TV Cabinet Enclosure and Pocket Hole Joinery

Joinery is everything in woodworking and there are many varied ways to do it.  In cabinet making the speediest method is using pocket hole joinery.  Many purist woodworkers are likely not to use it but this is "Woodworking made easy" and as you shall see it can be fine woodworking when they're well hidden; and not an unpleasant sight even when exposed, as with the installation of the rear surround speakers up on the ceiling.

The original "TV stand" in the living area just had a table cabinet to support a television. The goal was to construct a cabinet around a flat TV and no wires should be visible in front.

The table cabinet had two solid doors so the first order of business was (1) cut out the left door and install a smoked glass where the receiver and other electronics that work on infrared frequency controls can receive the signal from the remote; (2) cut out a hole on the right door to expose the front of the sub woofer speaker.  A hand held jig saw did all the cutting.

The frame of the enclosure was constructed with stock white pine and put together with pocket holes (you may review previous blog on "Why pocket hole joinery".  I painted it to match the original table cabinet.

The right side is against a brick wall so it was left open. The left side has an access door to the back of the TV and to all the wiring behind.

An electronic fan was installed to evacuate heat generated by all the equipment below through holes drilled on the table top.

Indeed these do generate some heat.

The open top allows for heat from the TV to dissipate easily.

To hide the wires from showing up front I constructed narrow wall as shown and painted it with matching color of the cabinet and enclosure.

The wall in effect hides from the front view any wires behind the TV

And, no wires in front indeed. (Right, left and center speakers are at the enclosure itself.  The propagation of the sound from ten speaker sources (which includes the sub woofer) are managed by an on board computer that processes how much sound each speaker produces for five different listening locations, set up initially by five microphone placements (chosen typically by the seat locations where people sit). 

The two locations of the surround speakers were located at the back ceiling of the listening area and note the use of pocket holes to install the "post".

First, I installed a base plate (plywood) with a hole just enough for the speaker wires to go through from the ceiling. I constructed the post separately with pre-drilled four pocket holes. They were painted before installation.