Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Good TV Stand to accomodate VP150 Center Speaker

My current setup holds an older smaller center channel speaker just fine on the top shelf, along with A/V Receiver, three DVD players, and a Motorola set-top box. I just purchased the VP150 center channel speaker, which at 27.5" width will not fit into my current TV stand. I would like a stand, wood or glass, with three shelves to accomodate all my equipment, with the topmost shelf holding just the center channel speaker and the two lower shelves to hold all the other equipment. I would like the height of the TV base to be between 30 and 36" and the width to be between 50 and 60". Does any forum member have such a setup or know of a suitable one for me to get?

Welcome, Access!
You may want to check out RacksandStands.com and StandsandMounts.com as good resources to see what's out there, even if you then decide to shop locally!

Thanks, Mark for the links. I have looked at several online sites and they all fall short (or fall narrow) where the large center speaker is concerned. I did find one that would work, but the price was much higher than I am willing to pay. I think I am going to have to make a Visio plan and just hire a local carpenter to put it together for me.

A brief addendum here..I spent a few hours designing my custom "dream" stand for my upcoming system and would be happy to send it as an attached .pdf file for anyone who is interested.

I looked a LOT for something that would fit the VP150 on a shelf. I finally found one on one of those sites. This was about two years back when I got my TV. I believe it was called a Madison. It has two shelfs to store equipment, plus a glass "top shelf" that the TV sits on. The VP150 fits on the shelf below the TV with just a tiny bit of room to spare.

If someone bugs me about it I'll get a picture up of the setup. I don't have any handy at the moment.

That's very close to what I need. It just lacks a third shelf. I want my setup to be a few inches taller and hold 4-6 components comfortably, allowing generous space for a large A/V receiver so it has enough ventilation. Here is my first draft of a design for such a stand: http://www.buyrecorders.com/pdf_files/tvstand.pdf

I've been mulling over a very similar situation, and perhaps can give you some food for thought: I have a 61" Samsung DLP as well, albeit one that stands taller due to speakers along the bottom, and an Oppo. I currently have a Tech Craft stand whose shelves have limited adjustability and are angled for corner siting, so deep components (notably, Pioneer CLD-99) are problematic. I'm planning on the popular yet tall Denon 3808 to replace the 2-channel Sony I currently have, but height is an issue with the glass shelves if I want airflow, and if I yank one shelf placing a VP150 in there would be even more difficult. I like your design -- it's a bit taller than most I've seen. Mine is about 20" to the top/TV shelf.

The best for my potential situation I've found that's even halfway affordable is this one from audioadvisor.com. You don't get four shelves to stack three components vertically, but there should be plenty of room to put three side by side and maybe stack something on top of the Oppo. I'm sorely tempted by this unit myself, but clearing the Epic 80 + 3808 wrt WAF may be tough as it is and I don't know that I can spend.

I'm mulling over two alternatives:

1) Bring my TV/stand out from the wall a bit (I want it closer to the couch anyway, and it's in kind of an alcove. My unborn M80's would go roughly where the Bose beasts are in the photos. I could pull it out maybe 18" and stick a 4-5 shelf single-wide rack behind it, and place overflow components there, say stuff I won't use often like the VCR and the LD player. LOS for remotes to work could be a problem. I could tuck the rack on one side or the other, utilizing the angle on the rear of the stand, but that would be cluttered, destroy the symmetry of the current setup, and probably not pass WAF.

2) I realized recently that I don't give a rat's ...errrm, hindparts... about the TV's onboard speakers, and if using a horizontal center it's often a good idea to place it as close to the center of the display as possible. So, I could shift the TV waaaay back on the existing stand and squeeze the VP150 on the top shelf. Blocking the onboard speakers isn't a problem, but blocking the sensor for the remote might be. I might also need to raise the TV itself up an inch or two for the display to clear the speaker chassis, and the VP150 might be a bit precarious. One idea I've had would be to get something like a 2'x2' square of thick tempered glass and slide it under the TV, projecting out the front a bit to make a shelf for the VP150 to comfortably sit on. This would overhang the components below a bit, but I could site the DVD player such that the drawer was offset from it.

Or ... I could just get one or two 18-20" stands (eg. Lovan Jazz) and have the VP150 sit on it/them in front of the TV stand. This would somewhat impede the shelves but careful placement could allow DVD drawer access and remote LOS.

I plan to try out a vertical M22 or even M2 as a center too. If that works out, placement in front of the TV stand would be less obtrusive. I really want to avoid placing a horizontal center on top of the display. With a kid coming I don't like the gravity/safety aspect, and I might have boundary/reflection issues with the wall/ceiling right there.

The nicest solution I have seen from Salamander is this one:

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SMKSLC30&variation=CHEBLK

But at $1465 it is way over my budget. I think I can get a local carpenter to build my design for a few hundred bucks, so that's the way I plan to go.

I have the VP150 and the reciever on shelf1, and then I have room for a DVD and SACD player (stacked on top of each other), the Comcast cable box, and what use to be a VCR, but that didn't get hooked up again after the move, so now a PS2, on the bottom shelf.

So 2 on top since the large VP150 is there and 3 on the bottom. 5 components was plenty for me, especially being able to stack DVD, future Blu-Ray, etc, but as always YMMV.

You could try techcraft. I bought one from there that fits my vp150 perfectly. It appears they no longer produce that version but they have a couple.

http://www.techcraft.net/4105/detail.asp?product_id=1665&category_id=280