TV Lift Credenza - make sense?

[green-minded]

Last year we bought a 52" LCD TV and a credenza to hold it and its components. The credenza is from Bassett because it was the only piece I could find that would fit our large center speaker and receiver in open shelves, with enclosed shelves on each side for the extras.

Then we moved into a new house and put the TV/credenza on a long wall (the only available wall in the living room). I couldn't figure out how to decorate around it, so I bought the matching Bassett pieces to surround it and make a "media center". My husband strongly dislikes the unit because 1) it's not great quality and 2) the TV takes center stage in the living room. He wants a motorized lift console so that the tv could be hidden when not in use. He wants to put all the components in our built-in cabinet on the other side of the room, next to the fireplace, running the wires under the floor (we have a crawl space). And to hang a nice tapestry or carpet above the lift console.

My question is whether his idea is practical with such a large tv. I've been in a lot of nice homes and haven't seen any of these units...have you? And if we move to a house without a crawl space, where would we put the components? I don't think they have much room in the space where the tv is stored, but maybe we should get an extra-long unit for that eventuality.

Thanks.

[drcollie]

He wants a motorized lift console so that the tv could be hidden when not in use. He wants to put all the components in our built-in cabinet on the other side of the room, next to the fireplace, running the wires under the floor (we have a crawl space). And to hang a nice tapestry or carpet above the lift console. My question is whether his idea is practical with such a large tv. I've been in a lot of nice homes and haven't seen any of these units...have you?

Its relatively easy to locate your components away from the TV unit itself in a hidden location elsewhere in the room. But it's old school to run wires under the floor. What you want to get is an infrared repeater setup explained here, there are plenty on the market and not all that expensive:

http://www.techlore.com/article/1026...peater-System/

I've made a few of the lift TV units you describe as custom pieces for customers. They are certainly do-able, and most the time we put them into a piece that looks like a period blanket chest when closed up (although they can be built in any style of case). The reason you don't see them in the general marketplace is the mechanism for the lift is complex and quite expensive. To do this right, you need a premium mechanism that is reliable, powered by a quiet motor and strong to keep tolerances within a small fraction of an inch during the lift and to prevent it from warping/twisting over time. Cheap mechanisms are unsatisfactory as with use they deteriorate rapidly causing lifts to bind and top lids to mis-align.

The end result, is a piece that is going to price out at $ 4,000 and up, depending on the size and weight of the TV.

[McCall]

I agree with you about the TV Lift mechanism and the approximate price for a good unit. However there is a flaw in your IR repeater idea and what it appears she wants to do.
Yes you absolutely can control the COMPONENTS with IR even in another room with the repeater. I do this in my dedicated theater, However that does not mean you don't need wiring going from the components to the, in this case TV and to any additional Speakers should they use any other than those IN the TV. So routing under the floor or over ceiling etc. is still called for, I strongly suggest that they use a 2" min conduit to run these lines and leave pulll through strings for future expansion. It saves a lot of trouble later. There are just starting to be wireless options for these things but at the moment they are NOT very good, same thing with totally wireless systems, such as a wireless theater in a box system that includes wireless speakers etc. The quality is not very good.
Of course I am an audio/videophile so I have rather high standards for sound and picture quality.
Of course both those also depend a great deal on the acoustics of the particular room but that is WAY beyond her question, LOL, It is just this is the first post I have seen which enters my territory as it were.