Hello All,
So I’m working on a design for a stereo cabinet for my living room. I’m having a hard time thinking of a useful design — it needs to have glass because I need to be able to access the cable box by remote and it will be living in the cabinet because my tv is hanging on the wall. I didn’t know if anyone had any photos of cabinets that they have created or seen? Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
David
Replies
You don't need glass- you need the IR signal to get to the box's sensor. This can be done without glass and if you have a design that you want to keep, stay with it and get an IR repeater. Parts Express has decent prices and they're available all over. Just shop around for the best price and if two look the same but have different names, they're probably made by Zantech. Also, if you're off to the side and the IR has to go through the glass, the angle can reflect enough that the box won't respond, anyway.
Thanks for the info, I went to their website and then talked to them and I think I'm all set now, atleast I can now eliminate the glass. :)
Bevelled glass and leaded or stained are nice but if you want to go in a different direction, there's no reason not to since the technology is past just trying to hide things. Let your design be what you want- it'll work.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I'm in the process of building one. It's an intrepretation of Sam Malloof's case-piece style that became known as California Roundover. It's about 30" high by 48" wide by about 22" deep (just guessing from memory). It has 2 side by side drawers over 2 doors enclosed sections, each side with 2 adjustible shelves for components. One of the drawers will really be pullout turntable platform (yes that's right - a turntable) with a drawer front. The cabinet is solid walnut throughout from resawn air dried 6 x 10 recycled beams. The back will be two easily removed wood framed perf-metal panels. If I could afford it I would like to get custom perf'd panels that would have a solid border something like a 1/2" in from the frames. Anybody have any reasonable sources? I plan on using an IR repeater system as well, buit haven't picked one yet.
I'm an architect and engineering manager by profession and I normally develop fully detailed scale drawings, excel based cutlists and bill of materials, etc. This piece has been a real departure for me. Picture Spock going to art school. I only did a basic drawing with plan, front and side views. I'm winging it from there and sketching up the details as I need them. It's going OK, but seems to be a slower approach.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
Don't you use any decorative metals subs? They'll probably do it free if you promise to use them more in the future.An architect who did a basic drawing for himself. Interesting (lol). Why not use CAD? If you know of a metal shop with a water jet, you can have whatever design you want, which you probably already know. If you know anyone at a high school in Visalia, the industrial arts department may have one. My cousin's husband is in that department and when I was out there a couple of years ago, he was saying that he's like to get one for the school.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
"An architect who did a basic drawing for himself. Interesting (lol). Why not use CAD?"
I took vocational Architectural drafting in high school and 2 semesters in college. I went to work in engineering in '75. I've been in project management of A&E since the early 80's. CAD is great for business because repetition and revision are where it shines. I hate CAD as a design tool, I'm a board jockey from way back and my home office has a 4 post Mayline board with a Vemco machine on it. I still love to draw as long as it's not a money making proposition. Using CAD for one-off pieces of furniture doesn't make sense to me. If I was banging out kitchens, then CAD would make sense to me.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
My board is a Mayline but only a parallel rule. I went to my high school to buy some supplies from my old drafting teacher and found out that I missed being able to get one of the desks with 6 drawers, board storage and Post drafting machine. They had just received the new ones- extruded aluminum knobs and new desks. I was bummed? Could have probably picked it up really cheap.I have a friend who uses Autocad for everything unless it's a really simple page or two. He's really fast with it. Where in SoCal are you? I have a bunch of relatives out there.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Fountain Valley, in Orange County. I used a parallel bar for a while, it was fine but tended to get the drawing dirtier faster. They used to be the standard for architectural work. I got my table (2 drawer) from a used office furniture place for $100 with a nice hydraulic chair. I could have had an electric Mayline for $175 but wanted to stay simple. I got the 5 ft Vemco machine, a nice one w/ 360 deg. scale head and a Vemcolite for free, they were throwing it away. After designing and drafting on vellum or mylar for so long I hate the tunnel vision aspect of CAD. By the time you zoom in enogh to see any detail you loose the big picture.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
Did you do anything with Irish Linen and ink pen? That was fun. Corn starch the linen first, pencil and then India Ink. Make a mistake and let it dry so it can be scraped with a razor. Oh boy. Parallel definitely gets them dirtier, I agree. I'd like to find one like that Vemcolite.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Good lord what is next? Papyrus and Stone? :)
Doug Meyer
AutoCAD Using geek.
Just once, what a nightmare that was. I did the complete re-instrumentation eng of a WWII vintage blast furnace at Kaiser Steel in Fontana, CA in 1980. The steel mill was built to supply steel to the Kaiser ship yards in SFO for WWII. The drawings were starched linen from '47 or there abouts. I had to revise some wiring diagrams (automotive style) to tie in a new nuclear coke moisture measurement system. With 0 training or experience, I over scraped an exposed the linen. The ink hit the linen and the capillary action dam near sucked my Rapidograph pen dry and made a huge ink plume under the starch. Ended up a redraw, good times.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
The linen acting like a blotter is the reason for the corn starch. I think the teacher just wanted us to know what it was like in the old days. IIRC, we spent a couple of weeks on it and had to turn in drawings that had a wide variety of shapes, curves, straight lines and all with different line weights, which apparently is called "graphic highlighting" now. Why they needed to change what it's called is beyond me. Maybe it wasn't exciting enough for the new kids getting into drafting at that point.When I went to school for architecture, I went to the drafting class once. When it was over that day, I and a bunch of others went to the teacher and asked how we could just drop it and get credit for what we had done in the past that was way beyond what we would have done in that one. T squares and triangles is all they had at the time and those who wanted out had all used drafting machines for years and some of us had already designed houses for high school classes. I couldn't believe how many people who were going to the school for architecture had never done any drafting at all. "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Edited 1/12/2007 12:04 am by highfigh
I took mechanical drafting in jr high. Then 3 years of vocational arch drafting in high school. All T-Sqaure and triangles. 2 sememsters at JC w/ parallel bar and Mutoh machine. Lead on Vellum of course. At 19 I went to work at Fluor in '75. Met Mylar and plastic lead in a head-on collision. Had to re-learn lettering from scratch on day 1 because they didn't allow arch stylized lettering. An experienced drafter sitting behind me took pity on my struggles and taught me to use a triangle under the straight edge for all the vert strokes and a chisel point. He may have saved my career right there and then.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
They aren't big on anything with style, that's for sure. My lettering was never anything to write home about and now that I'm not involved in it, what do I do 99% of the time? Print 1/4" high.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I sympathise completely, lost the ability to write longhand way back in school. John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
I still do it but I usually offer to translate.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
"Picture Spock going to art school." What a great line!
If it's any comfort, our entertainment center will have a turntable place also. Never give up the vinyl!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG,
<<If it's any comfort, our entertainment center will have a turntable place also. Never give up the vinyl!>>
ALL RIIIIIGHT! A woman after my own heart -- a(nother) connisseur of LPs. :-)
Reminds me of an interesting "incident" from several years ago:
About 8 years ago, living in northern California, the little girl from across the street came over to play with my daughter; they were both about 6 years old at the time. As they came into the living room, I was putting an LP on the turntable. She asked what it was, so I told her. Well, she wanted to know how it worked, so I showed her the grooves, explained about the squiggles in them, how they were tracked by the stylus, which used the movement of a very small connected magnet (in a moving magnet cartridge) to generate an electrical signal that was sent to the pre-/amplifier and then to the speakers, resulting in music. After the explanation and answering several more questions, I put the LP on the turntable and played it. She was absolutely fascinated.
The best part was, a couple of days later, talking to her parents, they told me that she told her dad all about LPs that night, in nearly all the detail that I had given her. Just too cool.
Nice to see that there are still some folks out there that appreciate vinyl!!Beste Wünschen auf ein glückliches und wohlbehaltenes Neues Jahr!
Tschüß!
Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!
James
Got a B&O Beogram 4000 with the tangential tonearm and about 900 albums, mostly from the 70's & 80's. You can't get the same sound from digital media as from the old analog media. Yeah, a few scratches here and there but that's what makes it happen.
I have meticulously maintained the records and are kept stored in a very stabile environment. I'm also having trouble locating new cartridges for it and will check out the sources from another post in here.
Ciao,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
Kidderville, NH
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I bought my first real system in '76 B&O TT. Yamaha rcvr and B&O M70's (Rosewood & trumpet stands). It cost $2300, which was very spendy for me. 2 years before I bought a new Civic for $3200 out the door. The TT lasted about 12 years then parts became unavailable. B&O's policy on parts production was only 10 years. That's when I bought the Dual, simple is as simple does. Plus the Dual has 78 rpm and I had inherited some 78s. Never got around to getting a cartridge/stylus for them though. I have a DD Techniques loaned out to a old friend. The speakers are still going strong in my pool room albeit with replaced tweeters and bi-wiring. The CR600 Rcvr went in the dumper last year. The POS only lasted 30 years:)
Good luck on finding a plug-in cartridge. I wish I had saved the last "Ruby" one I had, I'd give it to you as it was fairly fresh when the TT died. The "stereo salon" as they used to call the high end shops, where I bought that system did a lot of custom and one-off stuff. My setup was their bottom end. On the upper end they had Harold Beverage Sys IIs or IIIs (massive Pizo's w/ argon bottles and high voltage transformers) at $15k. Only the biggest AR and Ampzilla amps could even run them. They modfiied a Beogram 4000 with a standard headshell so they could run a Grado cartridge on it. They gutted an old cartridge to plug in and solderred the leads to it. The headshell was clamped to the arm, so the whole thing was reversible.
In spite of intentions otherwise, the Dual didn't make it out of the box the last move 15 years ago except for a brief period of experimentation with ripping vinyl to MP3. Doubt I'll do much of that, but I'm excited about getting the vinyl back in circulation. Who knows maybe I'll get that AR tube amp and the Oracle or 3 Arm Microseiki TT I always wanted back in the day!John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
Got about 750 of the "Licorice Pizza's" and a good old Dual CS5000.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
I've got a Dual too! Don't remember the model, and it's stowed in the depths of a closet. Where do you get cartridges when needed?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
<<Where do you get cartridges when needed?>>Here are a few online resources:http://www.needledoctor.com/
http://www.acousticsounds.com
http://www.audioadvisor.com
http://www.audiophile-records.com
http://www.analogueproductions.com/Bricks & mortar in the Northwest:Definitive Audio
6206 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
http://www.definitive.comDefinitive Audio
14405 NE 20th St.
Bellevue, WA 98007
http://www.definitive.com
Cartridges aren't that hard to find, just google them. If you want to buy just the needle, it may still be available. If you can post a photo, I'll get you a price. If it's the original, it may be a Shure, Stanton or Pickering (with the brush) or Empire. Audio-Technica is a good brand, too, and I would lean toward getting one if you want to replace the whole cartridge. . Part of the problem with finding a good one is that most of the turntable and cartridge makers went to P mount, which just plugs into the end of the tonearm, Great for the mass-merchandisers who hired people who knew nothing about the stuff like the dinosaur sales people and people who just want to buy one but they sounded terrible, in most cases. I include myself in the dinosaur category because I can still balance a tonearm and set the anti-skate on a turntable, demagnetize or adjust tape heads and synch a cassette tape with a record to compare the two. Let me guess- you have a Dual 1219 or 1229, right? If it has been sitting for a long time, it will need to be cleaned and lubed before playing or you're going to have problems with the automatic function. If you want to use it as a single-play, it may be OK. We used to call stacking TTs "Vinyl grinders".
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Edited 1/11/2007 11:55 pm by highfigh
Thanks for the info! I really don't remember what model it is. Sometime in the next couple days, I'll drag it down and take a look. Thanks for the heads-up about lubing it. There's a Magnolia Hi-Fi not too far from the island I can take it too. Hopefully, there's some wizened ol' guy there who knows what it is, LOL. I didn't play it a ton when it was set up back in the '80's (I bought an album, recorded it on a nice Akai tape deck, and put it away), so the needle's probably in good shape, no?
That stereo system was a major purchase for me! Still have the Dual, the Akai, the Yamaha amplifier and the ADS speakers (wow, are they klunkers weight-wise!). Plan to set it up with some kind of hookup that will enable me to run streaming stuff from the computer through the Yamaha and to those ADS speakers. Nick may have to go downtown and have a drink while I'm rockin' out. Fun!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
That stereo system was a major purchase for me!
FG-
On my way home from my first tour in 'Nam, I blew some of my bankroll on a Sansui stereo system. 1000W amp, two floor speakers, two bookshelf speakers, a ???turntable and a Sony 5" reel to reel tape deck. By the early '80's, I had piles of tapes and vinyl records - and that system was THE focal point of my living room.
In the late '80's the amp died so I took it to a repair shop. I was absolutely crushed when the tech told me that he had never worked on anything that old and didn't think he could even get the parts it needed. Man, did I feel ancient!! - lol
I gave the whole thing to Goodwill, but wish that I would have kept the bookshelf speakers. I have one of the kids old boom boxes in the shop and think that some decent speakers would make my CD collection sound even better. Of course, CD's are also going the way of the dinosaur - lol.
"Of course, CD's are also going the way of the dinosaur." Yep, and that's sad -- no way compressed music is as good. forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
A couple of years ago, I built several wood cases for a guy who was making very expensive tube type stereo systems. He convinced me that digital music was inferior, but had to agree with me that - at our age - the loss of high frequency hearing made it a moot point. - lol
I was selling stereo equipment when the CD first came out and we had to wait two years from the time it was first shown at CES to the time it was available. The lack of noise was the first big selling point, second was the "Digital Quality". Almost immediately, some people noticed that it was harsh, seemed overly bright and fatiguing to the ears. They fixed a lot of the problems, made them cheaper and here we are, buying portable players for 10 bucks when the original model was $900. The harshness is caused by the sampling rate being too low and at 20KHz, a 44.1KHz sampling rate means that each wave is sampled twice. This makes it a square wave, since digital can't actually reproduce a sine wave and nobody wants to hear a square wave.What really makes CDs and DVDs sound better is a good tube amp. Softens the edginess and makes it more listenable. Loss of highs is inevitable but if you use hearing protection, it definitely slows the progression a lot. The flatter frequency response isn't totally lost on the ears but it can sometimes become annoying when there's a lot of high frequency content in the music or sound effects.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
"...at our age - the loss of high frequency hearing made it a moot point." I'm approaching the theoretical age where that's to happen, but it hasn't happened yet! Was born with horrible eyesight (20/400) but great hearing and sense of smell. The sense of smell can be a curse sometimes, LOL. forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
It ain't theoretical, mam!!
I'm well into the "Age of Metal". That's when the weight of the silver in your hair plus the weight of the gold in your teeth becomes less than the weight of the lead in your arse. - lol
Back in the day, I had 20/15 vision and above average hearing at both ends of the frequency curve. Now, I'm working my way up the magnification scale on Dr. Deans reading glasses (1.75) and those freeway signs have to be a lot closer before I can actually read them. My response to questions is increasingly "Huh?" - lol
Dave -
I designed and built this a couple of years ago and the bottom section might work for you. It has tempered glass doors and the remotes worked fine with the doors closed. Note that tempered glass may be required by code.
<<Any advise would be greatly appreciated!>>
David,
Some good suggestions from others who have replied. One thing you'll also want to consider that I haven't seen mentioned is ventilation -- very important if you're going to put doors on your cabinet. Some components generate a significant amount of heat, even in standby mode, and need plenty of space around them. It's a good idea to allow for air flow from bottom to top and a place for it to exit the cabinet. You may even want to think about installing a fan or two if your gear runs really hot.
Mike
Mike,Thanks for the tip, I didn't even thing about the whole heat issue. I have one of those huge motorola cable boxes and the thing produces tons of heat. I will most definitely have to install some sort of fan to dissipate the heat.Thanks again!
David
I worked in the computer industry for nealry 40 years and heat has always been an issue with computers, especially in the PC era, i.e. mucho heat generating components in a very small case.
Computers (desktops) are designed to pull cool air through the case (from in fron on the bottom) and push it out the back (near the top). A stereo cabinet should function in much the same way.
To that end, as heat rises naturally, locating high heat generating components as close to the top will greatly aid in the disipation of heat. With fan assist, pulling cool air from the bottom and expelling it out the top/back is the best approach.
Some of todays components, especially the TV/monitor themselves (high heat generators) are designed to be outboard of the cabinet, i.e. flat panel displays, etc. Another is the new sound system, Yamaha's YSP audio component needs to be aouboard to work effectively.
Just my 2 cents,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
Kidderville, NH
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
David -
When I posted that picture, I forgot to mention ventilation. When I build stereo cabinets, entertainment centers, or computer desks, I make sure that there are lots of open pathways for air circulation. The back of that entertainment center had several large-ish holes in it and openings in the top so the air could circulate into the TV cabinet behind the TV.
The pedestals of this desk have pull out trays for the computer tower and printer. I use the ventilation holes for cable runs and drilled more holes in the backs for cooling.
not fine woodworking but simple quality cabinet making
unit is modular( 6 pieces), white melamine laminated with 1/8 oak venner ply where it counts. edge taping where needed, solid wood trim and doors etc etc
more details available just ask
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