As noted on February 10th, 2012 I purchased the Techcraft SWD30 Tall Boy Component Stand from Amazon.com. I had been researching a new component stand for awhile and finally felt it was time for an upgrade. The stand that was replaced had been showing it's age for some time and was falling apart. At the end of this post are pictures of the new stand and room layout.
I was nervous about ordering furniture from Amazon because if the carton was damaged in shipping the cabinet pieces themselves might be damaged. To my benefit and surprise the package arrived 3 days after ordering (love Amazon Prime!) and in prefect condition. The reviews on this product stated that the door alignment needed some work. After full assembly I would agree but spending 20 minutes turning 4 sets of 3 screws you can get proper alignment on the doors.
The Techcraft SWD30 is very easy to assemble even if you only have modest handyman skills. At most you will need is Phillips screw driver, hammer, and box cutter. I did need a hammer on the shelf pegs because one of the holes was not drilled out completely. The stand also meets the all important Wife Acceptance Factor.
As you can see in the pictures below I also replaced the HDMI cable from the AVR to the TV and I replaced the speaker cable to the front left, center and front right speakers. Now all the cables running up the wall are white which helps blend in with the wall. I live in an apartment so in-wall cables are not a possibility for me right now.
The HDMI and speaker cables were purchased from Monoprice.com. This was my first purchase from them and my order arrived 3 days after ordering. The quality of the cables is excellent and for my needs at this time the price and speed of delivery cannot be beat.
The HDMI cable is 15 feet long and rated to meet Category 2 specifications. There is no Ethernet Over HDMI no this cable but for now I do not have a need for that because my TV does not have internet capabilities. The speaker cables are on the smaller side, 18 AWG, which I know I am pushing the limit at 20 feet per run. When I do eventually upgrade my speakers I will also upgrade to a large gauge.
For now everything is operational and I am enjoying the new look. I have already decided that I want to customize the cabinet on two elements. First I want to tint the glass so the LED lights on the components are blacked out as much as possible. Second I want to add LED lights that turn on when you open the cabinet doors. Both of these are not functional requirements but simply personal tweaks I want to make.
This is a great article. I have one of these technology cabinets at home as well and I love it. I do a lot of work with computers and I have been trying to find reliable Computer Cabinets because they have a lot of racks and computer training tables but they are for more industrial purposes. These cabinets would also be perfect for companies or organizations that need to organize their computer rooms.
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