Dedicated audio video home theater furniture is definitely the way to go. Whether you are about to buy a TV stand, a media center shelving system or a media cabinet. I know this. But when a small, locally owned furniture store was having a blow-out sale, I saw a lovely mission style cabinet. Made of Oak and 1/3 the price. I had some friends help bring it in. Getting a heavy oak piece upstairs is a struggle, but that was the easy part!

I offer my day from hell below, but here’s the brief: Buy furniture built for AV home theater

1. The backs usually can be removed and replaced by sliding into place or with removable screws.
2. There are often built in cable management to hold the cables neatly and shelves with holes to run cables.
3. A good one will have a small light on the back that can be turned on to illuminate the connections on the backs of your components.
4. It will have an internal fan to keep components (particularly an AV receiver) running cooler by circulating air, thereby giving it a longer life.
5. The cabinets will give room to move the components around, and maybe even a larger area dedicated to a large center speaker.

The Furniture I Should Have Bought...

The picture below is from Salamander Designs. Note that they can come with special accessories, like fans, removable backs, TV mounts, etc.

The one I bought was deceiving. It came with a piece of speaker cover material that could replace one of the glass doors (so you could put the center channel speaker inside and hear it)…that seemed like they knew a little about what they were doing. And it seemed like the cabinets were 17 inches wide.

If you’re not convinced of the value of media furniture (it can run well over $1,000 or $2,000), read on…

First, there was only one set of holes in each of the cabinet sections. The holes were toward the top. And the shelves had no hole through them. So how was I to plug in the component below the shelf? My neighbors (and saviors) rescued me with a hole saw. We could drill another hole in the back. But then, one component is an AV receiver. All of the cables were not going to fit through one hole. He drilled 3 in that plywood back. And another component was a a/v power conditioner power center (it cleans up any noise on my audio and gives me more detail in my video), that has something like 12 outlets on the back. I needed some extra holes for that one too. It was plywood, and easy enough to drill a hole through.

Then came the real nightmare - I had measured a couple of times to be sure that the cabinets were more than 17 inches wide (the typical width of an AV component –from satellite boxes to DVD players to AV receivers). It was 18 inches.

So, I try to put in the AV receiver in the center. I have to tilt it because the lip for the door makes it narrower than 17 inches. And it won’t go down. It’s VERY heavy. It’s wedged. Let the obscenities fly! Turns out the center cabinet is just a tad narrower. I put it in one of the side cabinets and after maneuvering that back-breaking receiver, it CLUNKED down into place (can’t be good for it). When I tried with the power stabilizer (a 75 pound device) I was afraid that it would break my hand or foot when it dropped. The only hope…remove the plywood back.

Here’s where the problem comes in and my advice:Buy media furniture with easily removable backs! It will not only help you to hook things up, it’s also possible if you need to slide in a component from the back because the door in front is too narrow. Removing the plywood back was the biggest nightmare…It was stapled on! My neighbors, who again came to save me, counted 178 staples on just one cabinet section. It took chisels, a crow bar, wire cutters and a hammer to get that thing off!

Luckily the component slid right in from the back.

After much contortion, crawling, labeling, etc. My home theater looks nice. It could look just as nice with a cabinet by Salmander, Bell-O or BDI. But it would be a piece of furniture that was much better suited to the purpose.

Note: It took me a week to post this. Since then, I’ve had to make some additions and changes to my hookup. Oh how I long for removable backs. (It would save MY back from breaking!)

I keep harping on why to use quality HDMI cables. It’s because there is so much information on the web to the contrary and very little of it talks about real life experience. Working on consumer education with Monster Cable, and watching the testing, I am never disappointed at the verified quality of the cables. And quality is important to me. Again, if I’m spending money for better quality in a TV, I want it to perform at its best.

HDMI cable failed one day!

So, the HDTV LCD in my bedroom didn’t have near the quality of the other HDTVs in my house (yes, I have a few…I need them for testing). Then one day I turned it on and there was this weird solarizing effect. I didn’t touch it and it just appeared one day. A friend of mine had pictures like these too and I wondered if they were real. Well, they are. The cable just failed. Now I had to crawl around and replace it, and luckily I had a Monster cable to hook up. Night and day difference. So, that’s what the HD picture is supposed to look like! Using the cheap cable, I hadn’t even noticed that the TV could look better. Test all you want, it’s how the cable performs over time in my home that counts! And this is the second time that I’ve had a cheap cable fail (the other was installed by the Satellite company and it stopped working completely after less than a year).

Much better with a Monster HDMI

Lately I’ve been thinking about cables like car tires. When I go to buy new tires, the salesperson goes on about radials and tread patterns and lots of stuff that I don’t care much about. It’s when I hear the word “performance” that I listen. I have a decent car and live in the mountains so I want good handling. I’m not going to buy the cheapest tires, I want ones that will last, be backed by a reputable manufacturer and allow my car to handle to the best of its ability. And I know I wouldn’t buy the cheapest tires if I were to have a high performance car. The difference between cables and tires is that the price difference on quality tires is several HUNDRED dollars. The price difference for quality cables is at most a hundred dollars, and more likely only $50.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to rip my system apart to replace a cable that has stopped working, or worse, not realize that the quality has diminished and just complain that my TV isn’t looking so good.

I’m going to get it right the first time. And Monster has the Cable For Life, HDMI cable where I know I’ll never have to spend another dime for an HDMI cable if I get new equipment. Learn more about HDMI at the Monster HDMI Learning Center .

Having worked first in film production, and spending 10 years in selling, training, reviewing, and consumer education in home theater, I am what most would call somewhat of a videophile. I love a good picture, that is crisp, detailed, and has realistic color. And I have grown to love audio that brings the musicians or the action into my room. Once high definition TV came on the scene, the picture and today’s higher definition TVs thrilled me and high def disc players are even more true-to-life, more detailed.

In the years on the sales floor selling home theater, I learned about Monster Cable and did my own blind tests (and continue to do so today). Often, I could see actual differences—better contrast, richer color, more details, less interference and artifacts—when I upgraded my cables and even when I couldn’t pinpoint it, I noticed a “feel” of more realism.

I have heard that digital cables are all the same, but have seen for myself and since learned by interviewing the engineers and inventors of HDMI, this is not at all true, particularly with advanced high definition TVs and sources. There is a lot of information being transferred over cables with higher definition video and uncompressed audio. Steps must be taken to ensure that all of the signal arrives at the right time without digital packets of information being dropped, or interference altering the packets and creating artifacts, digital snow, or other picture degradations. This is much more apparent on today’s big screen TVs.

A quality cable that has been tested to be sure that all of the signal arrives at the right time is essential to get all of the performance possible from the components and TV. First, being sure that signal is not lost via poor soldering of the connectors to the wires. And being sure that the cable does not lose signal or gain interference by having a well-insulated cable. And finally, choosing the cable that is speed tested to get me the best performance for the gear that I am connecting. If I am connecting a satellite or cable box with 1080i, compressed video, it’s appropriate that I buy a less expensive standard speed, quality HDMI cable. If, however, I want the best from my Blu-ray Disc player (that I may have spent $1000 for plus $30 per movie) I am going to want to get an ultimate high-speed, quality HDMI cable. And I’m even happier if I buy a “Cable for Life” so I don’t have to purchase another cable in a couple of years because technology has advanced. These are the quality features available on Monster Cables speed rated HDMI cables.

If I’ve spent thousands of dollars on a high definition TV and high def player, and I’m spending money each month for high definition programming, I don’t think skimping on cables for a one time, extra $50 to $100 is a wise decision. I bought a 1080p, FULL HD TV because I want that improved picture quality. A few more dollars to make sure that I get all that I paid for is worth it to me.