Mainstays Entertainment Center for TVs up to 55"

I'm glad I decided to purchase this entertainment center despite some of the negative reviews. It's a perfect size for our living room and our 50 inch TV looks great on it. It can fit a bigger TV if needed since the side shelves are separate from the TV stand. It took my husband approximately 4 hrs to put it together. The instructions are pretty straightforward and he followed the steps closely to make sure it's done right. It seems pretty sturdy too. The color is not solid black but rather faded. It can easily be painted darker but I like the way it looks so far.The entertainment center was delivered much earlier than expected. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this purchase.

I am going to try and hit all the important points about this entertainment center, all the things that were important to me as I made my choice and what I know about the unit now that we have it set up. First off, I am giving it 4 stars only because I feel that I have to be head over heels in love with something to do 5 stars. If this unit was this price and made out of solid wood rather than composite wood, it would be absolutely a 5 star unit. I wish I could give it 4.5 stars.Now on to the facts about the unit1) Yes, it is composite wood, but it is heavy duty composite wood. The black laminate finish on it is shiny and makes the wood look sleek and modern, not cheap at all.2) Truth about the size. We had measured out what we thought the unit would take up, and after setting it up found it to be "smaller" than we had imagined. BUT this is not a con in our case as we are in a 800sqft house and our living room is tiny. This unit fits PERFECT. It is a small unit with a big attitude. :) We have a 55" Samsung TV on it and it fits perfectly on the center part. In fact there is an inch or so on each side to spare and lots of room in front and behind the tv. The TV does not overwhelm the unit and the unit does not minimize the tv. Also the center unit sits only 22" tall. I personally love that this puts the TV at a height that when you are sitting on the couch the TV is directly in front of you...no more feeling like I have to tip my head up to watch tv. Much nicer on the neck and back for those long movie sessions.3) Next truth about size. The side units are not as tall as you might think they are from the picture. I am 5'3" and the top of these units hits me at about shoulder height. I had imagined they would be about even with the top of my head. They are not. I like this as well, again because we are in a small house. If you are putting this unit in a LARGE room, it will probably feel too small. But if you are trying to make the most out of every square foot you can, this is perfect.4) Storage space. The shelves hold 35 single row DVD/Blu Ray cases. You could double line them, but then you cant really see what is in the back row. We have ours single lined, then use the empty front of the shelf space to put some small knick knacks. Again, personal choice and a nice way to use space efficiently. Top of the shelves is low enough to use as a a display area. The bottom shelves on the side units can easily hold electronics like video game controlers/charging units. The back of the units have punch outs for wires, so you can hide all your cords which is awesome. Also the doors protect your equipment from dust. The center unit can hold your gaming systems (laying flat), cable boxes, dvd players, 4 shelves total, with lots of room, and again, holes in the back to hide cables and doors to protect what you are putting in there.5) About ease of setting up electronics. I love that this unit has easy ways to run cables/wires from behind, and even comes with several sets of wire organizers as well. They truly were thinking about it being an ENTERTAINMENT center.6) Now the reality of putting this thing together. My husband and I took this on as a Sunday project. Each piece was give or take 1-1.5 hours. All total, all 3 pieces was almost exactly 4 hours. He said that it was definitely easier to have one person doing the work while one person read the instructions. On that note, the instructions are mainly pictures with a few words to clarify what you are supposed to and NOT supposed to do. Be sure to read each step throughly before starting as there are a few places where you do something only 1/2 way, move on to the next step, then go back and finish. If you do this wrong, you will be in a mess trying to figure out how to undo and redo. But that being said, this really was a pretty easy set up over all.All in all, this is a great little unit for a small space and big entertainment. For the price, it is indeed an awesome bargin.

So I started out by putting the bookshelves together and was more then pleased with that but as I went on to the TV stand I became frustrated and disappointed...1st: there was damage to one of the sliding doors when I unboxed everything.2nd: the holes did not line up on a good amount of the pieces making it difficult to put together.3rd: one of the plastic pieces to hold the sliding doors in place did not fit properly.. I got the piece completely in and it was so tight that once I struggled getting the door in, the door wouldn’t even slide. This was the biggest nightmare of the whole build. I have this thing 98% done and have to take a flat head screw driver to that plastic strip and dig it out, completely ruining the bottom of the stand. Once the plastic strip was out and I put the door in, it moved back in forth with no issues.So aside from the damage I now have from what I believe to be a flaw in the design of the bottom piece of wood, both doors work and is serving it’s overall purpose.

WORST EVER!!! I despise this system. I ordered it for my daughter and her military husband to help furnish their home on base. It was delivered scratched, corners smashed and crumbly, wood (particle board with vinyl paper over it to look like wood) was warped so when it was put together, the cabinet doors were sitting so crooked they couldn't close. I had to Jimmy rig them in order to straighten them out.These are the ultimate crappiest quality pieces I have ever seen. They are Walmart brand cabinets (the invoice attached to my box showed they were shipped from Walmart). None of the pieces were labeled as shown in the directions, the hardware came mixed up and all thrown together in a bag so I had to guess which pieces they referred to when assembling, which was common sense, but beside the point. Then, I had to use a black marker to cover all the scratches and chips street they were finally put together.I am so disappointed with these and so irritated that they were so awful. Unfortunately, I was unable to return them because my daughter and I were trying to surprise her soldier husband with a completely furnished home when he returned from a month away. Time would not permit a return, plus, I was unable to transport them to a shipping facility because I didn't have a vehicle big enough. Nor could I even lift them to put them in a vehicle (particle board is extremely heavy for those of you who don't know).I will never buy this garbage brand again (Mainstays, which I didn't know is a Walmart brand).

I was very disappointed with this entertainment set. The T.V. stand was incredibly unstable and I ended up stripping a few screws trying to tighten it up. The entire stand would sway side to side and I didn't trust it to hold its own box let alone my 55". I didn't even bother with the media stands. This came very fast in three separate boxes, one for each piece. The seller seems great, I'll update once my refund/return request is completed.

Absolutely beautiful. I was expecting the towers to be taller but they're only about four and a half feet tall and that's just fine.