Embarrassed....Audio furniture help


Well, I swore I'd never let a woman dictate my two channel system but here we are.  Wife and I bought our first new home, I've got a small but adequate second living area for my system.  Problem is, as mentioned, my wife.  Setup will consist of CD player, AppleTV unit and integrated amp.  May add a streamer at some point but we'll cross that bridge later.  I'm using a pair of bookshelves and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Here's the rub....She is demanding an A/V credenza, so speakers sitting on the credenza on either side of the TV.  Of course I'd love a vertical audio stand and be able to use speaker stands but it's too open, too many exposed cables, blah blah, you know the story.  

Question of the day:  can anyone point me in the right direction?  I need minimum 18" depth and all the awful Crate and Barrel stuff she recommends isn't up to my audio standards.  Needs something with doors for a clean look but I still need my IR signal to work.  Because the speakers aren't going on stands, I'd like something at least 20" tall.  A lot of the fashionable stuff is 14-16" tall, putting the tweeters way below ear level in the listening position.  

Any help would be much appreciated.  

Sincerely,

Man shaking his head with a borderline resigned look


cjlundberg

A possible solution maybe is to have custom speaker stands built by a local cabinet builder, possibly with two bases. One base that would sit on the credenza, placing the speakers at the correct level and a second taller base that could be placed farther into the room for those times when your wife is not at home.


@northbeach  That's awesome and much needed! I was going to go live edge on my rack but we decided against it. I can't recall why. Easier to glue up I guess. Please let us know when you're up and running. I look forward to seeing your stuff.
Thanks @falconquest. I hope to get a website started within the next month. I'll be certain to post it here and provide updates as I get close. I've been building furniture for over 30 years and just back into audio within the past few. I noticed the need. It won't be for everybody, but for those that want a nice place to put gear in their living rooms on furniture their spouse will be happy to have there, I think its a good fit. I live in the Pacific Northwest, but will plan to ship anywhere.
I use a credenza that houses my home theater components. It is a very unusual design with a rounded/curved front facia, even the wood door/glass are curved (very cool!). On top is a 50 inch TV and a sound bar just in front of TV for when I’m lazy and don’t want to do 5.1 + atmos etc...on either side of credenza live my large tannoy stand mounts on 17 inch stands. To the left of the left speaker on adjacent wall/corner rests my hifi furniture, or what I use for hifi. Its a high boy with two sliding wood doors which completely hides all the hifi. This piece of furniture was originally designed for a dining room to house dishes and China. I think it works well for my hifi and is very sturdy. It also has a strong lower open shelf where my class A amp resides. Overall this set up has worked for me with great sound, both 2 channel hifi, and 5.1 surround sound etc. Not sure why some are against a credenza. As long as the op can convince the wife on the use of proper speakers stands on either side.
See my new profile pic...it shows what I'm talking about. Its a very comfy room for both hifi and movies. Everyone is seemingly happy...😁


+1 @barts 
Because the OP posted on our forum, I'm assuming he is interested in high-end audio quality.  Seems a bit unfair that the OP is giving into his wife's interest, but she's ignoring his.  You could say, "I wanted you to have "X" because it was important to you, I was hoping for "Y" because it's important to me."  Then maybe say "Can we work it out so that we both win?"