Home theatre setup/organization

eternalbl

I need inspiration on how to design an entertainment center that'll hold all my gear.

Basically, anyone who thinks they've got an awesome setup for a bunch of A/V gear, could you post pictures to give me ideas on things I could incorporate into this? I'll be building it all from scratch, so pretty much anything goes.

Improvolone

What kind of budget do you have?

Unless you really want to show off your gear along side your TV, consider relocating the equipment to a closet/equipment rack. With either an RF remote setup, or an IR repeater you can control your gear from your couch no problem. Depending on how far you situate everything, even disc players such as video game systems and DVD players won't be out of the way.

What type of equipment do you have? I for instance have a record player which requires a certain amount of vertical space. I don't have an NES set up at the moment, but I would need the controllers to reach.

Smoked glass is a great way to hide your gear and still allow IR commands to pass through.

Get a universal remote. The Logitech Harmony series is often recommended.

If you build a cabinet, consider using AC powered PC fans to cool everything down.

I have a Belkin 12 outlet surge protector. It's pretty slim and 12 outlets is a lot.

Willeth

I have a friend who keeps all his stuff on a wire rack with his TV in the centre. The best ventilation possible and he keeps all his cable in those curly tie things. If you wanted you could probably rig up a nice set of doors for a setup like that.

eternalbl

Without having checked any supply costs, I'd say I'm expecting to end up forking out $200-500 at this stage.

I don't have a closet close by that I could put anything in really, this is just to tidy it all up and make it presentable.

What'll be going in the unit right now is a PS3, wii, center channel speaker, reciever, DVD player, and cable box. I got a wicked idea to put a drawer at the bottom where I'll have my surge protector, but so far my design for the whole thing has it at about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. The TV it'll be going under is a 52" widescreen, so I'd like it to fill up about that amount of space, even though the TV will be wall mounted.

eternalbl

Willeth wrote: »

I have a friend who keeps all his stuff on a wire rack with his TV in the centre. The best ventilation possible and he keeps all his cable in those curly tie things. If you wanted you could probably rig up a nice set of doors for a setup like that.

What kind of wire rack?

Improvolone

Are you against buying something pre-made? Do you think you can make something better, or is this just a hobby?

eternalbl

I'm only against buying something pre-made to the point where I've got the tools and like to learn new skills. So I'd definitely rather do it myself. I guess whether that makes the finished product better is debatable, but I can also say that I never cut corners with my work and will spare no expense either of $$ or time to get my desired result.

As it stands, I've got 1/2 to 1/3 of a rack that I'm going to build, and I need some ideas on how to use the additional space. I've been looking at home theatre setups on some forums all afternoon, but still, there's nothing more game centric on them.

Anyone have any links to any of the stuff Storm Shadow (sp, or is that even what his nick was?) posted a while back?

Improvolone

New Skills?
What skills do you have now? Putting a couple hundred into a piece of furniture is easy, but having it be worth that afterwards? You carpentry and finishing need to be decent at least.

eternalbl

Why're you trying to talk me out of this?

Its not like I'm asking if its a good or bad idea, I'm asking if anyone has anything they wouldn't mind posting that I can draw some inspiration from. Shelving is damn easy, but controller storage, cable management, airflow, is all a consideration as well, and thats just what I've found while looking around the net today.

I'm sure there are even more good ideas out there that a person in my situation could use. And 'Putting a couple hundred into a piece of furniture is easy, but having it be worth that afterwards? You carpentry and finishing need to be decent at least.' is not helpful at all.

If you wanna just go buy everything, thats cool, I won't stop you. But I like to make shit, I don't care if it does turn out crap, but I also know it won't because I don't tolerate much less than perfection from my work.

Willeth

Something like this:



I imagine you could build a simple enclosure for it very cheaply.

RNEMESiS42

Improvolone wrote: »

New Skills?
What skills do you have now? Putting a couple hundred into a piece of furniture is easy, but having it be worth that afterwards? You carpentry and finishing need to be decent at least.

eternalbl wrote: »

Why're you trying to talk me out of this?

Yeah dude, it's fun as hell to build things from scratch.

Improvolone

I had no intention to talk you out of it! I just thought it was worth while to point out that unless you've really worked with these materials before, you might not get the finished that you have in your head.

eternalbl

Yeah, I'll give you that, but I'll never make a project that I get the finish that I want without making a few mistakes first.

@ Willeth - thanks for the pics, I was thinking it'd be similar to that

Willeth

Hey no problem!

goddammit no-one ever gets the e right