I recently purchased a Samsung HP-S4273 42" plasma TV. I am having an entertainment center built for my living room. It will be similar to this:

Sample Entertainment Center Link (http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p8144/index.cfm?pkey=cfurabssys&flash=on&cm_ref=http%3A//www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php%3Ft%3D829306)

The width of the TV stand portion of this particular model is 62 inches, which is way too wide for my 41.5 inch TV. My question is how wide should I make the stand. I would like for it to be able to accomodate a larger TV at a later time (perhaps a 50" TV - approx 48" wide OR a 56" TV - approx 51" wide).


I don't want the stand to be so small that it looks squished around the smaller TV. I also don't want the TV to look swallowed by the stand. As stated above, I would like to leave some room to grow in TV size, but I am willing to sacrifice the extra room if I need to in order to make it look its best. I may just have to build another base if I change TVs later. Please advise. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Rob

I have a Studio-Tech Ultra 22 2 door unit (didn't have space for the 3 door) which is some 45" wide. My 42" plasma with integral side speakers is 47.5" wide. I think it looks fine with a slight overhang plus I know that any 50" with bottom speakers will look just as nice in roughly the same space (within an inch or two).

Here's a peek at my pathetically squeezed situation:


http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7pu0b/id4.html

Nice setup! Thanks for sharing.

I have a Studio-Tech Ultra 22 2 door unit (didn't have space for the 3 door) which is some 45" wide. My 42" plasma with integral side speakers is 47.5" wide. I think it looks fine with a slight overhang plus I know that any 50" with bottom speakers will look just as nice in roughly the same space (within an inch or two).

Here's a peek at my pathetically squeezed situation:


http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7pu0b/id4.html

My question is how wide should I make the stand. I would like for it to be able to accomodate a larger TV at a later time (perhaps a 50" TV - approx 48" wide OR a 56" TV - approx 51" wide).

I don't want the stand to be so small that it looks squished around the smaller TV. I also don't want the TV to look swallowed by the stand. As stated above, I would like to leave some room to grow in TV size, but I am willing to sacrifice the extra room if I need to in order to make it look its best. I may just have to build another base if I change TVs later. Are the left and right towers of your custom build EC attached to the TV table portion? If so, would you be willing to move them a few inches away from the TV table later on down the road when you get a wider TV? Or would you want to keep them snugged up tightly against the TV table and not have a 2-3" or so gap between the three parts? This way you could make your table a little wider than the 42" TV so the TV almost fills the space, with a modest gap between the towers (determined by your preferences). I would actually prefer to move the towers a few inches away from the table to kinda break it up and make it look less crammed together. Then when you get a bigger TV you just spread them out a bit more.

But if the towers are attached/integral to the TV base, then i'd think really hard about how wide my future TV will be, and hypothesize if the trend at that time will be to have speakers on the sides like the old days, or with em under the screen like the current trend. Then make the TV base a little wider than your widest projections and get used to the larger gap around your 42" TV. One way you can make the gap not look so big might be to install a floating back panel of some sort directly behind the TV to narrow the gap and cover it with dark fabric or paint it a darker color to blend it in with the TV. I think this would make the TV wider, and you could even extend it upward to reduce the gap above the TV too. Or build a tasteful bezel to place in front of the TV or surrounding it to give it a flush look, then when you get the bigger TV just slide the bezel out and do away with it.