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It happens to many enthusiasts: You need a place to store the audio and video gear or other cool systems, and the best way to do it may be with some woodworking—custom woodworking. Which leads many to go Gulp, Gulp, Ka-ching! And naturally so. Custom woodworking costs money. And really good custom woodworking costs lots of money. The thing is, you don’t have to do custom woodworking throughout a whole room like this one. You can have one home entertainment cabinet built for a few… View this story
Cabinets • Home Theater Accessories • Home Theater • Enhancements • Cool Homes

Furniture?! What is furniture doing on ElectronicHouse.com, whose 95-percent male audience loves their manly amplifiers, speakers and big screens? Consumers can become so preoccupied with the aesthetics of A/V furniture that they forget about the high-tech features that make them an integral part of an entertainment system. That’s something that EH editors Julie Jacobson and Lisa Montgomery forgot when they bought their own media consoles on the merits of style (next page). Before you buy, make sure to consider these furniture features. And for the… View this story
Furniture • Cabinets • Equipment Racks • TV Mounts • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Sometimes you feel like a TV nut, sometimes you don’t—and sometimes you don’t even want to see the thing. The owners of this modern colonial home didn’t want a blank big screen standing in the way of quaint window views when they weren’t watching TV in their formal living room. “There’s a large bank of windows where they wanted to put the TV, and they wanted to be able to look outside when they were listening to music,” says Paul Diggin, project principal for custom… View this story
Flat Panel • Cabinets • TV Mounts • Family Room • Cool Homes

According to the U.S. Census Data, the median size of a home dipped in 2008. This is the first decline in 13 years, and home sizes are expected to drop in 2009. In this economy, it’s not surprising. Although people are opting for less square footage, there’s still plenty of room for electronics. “You just need to know how to maximize the space,” says Rich Conklin, a custom electronics (CE) professional at Grand Home Automation, Grand Rapids, Mich. “We’ve put $1 million worth of electronics… View this story
Furniture • Cabinets • Equipment Racks • TV Mounts • Enhancements • Info and Answers

Who needs a Man Cave when you can have a “Man Wall”? It’s the brainchild of Bradenton, Fla., company HybridSpace Furniture and if you want all things manly in your own private living room paradise, the Man Wall has it all. The 2 x 8 x 8-foot piece is a fully integrated solution that combines cabinet, A/V and much more that you may not have considered (or considered and couldn’t fit) for your man cave. For starters, this ultimate sports fan’s fantasy features a 52-inch… View this story
Furniture • Cabinets • Home Theater Accessories • Sports • Product News

Q. I want to put all my A/V equipment in a cabinet. My remote Logitech 880 is IR. What is best way to do this? - Philip, Savannah GA A. There are remotes with built in RF (radio frequency) that will transmit into a cabinet and then emit IR (Infrared) to the individual devices. These remotes work even when not aimed directly at the equipment. However, long complicated macros can fail if the remote is moved. Since you have already spent the money and taken… View this story
Remote Controls • Cabinets • Ask a Pro

Furniture is usually a necessary evil when it comes to your entertainment setup—not evil because it takes away from a system (in many cases it enhances the looks, and the practicality of a setup)—but evil because of the hours-long investment you need to put a stand or cabinet together. Bell’O International hopes to change all that. The company’s adding to its aesthetically pleasing A/V furniture line the WAVS-333 HDTV cabinet, with the icing on the cake being a patent-pending tool-less assembly design. Apparently it’s all… View this story
Furniture • Cabinets • Equipment Racks • Product News

Q. I need to cool a medium size equipment cabinet. What are your recommendations for fans & thermostats? -Bill, Columbia A. We use Active Thermal Management, to cool all of our installations that require thermal solutions. They offer rack-mountable fans, pieces that can sit in between stacked gear, and fans hat can be installed in knockouts and cutouts of cabinets. Many of these systems already have thermostats as part of the equipment. These thermostats have predetermined points, which is nice for small to medium A/V… View this story
Cabinets • Equipment Racks • Enhancements • Ask a Pro

It was inevitable that we’d soon see green home theater furniture. Start with new line of totally green Royal home theater recliners from CDGi (Cinema Design Group International). According to Carey Schafer, vice president of engineering, the wood used in the framing is Baltic birch, there are no formaldehydes, the foam in the cushions contains no CFCs, and leather contains no chromium, which is often used in tanneries. Not only does the Elmo Leather Tannery in Sweden operate a progressive environmental management system and has… View this story
Furniture • Cabinets • Seating • TV Mounts • Green Technology • Home Theater • Info and Answers • Product News

Sometimes it’s tough to squeeze enough seats into your home theater space. There are a couple of ways you can make room for more chairs and couches. The first is to build risers on the floor to create a stadium-style seating effect. Each level gets progressively higher, which allows people in the back rows to see clearly over the heads of people in the front rows of seats. In the past, home theater designers simply placed the last row of seats against the back wall—not… View this story
Cabinets • Media Room • Home Theater • Info and Answers

A great cabinet can add the finishing touch to a home entertainment system. The trouble is finding one that suits your style and the size of your system. You can scour the furniture stores in your area and find nothing that’s just right. That’s why many homeowners are choosing to have their cabinets made from scratch. A custom cabinet maker can build a piece according to your specifications, giving you something that’s totally unique. Your specifications should go beyond your penchant for maple, though. As… View this story
Furniture • Cabinets • Home Theater • Info and Answers

Built in the early ’50s, Mike and Barbara Owens’ home in southwest Virginia had evolved with the times. However, the bookcase in their 12-by-15-foot den seemed to be stuck in a time warp. The couple contacted K.D. Forsha of KDaudio/Gent Electric in Bristol, TN, to modernize their entertainment setup, but with strict instructions to maintain the classic style. “We told them to choose whatever TV size they wanted, and we’d find a way to make it fit,” says Forsha. A 50-inch Pioneer Elite plasma got… View this story
Cabinets • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows