Uh-oh... I'm in trouble now...

[cwall99]

So a company that specializes in A/V gear in Grand Rapids, Michigan, had its first ever warehouse sale this past weekend, and, not having anything planned for the weekend, I decided to drive a couple of hours to see what would turn up.

I ended up getting a 12-inch EarthQuake subwoofer (lightly used as a demo model) for $150 (new, I believe this sucker listed for around $1800).

But, because we also have a new 50-inch Panasonic display, and because our original set-up had the display mounted on a coffee table, meaning that the bottom edge of the display (of the screen itself, not the bezel) was about 18-inches off the floor. My center channel was in the center of the coffee table, and only about three inches above the floor. Not a good situation, especially considering that I have a 3-year old daughter who's constantly messing with that speaker.

So, I bought a nice piece of furniture to put in place of the coffee table and an ell-shaped rack to mount the display to. The furniture's a hit (meaning my wife likes it), and it gets my center channel up where it belongs. The display rack, though, is not.

Turns out that the display rack puts the television about 6-inches too high. This isn't a real big problem for watching the set, but what causes the problem is that you can see about 6 inches of these black beams that make up the mounting rack above the center channel and below the bezel of the television.

There's another problem, too: the center channel is, inevitably, going to find its way to the back of the cabinet it now sits on. This says it's gonna mess with the sound coming out of the center channel.

I'm thinking of a stand, about six inches high that will elevate my center channel so the top surface of the table won't mess with sonic reflections and will also help me hide those vertical beams.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[sholling]

Congratulations on the new toys!

I would fight the temptation to move the center back at all costs short of a divorce (or large jewelry purchases). I tried it and the result was horrible. The reflections off the glass surface gave it an echo chamber sound.

A pair of Auralex Mopads will get the center up 2", angle it properly, and isolate the center from the stand. I like to fill the space between the Mopads with bits of matching acoustic foam tile to give it a solid look but not everyone has that laying around. The other 4" could come from a homemade stand. Even a couple of sanded and painted (black?) 4x4" with felt feet on the bottom. Or it could come from a 2" (sanded and painted 2x12?) of homemade stand and 2" of acoustic form tile on top of the center to reduce reflections off the display.

 

[cwall99]

A most excellent suggestion. Thanks.