AV Cabinet Search

[craigy_b]

Hi guys,
I'm on the lookout for an AV cabinet to house my dvd player and xbox. My tv is wall mounted but need something to house the rest of the kit.
I have a 17-month old boy who has worked out how to use the dvd player so I need a cabinet with doors before I find a jam sandwich in my xbox!

Are there any online stores that are good for AV furniture? I've looked at all the local shops and the cabinets they have either don't have doors or only have drawers, not much good for opening a CD tray.

Any help or advice appreciated.

Cheers
Craig

[Parathorn]

I'm facing the same predicament. My glass and aluminum stand will need to go once my baby starts crawling.

It would seem that either hi fi enthusiasts don't have babies, or cabinet makers haven't figured out there is a not insusbtantial niche market of worried dad's with one eye on the baby and one eye on their 'other' obsession.

I thought I had found what I was looking for with the Alphason 'Ambri', but was disappointed to find that its not deep enough to take my Marantz SR9600 (at 490mm). The only other cabinet I've found is one by Quadraspire the 'QKAV'. But at £800 there was also some confusion when I spoke to a retailer on whether I had to spend an extra £100 on 4 wheels(!), So I tried approaching Quadraspire directly but they were charging me full retail price and £100 in postage, which I think is a bit on the steep side as I think it comes flatpacked.

Still searching, and would also be grateful for any more input preferably spending less than £800 (plus extras!)

[Knightshade]

Try the link I put in, for £800 -£1000 you should get something very nice.

[Deepcore]

I couldn't find an AV cabinet that didn't have glass doors so I ended up buying Corndell Nimbus solid oak sideboard (takes the knocks better than pine) and then drilled a few holes in the back for cables. I then added some fans (see link in signature) to keep the whole thing cool. I use the RF capability of the Harmony to control every thing with the doors closed.

This was the company I bought from http://www.thefurnituretrader.co.uk/

[Parathorn]

Deepcore> An interesting project and one I would enjoy, but I'm short of time to do this having just moved house. Would you say that the ventilation would be sufficient (as a temporary measure) with the doors left open when the amplifier is in use?

Knightshade> Thanks for the link, I will explore this further.

[Deepcore]

Without knowing more about the equipment and what runs hot it's difficult to say. With the XBOX you mention the doors will be open for the controllers providing a better airflow. At a guess ... and it is a guess i'd say you'd be fine running with the doors open.

If your child is anything like mine the days of ground shaking sound from the movies are gone ... unless you want tears

Fitting the fans to the cabinet took me about 2 hours. Sorting out all the power and speaker cables for all the equipment took me ages