Revenge of the Hi-Fi: Putting Furniture Back in the Entertainment Center

Where do you rock out?

Is your answer anywhere?  With your smart phone in hand, you can enter your own personal electro-sonic land whether you’re driving, walking, commuting, or working.  With your tunes in a cloud, you can call up your most righteous favorites anywhere anytime.

With that same little electronic device that you bank with, check your stocks with, call your parents with, text your spouse with, work on that report with….  With that leash of yours.

Kind of a bummer, huh?

What was once unimaginable has become unavoidable.  Easy access to nearly limitless information and music with a minimal interface is very real, very now, and very cool.  You can work, learn, play, and rock anyplace.  But if you find yourself doing everything everywhere, you may start to find yourself, and your sanctum of sound, nowhere.

Do you remember hi-fi?  Or perhaps you once looked it up on Wikipedia for a history class.  Back in the day, playback devices – phonographs, radios, tape players, amplifiers, and speakers – whether integrated into one system or separate, were pieces of furniture themselves.  Beyond the audiophile definition, the term “hi-fi” came to refer to these components as well.  As in, “Hey, come over to my place and listen to my Three Dog Night album on my hi-fi.” Like an old hand on bass, the hi-fi launch pad had presence and charisma and could make you move but was not very mobile itself.

Modularity has been the name of the sound system game since that time.  With advances in computer technology and the Internet, playback devices moved out of their furniture cases and reached the apogee of connectivity.  One little piece of tech is your connection with your music.  Except it’s the same piece of tech you’re constantly using.

With a custom entertainment center and speaker cabinets by a CustomMade artisan, you can have the best of both worlds.  When you need a place, a special little corner of your world, for your mind and soul to expand to the music, hook up your iPod to a state-of-the-art stereo system housed in a classic furniture venue that will outlast the vicissitudes of fashion.  (You can even commission a piece that lets you plug directly into your furniture).  When you need to go, you can still take your music with you.  And if you’re still getting mileage off your 8-tracks or just discovering the second coming of vinyl, you’ll be right at home, too.

What was once high has been laid low.  What was once hi-fi has become lo-fi but remains, nevertheless, groovy.  The white oak and walnut lo-fi credenza by Mann Designs is designed for vintage stereos and LP storage (but can also function as a stand for a flat-screen TV).  The credenza’s gently curved feet and sides “mimic the curves of the 3form’s groovy aloe Varia Ecoresin panel.”  You can contact the artisan and commission your own eco-friendly, made-to-order wayback machine.

Lo-Fi Credenza by Mann Designs at CustomMade.com

This elegant mahogany and sapele media cabinet with ebony inlay by Neal Barrett Woodworking can be a home for your stereo and CDs as well as a cool, style-setting showcase piece for your living room or den.  The cabinet doors fold into the birdseye maple interior for easy access.  Your custom designed stereo cabinet will be “a unique, heirloom-quality piece that fulfills your functional requirements in an artistic manner.”

Mahogany and Sapele Media Cabinet by Neal Barrett Woodworking at CustomMade.com

The subtle upward curves of this bright, Brazilian cherry and maple stereo cabinet by Michael Hauck Designs will elevate you even before the music starts.  This piece features bronze hardware, concealed space for cables, and ventilated louvers and was designed for a CD/tape player and storage, but you can have your cabinets customized to suit whatever system and components you have.  Take a look at the project gallery page for more designs.

Stereo Cabinet by Michael Hauck Designs at CustomMade.com

Custom wood speaker cabinets are another way the artisanal meets the high tech.  These surround sound speaker stands by S.J. Thompson’s were designed for 3” x 3” Bose speakers.  These beautiful maple stands with mahogany inlay have concealed slots down their backs for securing the speaker cords and can be placed anywhere you need them.  Order your own custom set for your stereo today.

Speaker Stands by S.J. Thompson's at CustomMade.com

Reclaim your stereophonic space with a one-of-a-kind entertainment center by a CustomMade artisan in your area that will have you saying, “Hey, come over to my place and listen to my Bright Eyes 45….”