Greetings,

I recently purchased a sweet Aperion system.

Major kudos to the Aperion customer service, they were top notch!

It is awesome, the setup is straight forward. But I haven't really tweaked it out beyond setting the crossovers to 80HZ.  Here is what I purchased:

4T Fronts, 5C Center, 8D Sub, 4B Rear surrounds

The LCD TV is a Samsung LN52A650

The receiver is a monster Ingera 8.8

I have attached a few picts of my glorious setup. I wouldn't change anything about what I have except for one thing. I don't like my TV stand with all of the components exposed and the rat's nest of wires. Also I have a major concern of overheating the Integra 8.8 receiver. The Integra 8.8 is massive and is a tight fit on the bottom shelf, and has no real cooling airflow over it.

My buddy bought a Whalen Stand from BestBuy and it is quite nice and I think that it will be a nice addition to my setup. I helped him set up his system and right now all that is coming out of the back of the setup is the speaker wires, power cord, and HDMI to the TV. I'll have to modify it to fit the deep 18 plus inch deep Integra 8.8. Basically I'll just build out the back about 2 inches.

Here is the stand in question:

Now, I have a concern about the front center channel behind the Whalen Stand built-in grill... Will the center channel acoustics be affected behind the grill. What I was thinking about doing is to take off the Aperion grill and just have the center in there with the dome exposed. That may help keep the sound pure. The Whalen center grill has some "cheap" fabric covering a center beam in it. Or I may just leave off the grill and modify the stand so that I don't see the Velcro that is used to hold the grill in place.    

Do you all think the wood and grill will affect the sound quality of the center channel?

I hope you all are enjoying your Aperion Systems as much as I am!

Best Regards,
Steve

Here are some extra picts:

It's hard for me to say just from the pictures, but it does look like the space between the wood frame looks pretty small.  If the frame is going to block the drivers then yes it will most definitely compromise the sound.  So I'd probably just remove that cover if it were me.

 

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

It almost looks like your TV has its own stand, is that the correct.  You could always purchase a a/v rack.  They seem to hide the wires good and it keeps everything pretty organized looking.

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24 hours in a day ... 24 beers in a case ... coincidence?

If your budget allows, I'd recommend checking out www.standoutdesigns.com.  They have a couple different models that would fit your needs, and they even sell back extenders for the component portions of the stands in the event that your receiver is too deep... all solid wood and made in USA

I agree.  I bought one of their consoles (and a bookshelf) and am very pleased.  Very well made, solid wood and really beautiful.  The backs come off which make it really handy for doing the wiring....

Thanks for the advice to look at Standout Designs. Their stuff is sweet! I'll have to take a look at my budget. Hopefully I can make it work out ok. The Aperion speakers and my Integra 8.8 receiver sure do deserve a nice home. The Standout Designs stuff looks really nice and I should be able to fit everything in there with the extender.

All wood and made in USA 

 If my budget doesn't alowI may try a DIY build. I was inspired by this member's custom built cabinet on the AVS fourum. I've never tried a furniture project but I do have some free time on the weekends and sicne I'm in the Air Force our base has a Woodworking shop that can help me out. 

Holy Hannah that is one sweet custom cabinet! I definitely need to figure out a better solution than what I have now and was thinking about making my own; but after seeing how much work went into it, those Standout Designs designs are starting to look mighty tempting

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio