Looking for Advice on a Bigger TV in a Small Theater

I have a small Home Theater (12’ x 14’) with a 34” direct view HDTV and a 72” screen that drops down in front of an Ethan Allen Entertainment Center. The projector is a ceiling mounted Sony D50HTU. Photos of room below:

BatCaveEH.jpg

I only have about 40" of width inside the cabinet and I would like to replace the direct view TV with a Sony 46" XBR3 LCD HDTV. The Sony is almost 50" wide.

I'm playing around with 3 different options right now and would appreciate some feedback. I'm sure many of you have had to deal with balancing the WAF with what you really want.

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Option #1 / Cost $$ / WAF - Low

Mount an articulating arm inside the cabinet and suspend the TV permanently in front of the entertainment center. (The grey rectangle is the door)




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Option #2 / Cost $ / WAF - Good

Replace the center unit of the Entertainment Center with a matching Sideboard and place the TV on that.




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Option #3 / Cost $$$ / WAF - Medium

Replace the center unit with a NEW base and backboard that is similar in appearance to the original furniture and mount the TV to the backboard.

3 Options.jpg

What do you folks think? Any other interesting ideas? Have any of you gone though this yourselves?

Eric Smith