Design dimensions?

[Two Much]

We have a 52" lcd tv and made our tv unit only 17" deep (with the overhang 18") because I didn't want it sticking out into the room a lot. The height of the cabinet is 20" The overall height to the mantle top is 61" The stand on the TV is 2" high, we shimmed it up another inch because I wanted to keep the surround sound unit on the cabinet, under the tv... The side panels are 10" deep and the mantle top sticks out a couple of inches past the sides. The bottom stringer is 2 3/4" So our overall measurements are, 18" deep x 20" high x 61" high with the TV


Here's my question for all, if Steve wants to make pocket doors to close over the tv, how much room does he have to allow? I'm assuming Steve that you're doing 4 doors?
Actually, I just looked at our kitchen tv cabinet and it's about 1 3/4" ..so he has to allow about 2 1/4 inches on each side for the pocket doors, right?
On top of the tv we have a 3" stringer (is that the right terminology?) piece of wood, so that there is 3" of air space behind that stringer piece. We also left the back off behind the tv. These tv's get very hot and need a lot of air circulation....as a matter of fact, we left most the back off the bottom of the cabinet for circulation for the components.
Just some more thoughts. Joann

[Scoly2803]

Just when I thought I was about ready to start cutting along comes more good ideas.
If I were to use 3/4 stock for the legs it would save a considerable amount of stock. That's nice. Front piece 2" wide side piece 1.75". What would be the best structural joint for connecting these. Don't have a biscuit joiner. Could use pocket holes but really had wanted to stay away from screws and learn some new skills.Maybe this isn't the right time for that. Pocket hole screws would let me sleep comfortably. Boxing in at the floor would give the look.

I'll do some playing with the dimensions again. Have to measure my components and allow room for future upgrades. Depth is very important. Would hate to find a component that I wanted and it be to deep for the cabinet.

Joann
I'll also be doing some research on the pocket hole doors. I did a couple about a year ago but can't remember the dimensions. They will be pocket hole with slide out shelves if I fan figure it out. Even more space required since there will need to be two more panels for the slideouts.

This is beginning to feel like a group project and my contribution is so small. I know tthat with all the help, when finished, it will be all I had hoped for.

Back to sketchup

Thanks
Steve

[Two Much]

Steve, we have two vcr's, and tivo, and they fit inside our cabinet that is 17" deep.
As I mentioned, we also eliminated the back on the cabinet, for air circulation, so if down the road the upgrades are larger, they'll still fit.
The reason I wanted mine narrow, was because I wanted to take advantage of the thinner tv. My thought was -- why such a wide cabinet if the tv is narrow. It all depends on the where is is in the room and how wide the room is.
As far as the doors are concerned, it doesn't bother me that we don't have doors on the big tv, however the cabinet we made for the kitchen, I didn't want it to look like a tv unit so we made doors. I can see your wife wanting door, if the tv was in the living room for instance.
I am assuming down the road you're going to make the two side cabinets? If so, consider making them lower than the tv cabinet. I just think they would look better if they were lower than the tv, being that the tv unit is going to be much bigger and longer... I would set the end cabinets back a couple of inches as well, and maybe some glass in the side panels of the end cabinets as well. Hope I'm not being too pushy with my ideas, but I love the design element in all the stuff we make...I think it's the funnest part.
Joann

[LCHIEN]

Yeah, that's what it looks like to me, too. BUT, it appears (at least looking at the tall piece on the near end) that the side frame and panel also has a vertical stile contributing to the "leg". So, the cross-section of the leg is "L" shaped.

My guess is that the inner piece is similarly constructed, as it's really separated from the two tall end pieces.

Or did everyone already gather that?

Regards,
Tom

I agreee, the photographs don't show solid legs, each of the three pieces has a face frame of flat lumber and side pieces which give the appearance an strength of thick, square legs. But if you look closely at the bottom of the legs where they meet the floor you can see the "L".

How the OP wants to make the look is up to him, though. Solid legs will look much nicer and give it a real solid feel, people won't notice that much but he will know. On the down side, thick square pieces will have to be a hardwood lumber yard purchase and drive up the cost.

[LarryG]

I'll do some playing with the dimensions again. Have to measure my components and allow room for future upgrades. Depth is very important. Would hate to find a component that I wanted and it be to deep for the cabinet.

I just went through this exercise for a media console that I ended up buying rather than building, as I'd originally planned to do (long story). As Joann notes, most components will fit in a 17"-18" deep cabinet. The principal exception of which I am aware is CD changers. The 5-disc carousel type are typically around 17.5" to 18" deep. The "jukebox" kind that hold hundreds of discs run 21" or more. Note that these are the unit dimensions only; add to them the clearance for cables, ventilation, etc.

Also consider the size of any center speaker you might want in future; some of them are pretty big. Consoles with a center compartment sized to fit standard ~17" audio components are everywhere, but I had a LONG search to find one that would accept my 7" high x 20" long center speaker. I found several that had the necessary width, but the speaker compartment was only about 6" high. I would therefore suggest using only adjustable shelves in the middle bay, for maximum flexibility.

[Two Much]

Larry has a great point about adjustable shelves, and the center speaker as well.
Our center speaker is a small double speaker and can also be installed on top of the tv,
however, we have it on the cabinet just under the tv.
Also, keep in mind the unit is an inch or two from the wall and without a back panel on the cabinet you have lots of leeway for all the cords/wires etc. Another idea is glass inserts on the doors. This way the remotes can work through the glass. We used grey tinted glass so that when the doors are closed no wires are visible.

We bought a 50 dlp, four years ago, when our sons tv broke, we gave him our 50" and bought a 52" and had to re-work the top to accommodate the new wider tv.(long story --but we got to make a new nicer mantle top)
We had our surround sound box, inside the cabinet, what a PITA, having to bend to put in a cd and also I couldn't read the top where it showed the radio channel. So keep that in mind, being able to easily load the thing, and easily read the channels.

That was the reason we shimmed up the new tv an inch, so that I could slip the slim Bose unit under the tv, where I could load it and read it.
Steve, your tv longer, so you have plenty of room to install all the components the way you want them.
When we made our unit 4 1/2 years ago there were hardly any units for these big tv's
Most were for 36" tv's and the depth was much deeper. Shortly after that they started making units for the big screen tv's.

[Scoly2803]

So many variables to consider. Depth is a consideration for us due to a 5 disc dvd carousel (17.5 deep).
Once I have at least 2 of the 3 pieces there will be room for everything. Current system includes 2 amps, 1 av receiver, 1 stereo receiver, dvd carousel, cd player, dac, Dish dvr, and a slimdevices duet. Will also need storage for cd's and dvd's. Fits easily with the 3 pieces but will be a headache till they are all done.

Joann
Your comment regarding glass in the doors was a real help. Sometimes you don't see the forest for the trees. I slapped my head when I read "glass". Will have to discuss it since in Lubbock we battle dust continuously.
I hadn't even considered no back till you mentioned it. Wires are a pet peeve of ours. Probably have ~25 hanging out right now and we have to do something to conceal all that can be. Along with that is the cooling consideration. Would prefer to not have fans. More noise is last thing I need.

Larry
Your sure right about the center speaker. Mine is 18" wide x 8" tall. A major consideration in the design especially with the possibility of something even larger down the line. Thanks!

Steve

[Two Much]

Steve, we do a lot of glass in our cabinets. It lightens the piece, sometimes we do glass on the sides to let natural light into the cabinet. As I said before, on the Tv doors we did grey glass because I didn't want the wires to show through the glass. We took off the back
board when we realized how hot it got in there, and eliminated the back on the tv after we read the recommended air space required all around the tv.
Here is two photos of the unit we made. It is nothing special, however blends in with the den furniture, most of which we made. I had specific requirements, I wanted to be able to
fit a chair on each side of the unit, (the wall it's on is only 10 foot long) and I didn't want it too deep. I also wanted bun feet, so that it could be easily moved out for occasional vacuuming behind it. I wanted a space underneath for dust moping as well, also I usually don't like furniture that goes all the way to the floor. Another requirement I had was a nice mantle top for my small photos as well as a lamp. This is why I only wanted the unit to top out at about 60" high. Turns out the height for viewing the tv is great.

The subwoofer for the Bose system is behind the chair on the right. The bose unit is
on the right of the tv. The vcr on the left is a vcr and tape unit, the new one Blue -ray
(there was no blue ray 4 1/2 years ago when we made this thing) is inside behind the doors, as well as the tivo unit. The drawer is for the cd's. The cabinet to the left is a small
dvd cabinet I dreamed up one night. Notice in the second photo it has glass on the side as well.
I'll be back with the photos, I'm having computer issues today and don't want to loose
this post.
Joann

[Two Much]

Here are some photos. The 3" piece of wood directly under the mantle top -- is so that air can circulate on top of the tv, as well as behind the tv.
We remade the top (cut it narrower) when we got the new lcd cause it was narrower than the dlp. The dvd cabinet is only 7" deep.
Just so your not confused that is a mirrored wall next to the FP.

[Scoly2803]

Very nice. I can only hope that mine comes out working so well with my components and room.
I really do appreciate all the time and effort by you and many others helping me with this project.
Steve