I was really hoping that I could work with the covers to hide the cables. I'd read the reviews that said the covers were a challenge, but I really thought I'd be able to work with them.
I was so wrong.
First, there truly is just not enough room behind the covers. Due to the design, I simply couldn't run the cables I need - and I only have a TiVo and a DVD/receiver! (I ended up putting my Wii on it, also, but at that point there were so many cables hanging out it really didn't make a difference.)
In addition to that, the plastic from which the covers were made was far too hard for this application. The covers can't be bent enough to allow you to easily push and pull cables as you need to. A softer plastic would have been more appropriate.
And, as others have mentioned, getting the covers on and keeping them on is a serious challenge. I literally had bruises on my hands and arms where I was pulling, shoving, and pounding. I ended up using a towel to insulate the covers from the impact of the hammer I had to use to get them in place.
Other than the cable covers, though, the unit is solid and well designed. The fact that you can place the shelves at any level you like is very shiny. It really is a pretty set of shelves.
Not so pretty with all the cables hanging out, though. Since that's the reason I bought them, I can't give it more than 2 stars.
I'm now looking for something large to set next to the shelves so no one can see all the cables hanging everywhere. :( More money spent - I should have just bought more expensive shelves.
*sigh* And the marketing pics made it look so nice...
Oh, and one suggestion: measure your components. These shelves are actually ~17" wide and you have about 13-14" of depth, at most. I made the mistake of trusting the dimensions listed on the description. (I think that's the packaging's size.) My DVD/receiver unit is constantly sliding off because the feet hang over the front. I'm going to have to find some rubber pads to put under it to hold it in place. OmniMount TRIA Adjustable 3-Shelf Wall Component System with Cable Management
I needed something to get my electronics out of the reach of my toddler. This unit mounted easily to the wall next to my TV. Mounts right to a stud so holds very securely. Shelves have a gloss side and a matte side and everything seems to be designed and constructed very well. As others have said, wire covers are a bit tricky. Enough room for my wires but hard to get them tucked in and then snap the covers on.
My only compaint is that two products that OmniMount sells that are designed to be used together...don't match! Since the wires don't magically go away after you tuck them in, some hang out the bottom, I needed something too hide those wires too. Specifically the HDMI cable that goes to my TV and ALL of the power cords. OmniMount has a separate "Wall Cable Management Kit - Model CMK" that matches the wire cover pieces of this shelf system except for one little thing...it's a different color!! The TRIA is mostly charcoal grey with a bit of silver sparkle. The CMK only comes in white with a rough texture designed to be paintable. I even went to Sherwin-Williams to see if they could match it but no luck. I ended up painting the bottom section of the TRIA's cable covers and all of the CMK pieces black and it all looks good. The CMK has a 90ยบ elbow and three straight sections. This allowed me to turn at the bottom of the TRIA and run the rest of the wires out of sight behind my TV.
Installation was fairly easy. However, installation instructions were not very clear. Had to figure out a couple steps, as the example images were either not clearly demonstrated or missing.
The unit looks nice. You have a choice of where to mount the shelves on the unit, which is nice. The configuration that I decided on was good for my setup, but you can clearly see the seperation of the cable management covers. Looks a bit on the cheap side because of this.
The functionality and easy of use of the cable management system is poor. This was clearly lacking in good design. I suggest that you tightly tie two channels of wire before attempting to place the covers. I did not do this during the initial installation. Then, I had to run an additional wire a couple weeks later. Taking the covers off was a careful operation, and more difficult than expected. And, the process ended up stripping a power cord from removing a cover. Not happy about that. That's when I devised a better plan to tightly tie two channels before re-attaching the covers the second time around.
UPDATE: 1/3/2009
I've had this unit for quite a while, but am using it in my office now. It looks great in the office. It now holds my phone and headset, network switch and internet router, and a couple other miscelaneous items. Since cable management was my biggest complaint with this item, I'm changing from 3 stars to 4 stars, because everything else is very functional and looks great.
As everyone else rated this item; the instructional manual needs work, but the mount is definitely stylish in appearance.
It should be only mounted on the wall studs or concrete walls (which was my challenge to mount it on exterior wall of a Florida home).
I didn't have any problems with running the cables in the channel provided; just be patient/careful not to nick your thicker expensive cables when you slid them in.
The biggest problem with this product is that it can only be used with light equipments as illustrated in the catalog (light speaker, small VCR, Cable box). With anything above 10-15 lbs the shelves start sagging as it happened with my Receiver surround amplifier of 20 lbs.
The second problem is with the insufficient depth of the shelves; they are shallow and cannot accommodate for the wiring on the back of many equipments. My Dish Network satellite receiver and the amplifier are sticking out so far over the glass shelves that they seem they're going to fall off any minute.
Bottom line; Buy it only if you want to set it up just the way the catalogs has shown (shallow, light-weight equipments) - Home Theater Wall Mount - Wall Mount - Home Theater Component Shelf - Component Rack'
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