[Alex Wetmore]

My wife and I are planning on getting custom A/V cabinets built to fill what is currently a window seat in our living room. http://phred.org/~alex/pictures/new-...d/DSC01838.JPG shows the space pretty well.


This is not a home theater project on the level that most forum members seem to do them, so I don't think that I want to hire a normal home theater installer. I am wondering how others who have done smaller projects like this have found good contractors or cabinet makers for doing the work. A kitchen or bathroom contractor would know the cabinet making and carpentry skills to do the work, but wouldn't be aware of A/V specific considerations such as conduit for cabling, ventilation, and other related things.


Are there any primers on getting started on a smaller project of this nature?


alex

 

[shokunin]

Most kitchen cabinet makers should be able to build you a custom cabinet to your design quite easily. Although some may be aware of certain considerations for wiring and ventailation, you probably will need to spec out what you want and where. A cabinet maker will build to your specs plus add in the proper design and construction. However, he/she won't know where your amp is going to go, whether or not you're going to need outlets inside the cabinet, or how thick the wires are going to be and if you're going to be feeding wires across, up, and down the cabinet.

 

[usehername]

You will be hard-pressed to find a one horse operation to handle the whole thing. Most custom cabinet companies have access to subcontractors that they work with on a regular basis. As Shokunin is suggesting it is best that you do the homework as to what and where and clearly convey that to the person that will run your job. I usually concern myself with a single central location to the cabinet for a dedicated power circuit, and any AV cables that will or may in the future run to the rest of the house or room. Then the internal connections involved with the cabinetry are done with on site pass though holes.