Plasma "shelf" question

Hi guys - Haven't posted in a while. I have a question for you guys and wanted to hear if you know of any online place that sells something I think I need.

I have rectangular entertainment piece that's 60" wide and currently has on it a 36" Sony WEGA CRT. Yesterday I bought a Pioneer Elite PRO 1140 50" Plasma to take it's place as part of a little house warming gift to myself. I'm moving on the 29th.

I now have nowhere to put my center channel (the top of the WEGA has enough real estate to accomodate the speaker). My center channel for this room is an Atlantic Technology 2200C. It's fairly compact.

Conditions:

1.) The plasma stand will be utilized and I don't think it's adjustable such that I can raise the height of the panel relative to the stand. If I put the speaker right on the entertainment unit directly in front of the plasma, I'm fairly certain it will block the picture to some extent, not to mention, look like poop.

2.) The entertainment center does NOT have a shelf ideal for a center channel and they're all taken up by components.

3.) Wife does not want a shelf on the wall above the panel.

Therefore, I'm envisioning a hutch, that would match pretty well the espresso finish of the furniture, that would provide enough clearance for the 2200C to sit under the plasma. Is there a store that sells these things? Or am I looking at going to home depot to buy some wood and get my Bob Vila on?

Have you though about wall mounting the plasma in the new house? I did and put a bracketless shelf under mine with all the cables in the wall.

Well right now wall mounting IS an option, although it's not ideal. While my wife is really resistant to floor standing speakers (implying I should continue to wall mount all my speakers which will in turn mean wires in the wall), she's resisting the idea of mounting the display on the wall and all the wiring associated with THAT in the wall. - I dunno...wives. Maybe

Part of the problem is the house I'm buying is old (nice old) with plaster throughout. I'm hesitant to start punching holes in the plaster for my electronics so the tv stand is an ideal situation. I like the cleanliness of good hidden wiring and in the end, that may be the long-term solution.

I'm just baffled that it seems no one makes a retro "hutch" that I can simply purchase, pop on top of my entertainment pedestal, with the purpose in mind of putting a center channel beneath it.

Thanks for the response...

I saw an entertainment unit at Crate and Barrel the other day that had a similar base as yours (from previous posts showing pics of your two setups) and a back board that looked stout enough to accept a wall mount for a plasma. That might work for you because you might be able to mount the plasma high enough to fit the center speaker under it. You also could make or purchase a back board that would fit your current unit and plasma. Just a couple of ideas...

I'll go check that out. Wife likes C&B anyways -that could help. Last time we discussed this, she seemed ok with the bracketless shelf idea for the center channel, so that's another out. But I would prefer the center channel position lower. Thanks again AvFan.

FWIW, we have a Pioneer Elite 42-inch plasma, and one concern I would have about a hutch would be heat-build up from the screen. Ours is out in the open and after a movie it still gets pretty warm above the display. Good luck!

Take a look at the power consumption of your plasma monitor. If it is something like 700 watts, you can count on 350 to 500 watts on the average. A small percentage of this energy will leave your monitor as light, most will be given off as heat. Most plasma screens have built in fans for a reason. Whatever enclosure you're considereing, ask yourself, "Would I put 5 100-watt lamps in there?"

RedSIinPA,
If you don't go into the walls w/ the wiring, I have seen an "L" shaped cover that runs along the base board. You would have to stain/paint to match room.
You can either permanent attach or have it sit against the base board.
Then you run all of your cables behind. Make cut-outs for wires that run up to speakers. All excess is hidden by the base board.

The wire covers can look like an extension of the wall. Kind of like crown molding for the floor.

My wife is not a fan of the wires either. ... But i do ask for her inputs to help me solve the issue. Nothing like keeping the Lady of the house happy.

tmdlp,

If you know where I can find this contraption, please let me know.

Thanks a lot.