Apartment 2.0

Out of date: the way things used to be...
With the recent departure of my former roommate and girlfriend, it's been a good opportunity for me to make-over some of the place - primarily in the entertainment/living room area. My TV and stereo components were a bit bulky for the space of the room and technologically were out of date. So in upgrading the set-up, I wanted to integrate the whole console into the wall with shelves that could contain the TV and stereo components as well as some of the media collection itself.

I found my answer in Elpha shelves from Container Store, which is a customizable set of different shelving pieces that create your own unique "shelving solution" depending on your needs. In my case, my needs were going to change dramatically with the mammoth TV I was planning to acquire... the Pioneer PDP-5010.

Now I had been planning for some time to finally upgrade the TV and join the hi-def game for many months before Jen and I had decided to part ways. So, if you think I bought a plasma to replace my girlfriend, you'd be wrong. Mostly. Let's just chalk it up to a coincidence (not to mention a confluence of beneficent financial circumstances).

Suffice it to say, this Pioneer set is a monster. It's a 50" 1080p plasma display that pretty much makes everything look amazing, not just material that's in high-def (which is still largely in the minority of mass-media produced). I wanted to get something capable of such visual awesomeness that the viewer could experience "ocular ejaculation." But more on that later...

In addition to the 50" monster, I was integrating several electronic peripherals including the stereo receiver, DVD player, PS3 (Hello, Blu-Ray!), a Mac mini and, of course, the phonographic record player. The ceilings are pretty high up at around 10', so after consulting the "Elpha specialist" (basically someone who enters in your specs into a program to design your best solution), I purchased all of the pieces to put this bad boy together.


Plasma TV Take 1

My initial thought was to have the TV on its stand resting on the shelf as part of the unit, but once the entire thing had come together, the TV felt pretty precarious sitting on a shelf. With a total weight nearing 100 lbs, I wasn't exactly comfortable with the security of the set, so wall-mounting made the most sense. This was also a new sort of undertaking for me, but the process was fairly straightforward and logical. Alas, finding the studs in the wall proved to be not so simple, but once it was in, it' was in, and it helped open up the room just a little bit more (not to mention my peace of mind).


The surrogate gf is mounted

If it sounds like this happened in a matter of days, it was more like weeks. It's important that I take a moment to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Anthony "Zonalpony" Lopez in helping me move the 100 lb. TV to and fro. It's really pretty crazy that it is virtually impossible to move the TV without the help of another person, but for this beast, that's how it is. I should also take this opportunity to thank my buddy Katie Hawbaker, who not only offered her input on furnishings and glassware, but called in favors to arrange not one but TWO cars for me to run some of the various errands to Container Store and Bed Bath & Beyond (and separate shout-outs are, in turn, due to Jeremiah and Joyce for providing your vehicles - you guys restore my faith in humanity).

With everything hooked up and "live" it became apparent that something needed to be done about all the wires dangling from all of the devices. I picked up several plastic "cord channels" at Home Depot and sought about making everything look as seamless and unobtrusive as possible. This process was so confusing and overwelming to me initially that I had to write up a diagram of which components were where and what direction all of the wires would be going in order to keep everything as organized as possible. When it came time to actually start nailing the channels into place and getting all of these wires in their proper containers, I endured perhaps the greatest physical stress of the entire process. Lots of grunting, cursing and physical exhaustion were the order of the day. On the bright side, this grueling process represented the finishing touches on the entertainment center make-over.


The war of the cables is over...

Having all of this finally in place, one would assume that would be enough to make me happy. Of course not! Once you "step up" and start the slippery slope of upgrading your gear, it inevitably leads to additional costs and acquisitions in an effort to put everything on the same par as everything else. But, I'll do my best to behave and live with what I have, until the time is right for me to strike again and make one step closer to perfect media assimilation.