If you can do your own finish, we saved a bundle by going to a furniture outlet and buying an unfinished armoire. Ours was alder and would have looked real nice stained, but we finished ours in a distressed black.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=496Ironically, even tho they had a number of units specifically as entertainment units, the one we chose was actually a clothing unit. I removed the back and replaced it with cross-braces. I also reinforced the insides with stamped (industrial) shelf braces, none of which you can see from the outside. I cut up dowels (which are used for hanging clothes in closets) as a precaution in case the weight of the TV caused sag over time. The dowels create a straight column from the TV shelf to the base. They are just placed in there loose and they are still loose so there's been no sag yet (it's been a year or two). When they get tight I'll know it's starting to sag. But... the best touch was installing 6 heavy duty casters which is also invisible but allows me to move it in and out for equipment hookup and mods.
Our 36" tube TV has about 1/4" on the sides and depth and looks custom fitted. It really worked out well with just a bit of effort. The armoire was around $700 with maybe $100 in misc hardware and paint.
Randog
