How can I eliminate my tv stand completely from my set-up ?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

So I have finally ordered a wall mount for my Pioneer 11550 50".
I have been trying to figure out how I can eliminate the stand entirely from my set-up, if possible.
My system is small and consists of:

Yamaha RX-V661 AVR(soon to be replaced by Yamaha 663)
PS3
D* HR21-700 HD-DVR
Pioneer 1150HD
3 - Onix Xl-s front stage

So I was thinking of ordering three identical height(18"-24") stands for my front stage with the 1150 on the wall above.
But I have always had my soundstage below my display or at best ~1/3 up my screen. And I hear alot about how placing the center ch. above the display "opens" up the sound, is that true?


So what can I do with my three pieces of gear to eliminate the stand?

 

[bandphan]

is there a closet near by to hide the gear? Perhaps on the otherside of the wall? The matching stands would look good

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Near, not really.
The closest one would be a ~8' run with one 90 degree corner(going further away from seats) to get to the closet with a cable.
It is unused basically though so there is room. And it is in line of sight if controllers are pointed correctly for all but the far left seat in my set-up.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There's no real way to eliminate a rack, because you need a place to put your stuff.

The solution is to hide it and for that, you will have to run cabling, which may mean opening walls up to hide them properly.

This is the entire crux of the custom A/V industry though and is very common. If you aren't up for it, then you don't really have any other options because A/V cloaking devices just aren't in the budget for most people.

I personally have all my stuff in the basement, except I still keep my PS3, Wii, and HD DVD player in a rack at the end of the couch which we use as an end table.

You still will want local A/V access to gear.

IR line of site really isn't necessary due to IR repeaters and RF remotes.

 

[bandphan]

If you went a universal remote with rf control it would work. Is a home, does it have an attic?

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Yes, I have an attic. It is above that same closet. But it is not temp. controlled and gets sever temp. swings.
I like the rack as end table idea if you can get a wooden rack.

For cabling, I would be running speaker wire and a single HDMI that is actually cream colored just as the floorboards are, so running on my own from that closet isn't aweful either. With a rack at my side I would need a nice bluejeans HDMI of ~25' though. I'm not crazy about that idea.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

The Harmony One is on my list and is second behind upgrading the AVR.
But after buying the mount and speaker stands and new HDMI of 8' to possibly 24' I will be maxed out right now budget wise.
So I would like this to be permanent but it can be changed once I get the Harmony One "if needed".

 

[Halon451]

Do you have any pictures or drawings of your layout that you could share? It shouldn't be that difficult to minimize the visual intrusion of your A/V rack based on what I've gathered so far.

 

[bandphan]

i was thinking of the attic to run the speaker wire and hdmi cable. On the remote, take a look at http://universalremote.com/product_detail.php?model=135 with a rf base station.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Sorry, no drawings or anything like that and I don't have a camera, lol.


The attic is further than the closet and has the temp. swings, so the closet is much more viable, along with the end table possibility. I need to look for furniture type racks.
The IR set-up will have to wait for a little until I can budget that in as well. For now, I can just open and close the closet when in use or not.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Sorry, no drawings or anything like that and I don't have a camera, lol.


The attic is further than the closet and has the temp. swings, so the closet is much more viable, along with the end table possibility. I need to look for furniture type racks.
The IR set-up will have to wait for a little until I can budget that in as well. For now, I can just open and close the closet when in use or not.

Pay attention man!

He's saying that when you run cabling from the wall with the TV to your closet, you should go up the wall, into the attic with your cabling! Then you run it from the attic into the closet. This makes it a lot easier for you to run all the cables you need to.

At no point was anyone suggesting to put electronics in the attic - that would be A/V suicide!

 

[Halon451]

One thing to consider if you are going to put your equipment in the closet is ventilation. An awful lot of stored heat can build up in a closet over a short time, so there needs to be an outlet, and maybe even a fan to help draw the hot air from the top - on one install a while back I put in a standard rectangular register right above the closet door, left open to the inside of the closet, and installed a dual rack mount fan unit on the inside portion of the register, and above the equipment to help pull air up and out.

From the outside, it looks no more out of the ordinary than any of your other typical A/C vents, and can be painted to match whatever your wall colors are.

Depending on your attic and truss configuration, hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult a task for you to pull the required cables up the wall and over to the closet via the attic, but it will make for a very clean, professional appearance of your system in the end.

I would suggest also, terminating with wall plates at the TV/Speaker end, and running the whole bundle together from your attic penetration into the closet - make as small a hole as possible and if you have it use some sort of cable cover (snake skin or equivalent), which can be found at Parts Express.

Also, all the ventilation you put in will likely not do as much good unless you have an equipment rack that can breathe - a lot of people have used standard steel wire bread racks, unless you have a lot of money to spend on a professional A/V equipment rack that has all the necessary ventilation ports and louvers built into it to allow for proper air flow.

 

[BG3]

Pay attention man!

He's saying that when you run cabling from the wall with the TV to your closet, you should go up the wall, into the attic with your cabling! Then you run it from the attic into the closet. This makes it a lot easier for you to run all the cables you need to.

At no point was anyone suggesting to put electronics in the attic - that would be A/V suicide!

Check out this thread:
http://http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=397743&postcount=21

I had a similar issue. I mounted my tv from the ceiling over a partial wall using a post and joist mount. I ran all my cabling through the attic into a nearby closet (look at the back left corner in the last pic). The receiver and PS3 are on the shelf below. I purchased some open slot wire duct to hide all the cables which isn't installed yet. You'll also see my home made solution for venting the closet. I used a Harmony 890 RF remote to tie it all together. I'll try to post a pic of the setup this evening.

 

[BG3]

Not everything is completed in these pics but, I hope this helps give you a better visual. There are several ways to do this. I couldn't convice the CFO to spring for a rack with what we spent on the 905 and PSB's so, I had to make my own. I'm actually glad that I did. It's very easy to access everything and the wire shelving helps the closet vent keep the 905 & PS3 much cooler. Just be sure to support the wire shelving as it's worthless otherwise.

 

[BG3]

The Harmony One is on my list and is second behind upgrading the AVR.
But after buying the mount and speaker stands and new HDMI of 8' to possibly 24' I will be maxed out right now budget wise.
So I would like this to be permanent but it can be changed once I get the Harmony One "if needed".

Visit Blue Jeans Cable for your cabling needs. It won't hurt your budget like the retail stuff and the quality is on par or in most cases, better.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/index.htm

 

[Warpdrv]

I just did all this myself as well for my bedroom setup...

Mounted the plasma on the wall, and ran power to it, and an HDMI cable, speakers wires, and Subwoofer cable... Everything is in the basement, and I run a Pronto RF that controls everything.

Its really a slick setup, and I love not having to look at any of my equipment.

If you have a basement, things are always much cooler there, if its possible.
As soon as I get this room painted, I'll take some more pics.

Warp

 

[Alex2507]

An ongoing project of mine is building an entertainment center, then cutting a hole in the wall under the TV and shoving the entertainment center into the next room. Last fall I was applying polyurethane to the box when the weather turned too cold so it's just sitting there waiting for warmer weather. The doors slide on pocket door hardware so that they never get opened out into the room. The reason for all this is that my room is small enough to begin with and I want the floor space back. I'll still be able to "see" the gear but I'm into that.