Entertainment center Like the 1980s are over

About a month ago, my TV finally gave out. It was a state-of-the-art 27” unit. Well, top-of-the-line for 1989, but I got over 20 years of use out of it. When we got the TV, we also bought a beautifully chic entertainment center; they were all the rage back then.

Ours was an enormous knock-down monstrosity made out MDF with a wood grain laminate. It had a large glass door that eventually broke, so I removed it. It had shelves to hold my VCR, phonograph and 5-disc CD changer. Doors at the bottom held my record collection. A long thin door on the right held my CD collection.

My new TV looks great, so I figure it is finally time to put the 1980s to rest and build a new entertainment center, one that looks like it belongs in this century. And I hesitate to call it an “entertainment center”, but rather a TV stand.

I think they key to bringing my living room into 2010 is to keep the design as simple as the LCD TV itself. With all the miniaturization of electronics, we no longer need to show off a bunch of components and media. I want the TV to be the centerpiece. To this end, I have finally separated with my phonograph. I ditched the VHS player. I have begun transferring my CDs to MP3s and got rid of my CD player. (If I need to play a CD, I can use my small DVD player.) I am left with the DVR, a small DVD player, and a receiver. Oh, and my son’s Wii, but that’s pretty compact.Getting with the timesI don’t want a top. No matter how hard we try, the 20” deep top on my ‘80s monster has always collected layers of clutter. In that vein, I will make the new stand only as deep as my receiver. The whole unit should only stand about 20” high.
I want the unit to have a lighter feel to it. It doesn’t need to support a 100 pound tube. Lifting it a few inches off the floor with legs should help. Eliminating doors should also reduce its bulk.
I want to design it around the few audio components that are necessary and reduce the amount of unassigned shelf space. Again, it seems junk is drawn toward empty shelf space.
I have a great surround sound system, but I want to incorporate the left, right, and center channel speakers into the stand. Then I can get rid of the individual speaker stands.
Those are my initial thoughts on the TV stand. I hope to get started this weekend. If you have any thoughts, let me know.