It is a common problem.  The cabinet in your living room was built for an older TV and you are ready to upgrade to a flat panel TV.  What do you do?  Call Sound Ideas!  Our client had an existing cabinet custom built for a  65″ rear projection TV.  The cabinet had a front piece built so that only the TV screen showed.  They wanted to upgrade to a 65″ flat panel. 

 First we removed the old TV.  That left us with this giant opening.  The width of the cabinet allowed for a 65″ flat panel, but we needed a way to mount it.  We also needed to cover all the empty space below the TV.

Next we built a false back and painted it black.  We installed this inside the cabinet to mount the flat panel. 

Then we designed a new front panel and matched the existing cabinet’s paint to achieve this fantastic final result. Some cabinets require a lot of work, some require only a little. If you are ready to upgrade your TV, let us look at modifying your existing cabinet to acommodate it.

Here is another custom rack we did. This type of rack is best for centralized AV systems that have a large amount of equipment. This particular rack from Middle Atlantic holds not only the home’s multi-zone audio video distribution system but also the AV gear for the theater room. The layout of the rack is designed well in advance of the installation. Every component is assigned a position in the rack that allows for ease of use and the best wire management. Air flow and cooling also play a large factor in determining the position of the component.

After the layout design is completed, the rack is ordered with custom face plates for each component to give the finished product a polished look. Before we take the rack to the jobsite, we assemble it in our shop, install the gear, and test the equipment and the system design to make sure everything is working.

A custom cabinet like this makes installation and servicing easier, looks great and makes the gear easier to access and use for the home owner.

Having a rack to hold all of your AV gear in a centralized location is a wonderful thing – if done correctly.  Here is a before and after picture of an AV rack on a recent job.  The before picture reflects 6 years of additions and changes of gear.  We came in, re-vamped the whole system,  re-wired the rack and the after picture is the result.

This retrofit installation was rather unique.  The room was large, open, and awkward making the TV placement difficult.  After a couple of designs involving a large custom cabinet to the right of the fireplace to house the TV, it was finally decided that the best place for the TV was over the mantle above the fireplace.   The cabinet idea was kept but redesigned to become bookshelves with cabinets underneath to hold the AV gear.  The builder removed stones creating a pathway for power and AV cabling.  Once the cabling was in place the custom bookshelfcabinet was installed.  The TV was mounted with a tilt mount bracket to provide a better viewing angle.  A receiver, Blu-ray player, DSS receiver and Klipsch subwoofer were installed inside the cabinet.

The client wanted better sound than the TV provided so along with the subwoofer a pair of KEF 6000 ACE speakers were mounted to either side of a 55″ LED TV.  This provided big sound to match a big picture.  An RTI universal remote controls this system and the house wide audio system.  No matter how difficult the installation there is always a solution.

Quite often we find ourselves working along side other professionals to create a client’s dream theater, as was the case with the two home theaters featured in the September issue of Indulge Magazine .    The article focuses on the unique look and design of each theater and has brief interviews with the people involved in creating the theaters. 

Designing a home theater is a collaborative effort between the home owner, the electronic systems contractor (Sound Ideas), the builder, the architect and the interior designer.   The home owner has an idea of what they want their theater to look like and works with an interior designer to create the concept.  Then the builders, architects and Sound Ideas are brought in to turn that dream into reality.  We work with the architect and builder to make sure the design and constuction of the room provides the optimal speaker layout for great sound, and that the seating design allows for the biggest screen possible and the best viewing angles.  We also work with the interior designers to come up with acoustical panels that fit the design of the room and provide the necessary sound absorption and reflection.  All the electronic components are chosen with great care to provide the home owner with the best audio and video while maintaining the integrity of the original design.  It is quite a thrill seeing the project go from an idea to the finished theater, and nothing beats the look on the client’s face the first time they sit in their new theater and watch a movie. 

Over the years we have worked with many different builders, designers, and architects.  We would like to say thank you to the ones involved in the two theaters featured in the article as well as all of the others we have worked with down through the years.  Thank you all and here’s to many more years of making dreams come true.

Our client loves sports, and he wanted to be able to watch 3 different games at the same time.  He already had 3 Panasonic 50″ Plasmas and a surround system.  What he needed from us was an installation plan, mounting system and a control system.  We used a Chief flat panel mounting system that allowed us to place all the TVs side by side with no gap in between them.      

  The first step was to run cabling and power to all three TVs and then layout the bracket pattern.   

Once all three TVs were hung and the speakers mounted, we installed the AV gear: a surround receiver, a Blu-ray DVD player and 3 Direct TV satellite boxes.  We used a RTI T3V and a ZRP6 to control the system.  With the T3V, the client can change the channel on any of the TVs and switch the audio to any of the TVs without any crosstalk or inteference.    

The final result - command central for the ultimate sports fan!

Here is the before shot. This is a common problem. Notice the large CRT TV that has it’s own base that goes down to the floor. If you wanted to put a flat panel in its place, it would be impossible to find a base that would match.

Above is the after picture. We created a bottom piece that would match the existing cabinet and we mounted the flat panel to a floating false wall. Everything matched  very nicely even though the existing cabinet was a manufactured cabinet with  a weird stain. In the end the cabinet modification we did was seamless and looked like it had always been like that.

Over the past year I have worked with many clients to modify their cabinets. The story is usually the same and it goes something like this. “Ten years ago we had this beautiful cabinet custom made for this specific big screen tube television. Now we want to update to a new flat panel HDTV, but our cabinet was not made for a flat panel. What can we do?” Sometimes the solution to the problem is simple and other times it is not. The above picture is an example of a simple problem. So let’s walk through the solution.

Before any installation takes place we need to come to the job site and take measurements so that we can find what fits just right. Sometimes we will even borrow an existing cabinet door to match paint or stain color. All the preliminary work is done and now it’s the day of installation. First we need to get that beast of a tv out of it’s hole. Next we put up a “false backing” that will match the existing cabinet. Third, we run the necessary cables and set the mount in position. At this point we also install custom trim work, caulk and do touch up painting. We really have an attention to detail at this stage.

The fourth step is to prep the flat panel for the bracket. During this step we align the position so that the gap around the flat panel is even all around the edges. Next, we hook up all cables to flat panel and mount it to the bracket. It is important during this step to work with “kid gloves” because the new HDMI cables are very sensitive to bends and it is easy to scratch or damage the surrounding cabinets while mounting a flat panel. We want everything to look beautiful, so we take great caution mounting any tv.  Finally, we train the client on their new set up and answer any questions they might have. We really work had to make this whole process as painless as possible. The goal is to do the modification in such a way that it looks like it has always been apart of the cabinet.

Now that you have a general idea of the process I will be posting some before and after images from future cabinet modifications. If you have more questions, or you would like me to come to your house to look at your cabinet, just email David and I will get back to you asap.