By Bob Gatton
I usually consider two different areas of furniture for the media room – cabinetry or racks, and seating. Because cabinets are often built in, they should be considered during construction. And seating arrangements is crucial, too; if the floor plan doesn't allow for furniture placement that permits comfortable viewing, the best audio-video equipment in the world will go to waste.
Consider the following when you're thinking about racks and cabinets:
- Ventilation. Receivers, especially many satellite receivers, produce quite a bit of heat. Lack of ventilation can cause electronics to fail prematurely.
- Depth. A few audio-video receivers are more than 20 inches deep. The cabinet should be at least three or four inches deeper than the biggest component in the system to allow adequate air flow and to provide adequate space for the cables.
- Cables. If the shelves in the cabinet are solid, there should be passageways for the cables between the shelves.
- Aesthetics. If you have an open rack (often made of metal and glass), channels should be provided to hide the cables.
- Accessibility. Can you access the equipment from the rear, or do you need to make the appropriate connections on the back of the components and then turn them around? If there is no access on the back of the cabinet, there needs to be some extra width in the cabinet to so that you can rotate the equipment after the connections have been made.
- Safety. Make sure that you include enough space for a good surge protector.
- Upgrades. There should be enough space to add a component or two in the future.
When choosing seating for the media room, comfort is king. I like to include footrests or ottomans for most of the seats. And be sure that the seat backs are not too high. Wingback chairs and chairs that have high backs can block some of the sound coming from the rear surround loudspeakers.
I asked Eric Fritsch, one of Atlanta's leading home theater designers, what other things he considers in choosing media room furnishings. He added that aesthetically, one must consider how the furniture will complement or detract from the decor of the room. Will it be proportional in scale with the other items in the room or will it dominate the space, drawing attention to it?
Quite often the goal is to hide or disguise the AV equipment by allowing it to blend it to the surroundings. In other situations, a heavy industrial high-tech look can be created by using a freestanding rack that allows the equipment to be in full view as a key design element. Harmony is the key. Don't plan to use a metal and glass rack in a French country room. Think about a traditional-style entertainment center that hides most of the components instead.
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