Flat Screen TVs

[jwcarlton]

I know, not really a home repair question, but I don't know of a better place for this.

Surprise! For Christmas, I now have a beautiful 47" flat screen TV. This is to replace my 10 year old 36" JVC that sat in an attractive, but bulky, Ethan Allen entertainment center with closing doors.

Now, here's the problem. Every entertainment center or TV stand that I can find is just as big as my old Ethan Allen piece! What's the point of a slim TV, if it takes up just as much room as the old big one?

I've seen the automated lift stands, and even though they're still huge, at least they hide the TV away. But shoot, I'm not wanting to spend $2000 on it!

Have any of you guys crossed this hurdle? What solutions did you come up with?

[jim]

I hung it on the wall

[G. Morgan]

I wall mount mine. I have partner that I can wholesale a 110LB mount for about $30 . It solid wd.my 46" plasma.

[LouB]

Have a link to their site?

[Ed Pawlowski]

? "jwcarlton" wrote

I built my own. Actually, I built one for my old TV, but I'm still using it for this one. The factory pedestal for the TV is 10" deep, but my stand is

20". It does not look all that bad and I have two drawers on the bottom for storage of CD's and VCR tapes that will probably never be used again. If I was to build another for this TV, I'd probably make it 15 to 18 inches. Having it set back a bit offers a little protection from people walking by.

Consider having one built by a local woodworker hobbyist. It won't be as cheap as some store bough drek, but it will be what you want. My cost for the oak and hardware was more than the cost of a commercial stand, but it is what I want.

Meantime, enjoy the new TV. I do hope you've gotten the HD box and are using it to the fullest potential. I know a few people that are not bothering. Shame.

[Kuskokwim]

I used one of these and it works great and the quality seems to be excellent:

company (although they use a different name) sells them on eBay for a little less:

[willshak]

jwcarlton wrote the following:

Bill In Hamptonburgh, NY In the original Orange County. Est. 1683 To email, remove the double zeroes after @

[jim]

a

......they must have seen you coming

[Colbyt]

In most cases the other components of a complete system still need the same amount of depth.

I have not replaced our larger TV because I can not get a large enough screen in the old cabinet and I paid way too much for it to not use it. I would move it to the bedroom but there is no way I can get it up the steps.

Colbyt

[Vic Smith]

Though we don't have a wide-screen, we've thought about it. Since it would go where our bulky entertainment center is now, we decided we will get rid of the entertainment center. They weren't made for wide-screens. It might make a decent tool/parts shed, but it's too bulky even for that. I always hated that thing, but my wife wanted the shelves to display curios and other crap. It easily handled the stereo gear too. We won't hang the TV on the wall. Put it on a buffet/credenza deal and frame that on either side with "matching" curio cabinets. Stereo gear is going - we just never turn it on anymore. The buffet/credenza has space for DVD player and other TV gear. That's one idea anyway. We don't feel we have to conceal the TV screen. What's the point? We don't live like James Bond or a nemesis of his.

--Vic

[trader4]

My 46" is sitting on a wood cabinet that has a swivel top. Tivo, Blue Ray, Amp, are in the lower portion. Looks great to me. Got it several years ago at BestBuy. I would not want the TV on the wall because sitting on a sofa it's more comfortable to be viewing it lower.

[Ed Pawlowski]

? "Colbyt" wrote

Your day of reckoning may come when your present TV finally dies. A fellow at work had a similar situation. One day he borrowed the Sawzall and put the new TV in place.

[myfathersson]

Unless it was a very cheesy stereo (no offence meant), why wouldnt you just plug the audio output of the TV into the aux IN of the TV instead of using the el-cheapo "stereo" speakers in the TV?

On the other point, our 37" just sticks a bit out of the side of the older wall unit 'pointing' in the general direction of where we sit. We decided to do it that way instead of using an extending wall hanger and have it fit OVER the whole old aperture in the old unit

[G. Morgan]

Sure...

[hrhofmann]

How can you buy a wall-mount without actually seeing how it mounts to the wall and how the tv will mount to the wall mount?

[Robert Neville]

The old style armoires appear to be on their way out as entertainment centers for just the reason you cited - there's no need to have a 24" deep cabinet for a TV that's only 1" deep. We needed one for a bedroom that had a 24" wall niche and were able to buy one for $300 that was retailing for $1200.

The popular solution these days is to buy a wall mount. They come in different flavors ranging from bolt to the wall to full articulating. The articulating ones remind me too much of a cheap motel room though.

I think I prefer the low cabinet with a center mast that hides the cables up to a TV mount.

[Kuskokwim]

less:

???????

[Vic Smith]

The stereo gear is "decent" Sony. Maybe $1500 15 years ago, about $500 being 5 speakers. But the carousel CD player went south after a couple years. And the twin deck cassette reco/play? What were we thinking?! Never even used that! Maybe it came as part of the package. Anyway, we'll keep the amp/radio, which is real good, and 3 small speakers, so we can have "decent" TV sound. The 2 big floor speakers are just too - big. I'll miss the their bass, but sometimes you just compromise. Our living room is pretty small, and those big speakers don't fit with what my wife wants. I won't miss them, and somebody else will get good use from them.

--Vic

[Ed Pawlowski]

? "Vic Smith" wrote

The way to go these days is surround sound. A subwoofer and 5 to 9 small speakers. I bought a Yamaha receiver that allows me to play the TV on the downstairs family room and still play CDs on the speakers upstairs. I have one of those 2 cassette players too, but I've not even hooked it into this system.

Before you run out and pay a lot of money for HDMI cables, check on Amazon or ebay. I paid about $4 for mine. from Amazon. Retailers get from $15 to $60 for them.

[Ed Pawlowski]

? "hr(bob) [e-mail]" wrote

All TV's meet some standard for the mounts. They are interchangeable for any brand.

As for mounting to the wall, I'd want to have big ass screws into a stud. I think they have provisions for that also.