I won't pay more on a TV Stand than the TV

This blog entry's subject line was a quote from a friend in a recent conversation. My friend, lets just call him D, is considering to buy a new flat panel TV and retiring his 27" tube that he purchased 9 years ago. Considering HDTVs are more affordable than ever, I'd say his patience has paid off big time. With 42" 1080P LCD and Plasmas costing $700 or less, he is very tempted.

With young children in his household, he wants to be very cautious with the new TV setup. For one, he doesn't want his boy to pull that new TV down if left on a basic stand. Mounting on the wall is out of question to avoid any wall damage that his landlord would not like. So we start to research for a stand w/ built-in mounting wall with some nice aesthetics. We found some units like this one and this one.

As cost of technology deflates, flat panel TVs are becoming so affordable. Its likely a household can start to purchase multiple units. Flat panels are space saving and somewhat energy efficient. But to keep up that streamline look, one must pay a good chunk of change for a nice looking TV furniture. Its amazing how the furniture business have not deflated much over the years so one potentially has to budget more on the stand. Sometimes, depend on the TV price, your TV Stand budget may take up 50% or more of the total spend. Crazy!

BTW, if you were to look into some serious stands, my buddy Mike told me about BDI and Bello.