living room stuff - audio/video #1.

So a month ago when Jeff was here he had to go get me started wishing I had a new TV. Now granted - there is absolutely nothing wrong with the incredible 19" CRT that currently graces my living room despite the fact it is difficult to see from the couch (I have to squint - with my contacts in - which give me 15/20 vision) and I have had it for over ten years. It still works. But Jeff was going on (OK, maybe not going on - more like mentioned) how when his ten-year-old behemoth of a rear-projection monster died he ponied up and scored a rockin' deal courtesy of newegg.com on a 50" Samsung plasma. Which got me thinking ...

And so after much searching (of my soul - cos there really is nothing wrong with that 19" beauty - and of the web) and watching prices I came across this website called todaystvdeals.com which I would highly recommend for anyone looking to buy a TV and not interested in hitting up the local Big Box. It has lots of deals and random "coupon codes" and such that only seem to last for a few days, so I got a smokin' deal on a 42" broadband-enabled LG LCD (read: stream video over our LAN from Netflix and possibly Vudu).

It's pretty. And I'm sort of stoked regardless of the fact I really do not watch all that much TV. Our Xbox Media Center will look way cooler - which I do use on a daily basis.

So anyways - that's really not the cool part of this (at least not to me, but afterall this blog is really only for me anyway). The cool part is the fact I need to find an updated audio rack for my stereo stuff. Updated because I have had the same Ikea cabinet for at least ten years, too. And no - there is nothing wrong with it, either. Well, the doors fell off a few years back but it looks perfectly fine without them. They were actually sort of in the way. But I want to hang my TV and move the stereo in between the two sets of windows in my living room.

And out of nowhere got a killer idea. Again, killer only to me I am sure but whatever.

Instead of some lame wooden stereo cabinet like everyone else has - why not go the route of a Gator road cabinet!?

That was rhetorical, by the way. Of course I am going the route of a Gator road cabinet. These things are awesome - and how even more awesome they will look in my living room as a stereo cabinet. Granted - my audio equipment is not made to be mounted in a rack like this. But that is precisely why Gator makes rack shelves. This thing is modern and retro and cool all rolled into one burly (albeit slightly expensive) package. And when my fifteen-year old stereo components finally give up the ghost - my plan is to simplify and upgrade at the same time to pro-level amps and a preamp (because that's all you really need anymore with servers and Xbox media centers and the like hosting all your music) - rack-mounted of course.

OK - I am done now.

Oh - one more thing: this means over the holiday weekend I get to crawl up in my attic and snake some wires for the surround speakers. It is about time I set up my whole surround sound system now that I will actually have a TV that can match the sound level.