entertainment center questions (1 Viewer)

[Corey-Reid]

My brother-in-law is in business making entertainment centers. He is excellent and Ive seen his work and its great. He is going to do one for me and I have some questions.


This is going to hold my 61" samsung dlp tv, a 10" sub, my center channel...... and here is where some questions start.

1) If we build an enclosure at the bottom left of the center to hold my sub, will this have a huge impact on the sub? I like the idea of getting the sub out of sight, but am a little worried about the impact of this. Although my brother-in-law does great work, his work is more for the appearance, he does not do home theater per se. His cliants want it too look great and I think most worry about the sound second.( I could be wrong)

I am going to have the center channel speaker in its own area. Is there a major difference if it sits directly above or below the tv. It is currently below the set.

I am undecided on the eaxct height to have the tv. Is there any particular reason to have the set a specific heigth? I am thinking about 28 inches from the floor, but again, Im looking for some guidance.


I can do pretty much anything I want with this center. I pretty much have the look of it down, now im trying to nail down the specific details.

My biggest concern is the sub.

Thanks for any help.

Corey

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Hi Corey,
You want the center of the screen to be at eye level, or maybe slightly lower.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Don.l]

I agree with Wayne on these points.

I guess the only thing I can add is that you can figure the hieght of the screen when you know the exact seating you wish to use. So figure out the height of your seating arrangement to help you figure out your TV height.

Don

 

[Brian Osborne]

I'm going to disagree on a couple of points here.

One, placement of the center channel. Depending on the seating, above the TV may be better. If you have more than one row of seats, below the TV you may not have line of sight to the center speaker. Regrettably I placed mine below and the rear center seat it is blocked. Still sounds good, but there is a big difference in the other 5 seats.
Two, height of the TV. Also depending on your seating. If you already have your seating, sit down. Look at the wall where your TV is going to be. If 4' high on the wall is comfortable to look at, your good with 28" at bottom. however if you are in recliners, you might find that raising the TV up a bit will be a lot more comfortable to view. You are after all at home, just as well kick back and avoid straining to look at the TV.

The sub in the entertainment center is a questionable choice for a couple of reasons. One it shakes stuff. Ever placed a glass on top of your sub? It doesn't stay there for long. This will happen to everything in your entertainment unit to some extent, regardless how sturdy it is built. Two, you will muffle the sound no matter what you do. This can make your bass sound, well, muffled.
It is easy enough to place a sub behind a couch or hidden elsewhere in the room.

 

[Matt Weldy]

I have a wall to wall unit and my sub is in the cabinet and it still sounds great. But what we did when we built it was we did not build a bottom to the cabinet where the sub was. It actually sits directly on the floor. But if you dont look closely you dont know it. That way it dont shake the whole unit. Also somehting I did I took all of my back issues of mags. and pretty much stuffed the space around it. And it me it sounds good. I may have done it all wrong but nothing rattles and it sound fine and looks good.

 

[Corey-Reid]

This is not for a theater. This is in my living room. I have a sectional couch that sits 19 inches high. I moved the set to 25" off the ground and I liked that, so I think Ill go with that heith. I do not have to worry about rear seats and I think I dont want to have the center channel that high up so Ill have it placed directly below the TV. Ill have to allow some size for future equipment.



I guess I can have him build the section for the sub, and if I dont like it, I can always use it for storage instead.

Thanks,
Corey

 

[Corey-Reid]

1 more thing. I think I am going to have a special pull out table/drawer that will hold a playstation.

Can anyone think of anything special to have built in. i am already planning on having both sides have pull out spots for dvds and cds.

Am I missing anything?

thanks again,
corey

 

[Brian Osborne]

Just make the area for the Playstation large enough to accommodate the new PS3. Its larger than its predecessors.