EC Design Help, pls.

[Scott Coffelt]

OK, I have a couple of comments. How tied are you to the stone work? Does it match the rest of your house? What about changing it out for something like marple, slate something that bordered line on the modern side but was still neutral enough that it could go with other tastes.

Also on the cable front. What about some type of swing arm that either folded like and elbow and when you slide back it has a sring that will pull back together or could be straight but high enought that the cable and any slack would not touch the floor. A buddy of mine designs and installs equipment in hospitals (xray machines, etc) that have to move. He sets up unistrut on the ceiling with bearing guides. The cables are looped and cable tied together. As the machine is moved the guides slide along the strut and the cable flattens out. When returned the wire retracts.

[Chris Padilla]

Chris, take a look at the way closed equipment racks are ventilated. Your application is pretty much the same. You want cool air to enter near the bottom and leave at the top since hot air rises. A couple fans in both locations should facilitate that nicely. To avoid something visible on the side near the FP, put your intake at the front of the cabinet in the "toe kick" area. Put the outgoing vent in the top of the unit as far towards the rear as you can do without interfering with other shelving/cabinetry that will go over it. You can cut/drill small holes in the top and put some black screen on the inside to keep debris from making it all the way in to the cabinet.

Thanks, Jim. I have serveral grids of 1/2" holes drilled into the stand in key spots. Once I shuffle the HT receiver to a better spot for cooling, I will place 1 or 2 fans right behind it mounted right on the stand in back. I then will take the other two and mount them up high and towards the back and cut an appropriate grid in the top of the cabinet. At least my receiver as one switched output on it...that will be perfect for the fans mounted near it. As for the other pair high-up in the cabinet...I guess they should be on whenever the TV is on. I wonder if there are any cheap thermostatically controlled switches I could use for that pair of fans? Perhaps they need to be on when the TV is on, period?

I need to think carefully about the design of the face frame. There will be a decent gap all around the TV due to the fact that the TV's front isn't coplanar (darn it!). You can just see it flares out at the bottom in one of the pics. However, with a pair of fans mounted below the TV right behind the receiver, I should be in fair shape to get cool air drawn from near the floor...the "toe kick" area. There will be a piece of faceframe going along the bottom of the TV and "sealing" to that shelf. Now I just need to be clever about creating a decent air gap of about a 1/8" groove of some kind all along the toe kick area and have it not be too visible for the LOML's approval.

[Chris Padilla]

OK, I have a couple of comments. How tied are you to the stone work? Does it match the rest of your house? What about changing it out for something like marple, slate something that bordered line on the modern side but was still neutral enough that it could go with other tastes.

Also on the cable front. What about some type of swing arm that either folded like and elbow and when you slide back it has a sring that will pull back together or could be straight but high enought that the cable and any slack would not touch the floor. A buddy of mine designs and installs equipment in hospitals (xray machines, etc) that have to move. He sets up unistrut on the ceiling with bearing guides. The cables are looped and cable tied together. As the machine is moved the guides slide along the strut and the cable flattens out. When returned the wire retracts.

Scott,

Thanks for your comments. The stone work was something I labored over for many more months than I care to admit. See my post in the OT section titled Fireplace Insert Issues (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...?threadid=5411). I am not happy with the way the 3 different colored stones came out but that is staying for a while. So, "yes," the stones are staying...they do match nicely with the maple, I think.

It is amusing to me that you mention marble and modern look for the FP. My wife wanted exactly that. Actually, she was thinking some nice tiles of some kind of stone (probably marble) or even a stucco look. I better not let her see your post!

Your cable managment idea is intruiguing. I know it is difficult to explain in words but I think i have an idea of where you are going. I'll just need to think about it for a bit but thanks for the nudge in the right direction...I think I can make it work!

[Todd Burch]

Chris, very clever idea on the roll out TV unit. However, I think I can already see the top shelf sagging.... Whatchya going to do there?

[Chris Padilla]

Damn you, Todd Burch...how the ~HE**~ can you see that??!! I stared at the pics and didn't think it was noticeable!

However, you are correct, the top shelf does sag a bit. I cut a 1" groove on the underside of the top shelf and epoxied in some steel 'c' or 'u' channel bar (3' long, 1/8" thick) to assist with this problem I was pretty sure I'd have. It sags but isn't too bad so I currently have no plans to do anything else with it. I think it'll be okay.

My shelf/vertical spacing is REAL tight on this stand so I can just barely fit everything in there. However, even with all this, I may end up with some electronic boxes mounted in the planned bookshelf above.

The roll-out stand was about all I could do in order to get this massive TV in that space and still be able to wire it up! Sigh...

[Jim Becker]

Chris, your face frames will help deal with that very slight sag. Also, remember that you have a lot of speaker sitting on there right now that is not "normal" for a home theater speaker positioning standpoint.

[Chris Padilla]

Ah, wait...hold on. I was referring to the shelf the TV is sitting on! (Dammit, Todd Burch, now you made me reveal that that one sags slightly! ) The shelf the speakers are sitting on is not their final resting position...just temporary 'cause I ain't got nowhere else to put 'em right now.

The right speaker will go to the right of the TV. I'll need to make a custom box to fit in the awkwardly shaped area.

The center channel wil go...I'm not sure yet. I almost need to leave it on top of the cabinet but I have a feeling I will put it just below the TV on the top shelf.

The left speaker will go on the other side of the fireplace in the drawer cabinet.

For the record, I plan to install a piece of hardwood "ribbing" under the top cabinet shelf to stiffen it up. Further I still need to place a ledger against the back wall for the top to rest on.

I'm also gonna get one of those infrared sensors to feed IR to all the electronics since I plan to cover up most of it.

My faceframe will not lend any support to the cabinet nor will it attach to the rolling TV stand...I think. Dammit, Jim Becker, now you've got me thinking!

My plan was to have the faceframe be easily removable (rare earth magnets) but perhaps there are other ways to make it easily removable yet add some support? hmmm.....