Entertainment Ctr

Moore Family
of Arizona

Entertainment Center Wall - Plan & Construction

We have had several entertainment system cabinets to house our AV equipment over the years.. With the addition of the HDTV in late 2007 we needed something new... the TV filled a big space on the wall and necessitated a shift to a lower cabinet for the rest of the AV electronics.

We found a unit we though was workable (if rather plain) at IKEA

So now the TV was on the wall - with wires dangling down from it as well as dangling down the wall for the integrated cabling that used to feed into the large wall cabinet... I did do some tidying - but what was feasible was rather limited...

Oh what a mess... but how to solve it..?.

We needed to hide all the wiring - both that up to and through the loft area and to and from the TV to the AV equipment below. We also needed a solution to the direct on side view of the TV as you walk into the family room. Despite being well mounted to the wall the TV still looked messy - and huge...

I had a plan - but it was a big plan... and constantly evolving (to be bigger not smaller!). I had put it off and put it off - but finally at the end of 2009 realizing we had lived with this mess for 2 years I started work in earnest.

I wanted to build the drywall wall out to create a shallow recessed area on the wall sufficient to enclose the TV to hide its side view. The high vaulted ceilings were problematic for this - how would it end without continuing to full height? Also how would this transition seamlessly into the cabinet below to hide the wiring...

Similarly to the Bookcase Wall I had already built - I wanted to carry through the architrave/pot-shelf theme from the kitchen into the family room. I also wanted to have a practical AV equipment cabinet that would allow me to easily access both the front and back of all the gear for easy connection & reconfiguration. I determined that with the architrave 'beam' in place I could simply stop the TV surround at a natural height and could integrate the existing AV cabinet into the bottom with some subtle work to hide the transition and to smarten it up - while still allowing it to slide right out for easy access.

Ultimately I integrated into the architrave beam all the existing AV wiring, new AV wiring to the kitchen computer and to the rear patio and new speaker wiring for 3 new wall mount speakers and a subwoofer hidden in the architrave, wiring to a pair of outdoor speakers above the rear patio, a new light over the BBQ on the patio & power feeds to the 4 down-lighter cans and 6 up-lighter cans integrated in the architrave. Phew - it grew!

The TV surround also includes a storage display shelf, all the TV < -> AV wiring, one relocated and one new power outlet and new aux AV inputs mounted in the shelf.

All the wiring connects at one end and virtually all of it is plug/socket removable via reconfigurable plates on the wall.

It is all framed in 2"x 4" with plywood on top surfaces and drywall coverings throughout.

Early Construction Phase:

Midway Through Construction - (note up/down lighting, power, speakers, subwoofer, source/dest feeder wiring

Finished! (for now)

Additional later work on the electronics cabinet