Photos by Tony Cordoza
In the not too distant future, most TVs will be flat. Svelte, inches-thin LCD and plasma displays just make more sense than bulky tubes, especially in kitchens, bedrooms, and other smaller spaces. Even big-screen projection TVs are slimming down as tubes give way to newer technologies. The luxury of placing a flat panel on the wall, under a cabinet, or even set into a wall frees up counter, dresser, and nightstand space for the things that actually belong there.
Flat TVs also give you more flexibility in spaces like living rooms and dens that typically call for bigger screens. They’re so space-efficient that when you’re done watching a DVD, you won’t have to feel like you’re living in a movie theater, and in more sophisticated installations the TV can disappear entirely. If you’ve ever regretted your living room’s transformation into an equipment-filled home theater, an unobtrusive flat-panel TV can help you reclaim some of that room for living.
The dividing line between LCD and plasma is determined by size. Plasma TVs start at 32 inches and get larger from there, whereas all but a few LCD sets range from 12 to 30 inches diagonal (see the product listings on page 86). Plasma displays are almost all widescreen, with a cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio, while LCDs split the difference between 16:9 and standard 4:3 screens — larger displays usually go wide. Now let’s take a look around the house and see where flat TVs — and the appropriate speakers — fit in.
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| Bedroom | Kitchen | Home Theater |
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Shopping Made Simple: Flat Panel TVs
The Bedroom
Whether snuggling to the sound of a Letterman monologue or retiring to a horizontal position for the final hour of The Two Towers: Extended Edition, almost everyone likes watching TV in bed. Finding a place to put the TV is another matter. Most of us have little space in the bedroom for anything larger than a 19-inch set, and watching a small screen for long periods of time in the dark can cause eyestrain and make claims of “Not tonight honey, I’ve got a headache” all too believable.
Sharp Aquos LC-30HV4U 30-inch widescreen LCD TV ($4,500)
But not everyone can afford to put a 42-inch plasma on the ceiling. Smaller LCDs are cheaper, more practical, and fit just about anywhere. Sets between 12 and 17 inches (diagonal) are ideally placed near the bed, usually on a stand, while larger ones beg for spots on the wall so you can watch TV from across the room. But since all LCD screens are progressive-scan, even the small ones qualify as enhanced-definition TV (EDTV) displays, potentially offering a sharper, more detailed picture than standard analog TVs.
A good candidate for the nightstand is a 15-inch LCD from companies like Panasonic, Sharp, Philips, Sony, and Samsung. The stand on Samsung’s LTN1565 ($800, samsung.com) makes placement a matter of finding a flat surface, and the TV’s built-in speakers to either side of the 4:3 screen pump out stereo sound. It includes a headphone jack for when one of you wants to actually go to sleep and a PC input so you can also use it as a computer monitor.
Since the stand on the Samsung is 18 inches wide, it’s too large to put on top of a cable box. But the one on Sharp’s 13-inch Aquos LC-13B4U-S ($600, sharp-usa.com) takes up less room. While a 13-inch set might be too small for anywhere but the nightstand, at least if you plan to watch in the dark, it’s ideal for up-close viewing. And if you have a home-security system, you can also wire it through the TV.
Some cable systems don’t require a box, but most of us need a cable box or a separate satellite tuner to receive all the stations we paid for. The easiest solution is to place the box under a small hutch with the panel on top so you can aim the remote and change channels. Boxes such as the Dish DVR 510 come with RF (radio-frequency) remotes whose signals pass through walls and cabinet doors, so the boxes can be stashed out of sight under the bed or in a closet. You could also buy an infrared (IR) distribution kit that converts IR signals from your regular remote to radio signals.
Panasonic TC-17LA1 17-inch LCD TV $900
You’re probably also going to want to watch movies. With bulky tube TVs, adding a DVD player isn’t a big deal — the TV is so big that the player doesn’t take up much extra room. But flat TVs require more ingenuity with components if you want to keep the sleek aesthetic. One option is to place the LCD on top of the DVD player or VCR, but you could also stash the components in a small cabinet to keep them out of sight. Glass doors allow the control beam to reach the gear. Another option would be to use a portable DVD player with your bedroom TV. When you’re done watching, you can put it away. Combination DVD player/LCD sets like 15-inch TC-15LV1 from Panasonic ($900, panasonic .com) take care of extra components and exposed wires nicely. The left side of the set is a slot-loading DVD player — you slide the disc in just as you do CDs in a car system. Best of all, it retains the flat form factor since the disc is oriented vertically.
Built-in speakers can translate the multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks from DVDs into simulated surround sound, but you’re probably going to want the real thing. You can even turn your bedroom into a second home theater, complete with a small surround sound system, separate DVD player, and the other trappings that bring movies to life. But you’ll need a larger LCD or smaller plasma TV, which calls for placement on the wall or in a cabinet. These mini theaters aren’t necessarily confined to the bedroom, either. Flat displays can spring up unobtrusively in studies, dens, and elsewhere around the home.
Home theater-worthy sets start at 30 inches, such as Sony’s KLV-30XBR900 ($6,000, sonystyle.com). Its “floating” design is almost a work of art in itself, so you won’t want to hide it in a cabinet. The set comes with a control center to help alleviate wiring hassles. Instead of hooking the wires from your cable box and DVD player directly to the panel, you connect them to the control center and run a single cable from there to the TV.
Wiring a wall-mounted set does call for some creativity. The most aesthetic solution is to run the wires inside the stud space behind the wall. If you have to string wires along the wall surface, you’ll want to paint them to match the background, wallpaper over them, or hide them behind artwork, plants, or mirrors. Whenever possible, run wire along corners or behind molding.
A variety of mounts are available for LCD panels, allowing for wall — or even ceiling — placement. Your dealer will be able to recommend a mount, maybe by the LCD’s manufacturer, or you can look online or at an A/V specialty retailer for brands like OmniMount (omnimount.com), Peerless (peerlessindustries.com), Chief (chiefmfg.com), or Sanus (www.sanus.com). Basic “static” mounts simply attach the TV flush against the wall. Pitch-adjustable mounts angle the panel relative to the wall so you can mount it closer to the ceiling. Swivel mounts let you angle the set toward the primary viewing area or away from room lights that can reflect off the screen. (Of course, if you find dealing with wiring, let alone elaborate mounts, intimidating, consider having your display installed by a professional.)
It hasn’t always been easy to make a TV fit into the bedroom But wall-mounted panels and LCDs that rest on your nightstand all but make the TV disappear.
The Right Sound
The bedroom. Our sanctum sanctorum. It’s been said that we only go there to do two things: sleep and . . . you know. All of that is changing, though, as more and more people use their bedrooms as a place to watch TV and movies and to listen to music.
But the bedroom isn’t the place for giant, floor-standing speakers, and many rooms don’t even have space for a set of high-performance bookshelf speakers. (The same holds true for other rooms, like dens and studies, that are often used for secondary systems.) So does that mean you have to settle for sonic mediocrity?
Absolutely not. One option would be to go with a higher-end home-theater-in-a-box system, available from a number of companies. Examples include Yamaha’s YHT-941 ($1,000, yamaha.com), Panasonic’s SC-HT1000 featuring a DVD recorder ($1,000), Pioneer Elite’s ES-1000DV ($2,000), Bose’s Lifestyle 35 ($2,999, bose.com), and JVC’s QP-ES7 ($1,650, jvc.com). The speakers with many of these systems are very stylish and compact but can produce surprisingly good sound. Keep in mind, though, that only the beefiest systems can fill a larger room, and that brings you right back to the dilemma of larger speaker cabinets.
If you really want to keep your speakers out of sight, go with either in-wall or in-ceiling models. Many companies offer these, with some of the better models available from B&W (www.bwspeakers.com), Snell Acoustics (snellacoustics.com), Triad (triadspeakers.com), to name just a few. But unless you’re a patient and adept do-it-yourselfer (with an equally patient spouse), you’ll probably want to let a professional installer do the mounting and wiring for you.
Instead of hiding your speakers, why not show them off? The slogan of Artcoustic (artcousticusa.com) is “Believe in the beauty of sound,” and its unique on-wall designs do their best to live up to this ideal. These speakers eschew utilitarian grille cloth for a variety of designer fabrics that can even include your own artwork or photographs. Unique to Artcoustic’s line is the DF-Multi L/C/R ($600), a single speaker the width of a 50-inch plasma TV that handles the front left, center, and right channels.
To power your second-room system — and provide CD and DVD playback as well — you might want to check out the new SD-HX600 ($1,500), SD-HX500 ($1,200), and SD-PX2 ($600) minisystems from Sharp (sharp-usa.com). Thanks to 1-bit digital technology, the systems’ amplifiers take up a fraction of the space of their bulky analog counterparts, resulting in on-wall units that take up practically no room. And these systems were designed to accentuate the look of your flat-panel display. With their five channels of amplification and progressive-scan universal DVD players, you won’t have any trouble finding a third thing to do in your bedroom! — John Sciacca
The Kitchen
Since the kitchen is the center of the family’s social life in many homes, it’s a great place for a TV. From getting a quick dose of the news over breakfast to watching afternoon talk shows while cooking dinner, having a TV in the kitchen makes sense. Unfortunately, the typical 13-inch tube TV on the kitchen counter is a space-hogger. Options for under-cabinet mounting free up some space but still leave precious little room to slice vegetables. A flat LCD set mounted under a cabinet is another story, and with the emergence of ever-less-expensive LCD TVs, the entertaining chef has plenty of options among stand- or wall-mounted sets sized 20 inches or smaller.
Audiovox VE640 under cabinet LCD TV ($540)
If the tube TV on the kitchen table is an eyesore, then a 20-inch LCD like Sharp’s LC-20E1U ($1,200) is a head-turner on par with Braun’s swankiest espresso machine. Its white finish matches most kitchen décors, and to save space its speakers are mounted below the screen instead of to either side. The cable or satellite box still presents installation difficulties, but you could use a hutch on the table or stash the box under the Lazy Susan. Like most of its kind, the Sharp has a built-in TV tuner, so if reception is good you could simply attach a small antenna. If you’re lucky enough to subscribe to a cable service that doesn’t scramble all of its channels, you can plug the cable directly into the set.
Wall-mounting an LCD is also an option in the kitchen, but you’ll find that under-cabinet flat-panel installations are even better since they take advantage of the cabinets’ depth from the wall to let you fold the display up. The simplest solution is to mount a small LCD, like Sharp’s white 13-inch LC-13E1U ($550), on a flip-down mount. When you’re not watching, you can swing the TV out of sight, flush with the bottom of the cabinet. Companies like Chief and Peerless make swing arms and articulating wall arms that can fold the TV around the side of a cabinet or slide it forward from underneath. Kitchen-sized arm mounts accommodate LCDs with 13- to 20-inch screens and do a good job of organizing cables and facing the set toward different areas of the kitchen as needed.
Realizing the potential of the kitchen, innovative TV manufacturers have come up with specialized under-cabinet sets with swing-down LCDs. Audiovox (audiovox.com) offers a couple of under-cabinet models, including the slick VE1040 ($999), which has a 10 3/8-inch screen and built-in DVD player to help you fill the time between episodes of The Iron Chef. A mere 3 1/2 inches thick when closed, this system also sports a clock radio and even a built-in speakerphone. And if chatting on the phone while watching TV isn’t enough to keep you occupied in the kitchen, you might want to either pay more attention to cooking, or check out the Beyond iCEBOX FlipScreen ($2,299, icebox.tv), which adds Internet access to the mix.
Nobody wants a bunch of wires running all over the kitchen, so it’s important to place your under-cabinet TV as close to an electrical outlet as possible. Gather the slack in the cord and stash it out of sight behind the set so just enough is left to reach the outlet. If you have to use a cable or satellite box, you can place it under the cabinet next to the set or inside a glass-fronted cabinet so the remote control still works. Another solution is to set the box on top of the cabinet near the ceiling so that it will be out of sight but still within range of the remote. Or you could add a simple IR repeater and hide the cable box inside a solid-door cabinet located either above or below the counter.
The best place for the cable itself is inside the wall, of course, but stringing it through there can get expensive, especially if you have lots of tiling. If you have no choice but to leave the cable exposed, run it along the corner between the wall and the ceiling, then down along the edge of the cabinet. Try to avoid running wires near the floor since they can become exposed to beverage and food spills and other domestic accidents. You could also string the cable through the cabinet itself, although that will require drilling entry and exit points.
Perhaps more than any room in the house, the kitchen demands the efficient use of space. Since built-in appliances are the norm, you’ll want your kitchen entertainment appliances to be integrated just as efficiently. A flat LCD TV, whether mounted under the cabinet, on the wall, or on the table, is the entertainment equivalent of a magnetic-induction stovetop: stylish, space-saving, and functional.
The Right Sound
The Gen-X set has a radically different take on the kitchen, tending to see it not just as a place for cooking and eating, but also as the house’s social hub. New kitchens tend to be significantly bigger than their predecessors and centered in the house’s floor plan. Given their newfound importance, kitchens cry out for quality sound, but since space is still at a premium there, traditional speakers just won’t do.
Kitchen walls are typically covered with large cabinets, and countertops are filled with appliances or are needed for food prep. Finding a speaker that delivers the audio goods while taking up virtually no space can be daunting. One option is to use wall- or ceiling-mounted minispeakers. These fit the bill aesthetically but can sound anemic if not paired with a subwoofer to handle the low end. If you have some dead space above your cabinets, however, a subwoofer/satellite combo, or small bookshelf-style speakers, can fit the bill.
Or you could go with in-ceiling speakers. Available from nearly every speaker manufacturer, these often provide the perfect solution to the space vs. sound dilemma. In-ceiling models are a focal point of companies like SpeakerCraft (speakercraft.com), Niles (nilesaudio.com), and Sonance (sonance.com). All three of these manufacturers offer a tremendous range of good-sounding speakers that can accommodate just about every budget. To get even better sound, you’ll want to install the speakers using acoustical enclosures, or back boxes, which can reduce ceiling vibrations and tighten up the bass. (This complicated and messy job is often best left to a professional installer.)
Niles Directed Soundfield 6.3 ($275), Speakercraft AIM Five ($750), and Sonance Merlot 421 MR ($100) in-ceiling speakers. The woffers and tweeters in the Niles and SpeakerCraft models can be aimed individually at the listening position.
Getting the audio signal to the speakers can be tricky. In many cases, the kitchen is part of a house-wide audio system, whether as a zone by itself or grouped with other rooms. This allows all of the amplification and source components (CD player, satellite radio and TV receivers, and so on) to be located elsewhere. At a minimum, you should install a volume control in the kitchen so you don’t have to take a hike to your A/V receiver just to nudge the volume up or down. But if your budget allows, you should definitely splurge for a keypad controller, which offers a lot more interactivity with your system, such as selecting CDs, changing radio stations, and so on. — J. S.
The Home Theater
Big-screen home theater usually means a bulky entertainment center protruding 3 feet out into the room, a hulking tube TV that qualifies as furniture in its own right, or a front-projection system that requires custom installation and strict control of ambient light. But plasma TV has changed the rules. With screens that range from 32 inches (diagonal) to as large as 63 inches, these ultra-thin panels can deliver performance approaching that of the best tube TVs while occupying a fraction of the space.
Pioneer Elite PRO-1000HDi 50-inch plasma TV ($14,500) with Bang & Olufsen Beolab 8000 L/R speakers ($1,800 each) and the Beolab 4000 center speaker ($975)
Since 42-inch plasmas rarely cost much more than 32-inchers, most people start at 42 inches. At this size, you’ll have to decide between enhanced-definition (EDTV) panels with 852 x 480-pixel resolution, such as Philips’s $3,999 42FD9935 and Panasonic’s TH-42PA20U/P ($4,500), and higher-cost HDTV panels with 1,024 x 768 pixels or more, like Toshiba’s 42HP83 ($7,500, tacp.toshiba.com). The price difference between 42-inch enhanced- and high-def plasma monitors usually ranges from $1,500 to $3,000. All plasmas can display a picture from an HDTV tuner or satellite receiver, but more pixels provide more detail. Go for higher resolution if you’re going to watch a lot of HDTV, connect a computer to the panel, or sit up close to the screen.
Every 50-inch panel, on the other hand, has at least 1,024 x 768-pixel resolution. The bigger screen means you can sit farther away, but you’ll pay dearly for the privilege — the displays start at $6,000, but most cost considerably more. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers’ recommended viewing distance for a 50-inch 16:9 screen is about 7 feet. While most people don’t sit that close to the screen, that distance is an accurate indication of what provides a truly immersive movie-watching experience. Since rear-projection sets cost thousands less than plasma and offer significantly larger screen sizes, home theater aficionados who want the most screen for their buck still don’t consider plasma a viable option.
For everyone else, Pioneer’s strikingly beautiful Elite PRO-1110HD (pioneerelectronics.com) costs a cool $15,500. It comes with an outboard media console, including a built-in over-the-air HDTV tuner, to which you connect your video sources. Then you run a single cable from the console to the panel. Another 50-inch example is Hitachi’s 50HDT50 at $11,000.
You’ll also need to think about digital inputs. The newest plasma panels, like the Pioneer Elite mentioned above and Panasonic’s TH-42PX20U/P ($6,500), have HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) digital inputs, which improve on DVI (Digital Visual Interface) jacks by also carrying audio signals. If you’re not going to route sound through the panel’s speakers, you don’t need HDMI. But every new plasma TV meant for home theater use should have a DVI jack with HDCP copy protection so it will work with copy-protected high-definition satellite and cable receivers as well as outboard HDTV tuners. A digital video input also allows connection with newer DVD players that have DVI outputs. And going digital with plasma connections can improve picture quality with some sources since it eliminates a cycle of digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion.
Most plasma sets now include regular TV features like built-in tuners and speakers, but they’re next to useless since most home theaters use external cable or satellite boxes and dedicated audio systems. If you aren’t going to use the built-in speakers, look for a speakerless display or one that allows you to detach them.
The simplest way to install a plasma panel is to place it on a stand atop a low bench, table, or pedestal. Nearly every plasma TV includes a stand, and many swivel so you can turn the panel to face different areas of the room. Floor stands from manufacturers like Bell’O (bello.com), Premier (premier-av-furniture.com), and StudioTech (studiotech.com) lend a high-tech look and bring the panel to eye level, and most include shelves for components. Affixing the plasma to a pole lets you angle the screen to either side, but you might have to find another place for the components.
It almost seems like a waste, though, not to put your new flat-panel set on the wall. Wall-mounts are available from the manufacturer or from mount specialists like Peerless, Chief, and Premier Mounts (premiermounts.com). Prices begin at $200, and the more expensive models will even let you tilt the panel down. That’s important since mounting the panel on the wall usually means placing it higher than you would on a stand. For example, a lot of people want their panels installed above a fireplace. If you’re watching from a couch, an angled wall mount lets you enjoy the image head-on, although the panel won’t sit flush against the surface.
If you crave a completely stealthy home theater, there’s nothing quite as cool as a flat panel that only appears when it’s time to watch TV. Vision Art frames from Solar Shading Systems (solarshadingsys.com) fit around the panel and contain a motorized retracting canvas that slides down to conceal the screen. On the canvas is an actual painting of your choice. Prices start at $3,500.
If you can swing the expense, motorized plasma lifts from companies like Lift-Tech (televisionlifts.com) are another futuristic option. But they don’t come cheap, starting at $2,295. Some are cabinets that look like any other piece of furniture, but press the button on a remote control and the plasma screen rises majestically out of the top. Components can be hidden in the cabinet. More ambitious custom jobs install the lift in the ceiling or even in the floor. Plasma lifts can also be installed so the set partially blocks a window, which has the added benefit of helping control ambient light in the room. Since the displays are so bright, however, this light is much less of a problem with plasma than with projection setups.
No matter where you put a flat TV in your house, you’ll be saving space and making an aesthetic statement. Slim sets look great whether they’re proudly on display or appear out of nowhere. Plasmas and LCDs are so innovative that they can make any other TV look like yesterday’s technology.
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Shopping Made Simple: Flat Screen TVs
The Right Sound
Whether located in the living room, the bonus room, or a dedicated media room, your home theater system is usually the last bastion of no-holds-barred sound quality in the home. And most systems are expected to handle both movies and music with equal aplomb.
Conventional wisdom says that you need large, floor-standing speakers to get true audiophile sound. But if this clashes with your home’s decor, take heart — you have plenty of options. For instance, mating small, wall-mounted speakers with a good subwoofer can provide room-filling surround sound while taking up a minimum of space.
A number of fantastic on-wall speakers have appeared that are designed to complement the style of larger LCD and plasma displays. For example, the Mythos series from Definitive Technology (defintivetech.com) comes in silver or ultra-chic high-gloss black. The Mythos One ($799 each) and Mythos Two ($499 each) satellites are complemented by a Mythos Three center speaker ($499).
B&W’s FPM (Flat Panel Monitors) series is designed to match the most common plasma sizes. The FPM4 ($700 each), FPM5 ($750 each), and FPM6 ($900 each) come in aluminum, anthracite, or basic black. Companies like Jamo (jamo.com), Sonance, M&K (mksound.com), JBL (jbl.com), Artison (artisonusa.com), NHT (nhthifi.com), and Paradigm (paradigm.com) also offer plasma-friendly models.
Of course, you can always go in the wall. The best in-wall speakers not only keep your theater from resembling Stonehenge but — properly installed —produce sound that rivals the best of their boxier brethren. Triad’s Bronze, Silver, and Gold series ($500 to $1,300 each) make for a truly Olympian lineup, and the AMC900 ($1,000 each) from Snell Acoustics is THX Ultra2 certified. If your budget allows, check out JBL’s Synthesis 4 system (jbl.com/ home/synthesis). The speaker package retails for $10,500, but $37,000 will get you processing, amplification, subwoofers, and room equalization that will put the local cineplex to shame.
If you want to keep your walls speaker-free, the answer lies just above your head — in the ceiling. Sonance’s Ellipse, Speakercraft’s AIM series, and Niles’s DS series are designed for in-ceiling use in a home theater and run between $200 and $750 each. The Ci 200.2QT ($500 each) from KEF (kef.com) is motorized to drop down from the ceiling.
But don’t think that sleek, sexy styling has passed all floor standers by. Martin-Logan’s electrostatic panels ($747 to $44,950 each, martinlogan.com) are practically pieces of art, while Meridian’s digital speakers ($3,823 to $25,750 each, meridian-audio.com) ooze high-tech cool and come in many finishes. B&W’s Signature Series ($1,500 to $10,000 each) is finished in exotic tiger’s-eye maple and trimmed with the same Connolly leather found in Aston Martin and Bentley automobiles! — J.S.