Barend Ray
Active member
Someone asked why finding a console that fits real gear is so hard, and I am not sure people outside this hobby understand how bad it has got. His pile: a Cambridge CXA81 at roughly 17 inches deep, a pair of Cambridge monoblocks around 16, a Switch, a Series X, plus the usual scatter of small boxes. Almost nothing on the mass market goes deep enough. BDI does, it feels genuinely solid in the store, and then you look at what it costs.
The reason is not mysterious. Furniture makers stopped designing around AV racks about the time flat panels took over. What sells now is a low sideboard holding a TV and a soundbar, and a soundbar is a few inches deep. Depth costs material and shipping volume to satisfy a spec most buyers never check, so it got cut. Ventilation went the same way: closed backs, no cable routing, shelves that trap heat exactly where a class AB amp wants air moving.
I gave up on furniture entirely. Open two post rack, plank across the top for the TV. It looked wrong for about a week, then I stopped noticing, and everything finally breathes. The other route worth trying is a used office credenza, which is frequently deeper than anything sold as AV furniture and costs a fraction of the designer stuff. You cut a vent in the back panel and you are done.
If you solved this without handing over BDI money, what did you actually buy? Real answers, not the same three Amazon listings that come up every time this gets asked.
The reason is not mysterious. Furniture makers stopped designing around AV racks about the time flat panels took over. What sells now is a low sideboard holding a TV and a soundbar, and a soundbar is a few inches deep. Depth costs material and shipping volume to satisfy a spec most buyers never check, so it got cut. Ventilation went the same way: closed backs, no cable routing, shelves that trap heat exactly where a class AB amp wants air moving.
I gave up on furniture entirely. Open two post rack, plank across the top for the TV. It looked wrong for about a week, then I stopped noticing, and everything finally breathes. The other route worth trying is a used office credenza, which is frequently deeper than anything sold as AV furniture and costs a fraction of the designer stuff. You cut a vent in the back panel and you are done.
If you solved this without handing over BDI money, what did you actually buy? Real answers, not the same three Amazon listings that come up every time this gets asked.
