Disappearing Act

Must-not-see TV.

6 MIN READ

Leidig finds himself able to be more creative when meeting the wishes of his clients. One customer didn’t want to mount his plasma in the typical way behind standard doors because he knew the doors would always stay open when not in use. “So I devised a plasma facing backward in the cabinet, and the cabinet slides out and then the TV rotates around,” he says. The magic trick itself becomes entertainment for the room.

Leidig cautions that the cost of these custom installations can be steep. And at a time when the price of a name-brand 42-inch plasma TV has plummeted to $1,000—and a 50-inch to sub-$2,500—the cost of designing and building a flat-panel housing solution can far outweigh the price of the product itself. “The overall cost of concealing a TV has come down because plasmas are now so inexpensive, but people have to ask themselves whether they’re going to spend $5,000 for a painting that will house a $2,000 plasma TV,” he says.

Another consideration is space. If you want to use a VisionArt system flush-mounted in the wall, you may want to make the wall artificially deeper. “A product like VisionArt has a back box with a frame and roller attached to it and then the TV is about 5½ inches deep in addition,” Leidig says. “So we like to create a false space that’s 8 inches deep.”

For ventilation, Ambiance Systems uses kits that exhaust the air to the basement or to the attic. “The death of most equipment is not keeping it on all the time but the on/off cycles of going from really warm to room temperature,” Leidig says. “The expansion and contraction of components is what leads to premature death.”

Hiding TVs and speakers isn’t the only consideration. These days a TV typically requires an external box for programming. “You also have to figure out where the equipment will go,” Leidig says. Clients typically want a clean look so where possible Leidig will centralize all equipment at an equipment rack in the basement.

In a New England weekend home, Leidig built a custom cabinet that rises out of the floor hoisting a 50-inch plasma TV. The cabinet was built to look like furniture but is actually a façade with cutouts for speakers beneath the display. When the TV is off, the entire mechanism goes into its hiding place beneath the floor. “When they turn the TV off it goes away,” Leidig says. “There’s something inherently cool about that.”

Rebecca Day specializes in writing about home electronics. She can be reached at customhomerd@aol.com.

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