually disconnect the speakers in the tv and opt for left, right, center channel speakers and a designated sub woofer. The sizes of these need to be determined. The height, depth, width and some times the size of the largest driver , or the largest port in the speaker from which sound comes. The purpose for that is that in 95% of the cases I put the speakers behind either doors or a clip on panel and the frame of the door can cover part of the speaker box behind it but the sound port must be able to play through and unblocked opening. Hope that came across clearly. I understand it because that is what I do.
If surround sound is part of the deal that is left to the more brilliant or at least someone else.

[Robert Schaubhut]

The components...
Everyone has a different setup with different components. In building an entertainment center we need to consider the largest component
and build the component area large enough to accomodate that. Most of the components are 17" plus or minus 1/2" in width and with the number of component these days putting them across the top of the tv has not worked for me.
I am going to try to post this before I go any farther as the earlier attempt I made just vanished.
New to this stuff.
Shaz

[Robert Schaubhut]

The height of the components vary, some of the new receivers are about 8 1/2" tall maybe more but a rule of thumb has worked for me. I figure 6 1/2" per component when I am estimating the height I need to accommodate them all, this includes the 3/4" shelf too.
The depth varies on each piece so we determine the depth of the deepest piece either existing or to be purchased. Make sure the knob in the front and the plug in jacks in the back have been included in the figuring. Some of the receivers need 21" -22" depth inside. Also to consider is the heat generated by receivers and concessions to be made to vent them. Holes in the shelves, in the side walls, and leaving the back open will help.
Considering all these dimensions we can establish a preliminary space, left to right,top to bottom, and front to back into which the components will fit.
More Later,
Shaz

[chris fox]

DLP dont generate a lot of heat and usually the rear enclosure chamfer/angles backs. So if your ent. center pocket is rectangular you will have some room for air flow/movement. I would design in a couple of inches around the sides and top of the TV. This allows the client to pull the DLP(which are not that heavy just bulky) out if they need to make adjustments to connections or add a new component.

As far as components plenty of air movement needs to happen around the receiver/amp. On board fans need air to pull from. Like above I suggest extra room, especially if they decide to upgrade in components. This is critical if you dont offer adjustment in the shelves.

Another far out approach is, can they load the components elsewhere such as a near by closet/cubby etc. You dont need to take a high tech approach either. I recently saw where this was done. An area on the backside of the ent. center wall gave this couple an area to create component rack with plenty of room and even mounted a ventilation fan. The cabinent door was nicely made and matched the wood. This eliminates the sightly view of black/silver boxes piled around the TV but instead picture frames, vases, etc. You can use IR remote eyes that receive the signal from the remote back to the component, so the components dont need to be seen. High priced remotes offer display options for viewing i.e. FM station etc.

Let us know how this project progresses.

[Robert Schaubhut]

Thanks Chris for your input. That is valuable information and the kind of info to help make this thread more useful to follow. I don't follow the audio visual advancements, don't have more than the local channels personally, so when I am designing an entertainment center I get the height, width, depth, and weight of the TV from the Audio Visual professional and then I just design my stuff to serve the needs of the clients and try to create the best environment for the AV stuff. I don't know much technically about the DLP or plasma or whatever else is out there so sharing as you all see fit is surely welcomed.
At this time I am not designing or building an entertainment center. This is more of an information thread and how to go about getting your plans figured out.
Shaz

[Robert Schaubhut]

This I have noticed, generally, Men want it bigger and loud, women want if to be pretty and less obvious or at least aesthetically pleasing and in keeping with the surroundings.
Another rule of thumb shared with me, " 2 and 1/2 times the height of the image is about the closest you want to sit to enjoy the best reception."
It is not a distance I wish to argue but it works for me.
Another thing to think about, although the components have a rather "fixed" set of dimensions the TV does not. Size can vary greatly with TV's and bigger is not better than what is pleasing in the space afforded.
If when you sit down the image is 7' from your eyeballs maybe a 71" plasma is overkill.
My suggestion, take a tape measure and measure the distance from your eyes to the screen of your existing tv. Measure how high off the finished floor your eyes are while watching and think do I like the height of my tv right now? If nothing is going to change except the size of your tv then go to the tv store and take a chair if necessary. Sit the correct distance (as determined at your place earlier) from the TV's in the store
and decide on the size that works. Stop... Don't buy yet as you are on a fact finding mission only.
Shaz

[Robert Schaubhut]

Since we know the components need 18" to 19" of space horizontally let us add in the thickness of the cabinet wall on each side, 3/4" + 3/4". We are up to a cabinet 20" to 24" wide depending upon need and design.

Most of my clients have opted for a symmetrical look to their media center so let us work through this with that idea in mind. Stacking components on adjustable shelves behind doors is also common but not always the rule.
Sometimes the components are set under the TV, there they have always been behind doors.

Figuring the wall space needed........ Since one stack of components in cabinet is about 22" wide then the same increment of 22" would be figured into the equation on the other side of the TV (symmetrical) with the same facial treatment as the component cabinet reguardless of its purpose. Figure in 3/4" left wall, 2 1/4" air space left,( tv size not included just yet) 2 1/4" air space right, and the right wall 3/4". Adding all these numbers we have 50" of space taken up horizontally.. Subtract that number 50" from the distance between the masking tape marks on the wall that were put up by you when trying to decide how wide to make the Media center ( I forgot to tell you earlier about the masking tape marks on the wall.). That is the largest TV you should think about. If you need a larger TV maybe you would like to go asymmetical and gain 22", or put the components under or over the TV and gain 44".
Shaz

[Robert Schaubhut]

Since the component cabinet has a relatively "fixed" minimum size, the box in which they are housed will stick out from the wall about 22''.

What if you get a flat screen? What do you do?

First, Flat screens as I know them are either on brackets suspended , or on a stand. Since we are talking about designing an entertainment center let us assume that we will be surrrounding the tv with a cabinet. Reguardless of the TV, it's position inside the cabinet needs to allow you viewing of it from places other than straight on, I am assuming.
That in mind the actual TV image I have found works best when either flush to the front of the cabinet or set back up to within 1 1/2''. Just my experience, not carved in stone.

If you are working with an existing piece, say an armoire, you will need to build a false back inside to support the bracket and the TV, thus getting the TV closer to the front of the opening, or you can use the stand.
The problem with the stand as I see it is that to balance the TV the front part of the stand needs to project far enough forward to add stability to the flat screen, that front toe of the stand can set the actual image back 6" or so. In my vision the stand is more often used atop a console. The false back idea goes along with the flat screen in most instances unless the flat screen is mounted to the wall on a bracket above a console.
Why?
Because most reasonably sized flat screens mounted on a bracket stick out from about 6'' to 7'' from the wall and that dimension is not accomodating to much else on the TV's left and right except library storage of dvd's or vhs tapes and cds.
Shaz

[Robert Schaubhut]

A picture is worth a thousand words. How to I post photos from my hard drive to help explain this constant blah blah blah via example?
Shaz

[Robert Schaubhut]

So with that in mind, we have several options. #1 make a lower unit deeper and the upper unit more shallow. The lower unit can house the components and the upper the plasma and speakers left and right, or books and decorative pieces since we have decided to make the the upper about 12" to 18" deep, not a need for the plasma but for the asundry items left , right and above the TV. Realize that dimensions are arbitrary except when dealing with objects (components, speakers, tv) and spaces(height of room, width afforded, depth needed) with fixed dimensions. naturally some folks have more room than others.

[Jim Becker]

Shaz, relative to the brackets for a flat screen, one would have to be very careful to build a false back extremely stout in order to be able to support the weight. These things...especially plasma...are very, very heavy. Wall mount is best, IMHO, just because you can embed support and sometime enlist the studs directly for carrying the weight. Something that Mark Singer did in his home was to construct a light-weight surround that hides all this mischigas, yet comes off with Velcro for easy maintenance access. It also means that when a new display is purchased, it can still be closely integrated into the EC without total reconstruction. (Assuming it's not larger than the opening...just a little different in some dimensions)

[Robert Schaubhut]

Jim,
I agree with your accessment on the weight of the flat screen and yes wall mount is the safest way to go with the mounting. I have done two wall mounts with a decorative frame recently but over the course of my experience with the flat screen, clients want what they want. They want the flat screen in the armoire set back about 2"s, or they want it flush to the front of a cabinet in which they can shelve their art books and display vases.
Just today I finished an install where they wanted their plasma set so they could not see it "down the hall" but with the movable arm and the 51" wide tv they wanted a surface 14 1/2" off the back wall that would hold 300 lbs. It was set in to a recessed area that was about 28" deep so it was not a problem.
In most cases I am building the surround so consideration for the mounting and weight are just part of what we do as carpenters.

[Jim Becker]

I can visualize what you say about a customer's desires. Fortunately, you may quite often have enough depth in the cabinet, even with the more contemporary designs that favor flat panel displays, to build, in effect, a proper structure behind the unit to mount a typical wall mount device. That framework should likely run top to bottom for the larger and heavier plasma units. Many of the LCDs can probably get away with the framework only being in the area between the lower cabinet and whatever "bridge" you incorporate in the design. Your surround would hide all of this quite obviously...

I'm actually debating mentally what I want to do for the new multi-purpose room that will be in our proposed home addition...like just mount a flat screen on the wall and be done with it or build some form of cabinetry to surround it. Too soon to decide...the Prize Patrol still hasn't shown up to pay for the project!