First and foremost, I received the package in one business day. The package is NOT 65 lbs as stated in the UPS tracking. Matter of fact, it's 110 lbs gross weight (99 lbs net weight). Box measures 70.3" x 22.2" x 7.2" - these info lifted straight from the box. You will definitely need two people to lug this box around. For my situation, it's just my wife and I and we live on a second floor condo. We had to take the individual pieces out of the box and transport them upstairs to our home, stairs no elevator - this took us about 20 minutes of back and forth transporting. So be forewarned!
Secondly, the assembly is straight forward. I have to admit, it's more involved than other assembly project I've partook in, but you know what, it's not that hard. The instructions are pretty clear although it's strictly drawings with minimal written information. This could be a problem for the inexperienced DIY'er. But then again, I've read reviews from self-proclaimed experienced DIY'er who "pride themselves" in building things with ease and have had problems with assembling this unit, sometime taking between 3-5 hours to build. I couldn't believe it so I timed myself from start to finish on a stopwatch. It took only myself a total of 1 hour and 47 minutes 42 seconds to assemble with a power drill (wife was busy watching Big Bang Theory in the background). Clearly, if it takes you more than 2 hours to assemble (let alone two people and 5 hours, and STILL got it wrong), you're not as experienced as you'd like to think you are.
The media center requires that you glue wooden dowels into their sockets for maximum installation security - it is not indication of cheaply made material. The package includes two tubes of wood glue, which is basically Elmer's glue. I ended up using both tubes and had to resort to the Elmer's glue in my craft cabinet.
Don't waste your time "pre-assembling" before gluing and tightening all the hardware as another reviewer recommended. Just take your time and follow the instructions carefully and you'll be fine. Some reviewers claim the instructions are wrong after half-way. I have to disagree and interject that they are the one who are wrong and probably cannot follow instructions. Be sure to let the fully assembled media center sit for 24 hours so the glued-in dowels can fully dry.
After all is set and done, this media center is very study, very contemporary and stylish. Our 51" plasma flat screen is mounted on the wall, so clearance is not an issue for us. Only the center housing have two holes to route your wires through - and for newer all-in-one entertainment system, that's all you really need (for example, our Blu-ray player is also a 7.1 wireless home theater system). We got the white and cappuccino model and it compliments our living room's color scheme perfectly. We placed home accent decors (bronze sea turtle statue and ***** *********** vase) on each raised side shelf and the final piece commands attention. The drawers allow us to stash our books and video game console controllers neatly away, affording an uncluttered media center that is quite a contrast to the one this replaced. One of the finer investment we've made all thanks to !