New entertainment center

[oneplustwo]

Hey folks,

Wondering if anyone has any examples or ideas of a kid friendly but well ventilated entertainment center. I'm thinking about building what amounts to a wide box with glass doors framed with wood. The top of the box would hold my 50" DLP HDTV in the center with my ZA SR71's near the edges. The inside would have enough shelves for my PS3/Wii, Uverse box, DAC, headphone amp, integrated amp, power amp, and maybe some DVD's and games. The problem is, the headphone and power amp are both class A and generate a lot of heat. I don't really want the glass doors, but the kids are young (1 year old twins + 3 year old) so I need them. But I want to make sure there's enough ventilation. I was thinking about a fan or two, but that could be noisy. Maybe if I just leave the rear entirely open, that's good enough, but it's kinda ugly too. I also thought about a separate elevated amp rack so to speak in the corner but that's not very efficient use of space. Plus, there'd be wires running everywhere. Anyone have any bright ideas?

[Paul Ebert]

Are the kids likely to damage the amp or be burned by it? If not, perhaps the amp could be left outside of the entertainment center or in a section of it that is very open. I would think that the headphone amp wouldn't generate too much heat even running class A. But, I might be wrong...

[oneplustwo]

Hmm... burned, probably not. Damaged, maybe. It's an interesting idea though. It made me think about maybe making it a little deeper than necessary and putting the amps *behind* the TV. That didn't really work though since I would rather keep it slim given the size of the room and accessibility to the amps. But then, I thought maybe I can have a bank of spots 4 wide and 2 high and ventilate the left most and right most 2 spots with holes in the sides and/or the top. Might look kinda funny but I might be able to find an elegant solution. Like perhaps a false top that sits 1/4" above with spacers (or beside if it's the side piece) a piece with holes or large slots in it. Hmm... might have to put some more time into this train of thought. Could be interesting with different species of wood for some contrast.

Need to figure out the details on the glass doors too. Simple hinged doors would work, but I'd like to have something a bit more interesting than that.

[Not2Evil]

Kids climb on everything, so you need something topple proof. Some chains screwed to the wall would be a good idea.

The best idea I have is to keep your audio stuff on a seperate stand under the TV. Keep a low center of gravity. Mount the TV higher if you can. A dual stand has the added advantage of being able to rewire things easier.

On the other hand, a close eye and some disipline has worked for a long time. It's hard to replace a good smack on the butt.

[oneplustwo]

My kids seem to be pokers, not climbers. They like to push buttons, turn knobs, and unfortunately, push in woofer cones. That's why I need the glass doors. Not sure what I'm going to do about the SR71's I just built. I'm hoping I can just put them on the ends of the piece a foot or two from the edge of the TV. But they may be too tempting to the probing fingers.