Since 2014, Pure Media Systems founders Chad Grossman and Charles Krebs have built their Dallas/Fort Worth integration firm around a simple belief: If they wouldn’t install a product in their own homes, they won’t recommend it to a client.
The partners launched their business doing AV work for friends and family, validating their craftsmanship while assembling a curated suite of technologies that deliver both functionality and long-term reliability. Today, Pure Media Systems has grown into a full turnkey provider, covering everything from AV integration and home automation to room design, seating, furniture, and acoustic optimization. Among the many product lines the company has embraced, one has proven particularly transformative for clients and central to many of Pure Media Systems’ most technically challenging projects: MantelMount, creator of the industry’s leading above-fireplace pull-down and motorized mounts.
Pure Media Systems installed its first MantelMount more than six years ago, beginning with manual models before expanding into the company’s professional-grade motorized line. In Texas, where fireplaces are seldom used yet remain a visual centerpiece of the home, they quickly found that customers often faced the same problem: The only logical place to mount a large TV was above the fireplace, yet that position was usually too high for comfortable viewing. MantelMount’s solution resonated immediately. The MM860, in particular, delivered everything Pure Media Systems needed:
- A fully recessed back box
- Up to 30 inches of vertical drop
- Horizontal swivel for multi-room sightlines
- Smart-home integration
- Automatic lowering when the TV turns on
Grossman estimates that the company has installed 15 MantelMount MM860 units, each one involving custom work — especially when installed into tile, stone, or non-standard framing. “Every one of these installs is super custom,” he explains. “MantelMount offers a terrific consumer-grade model [the MM815], but you can’t retrofit an in-wall box like the RB100 into tile without major reconstruction. So, the MM860 becomes the most practical solution.”
A More Advanced Approach
The featured installation began like many others: A homeowner contacted Pure Media Systems after seeing the company’s YouTube videos showcasing MantelMount integrations. The client initially inquired about the MantelMount 815, but Grossman immediately recognized that the job required something more advanced. The client planned to mount an LG Gallery OLED, a thin, artistic, flush-mount display, onto a floor-to-ceiling tile fireplace wall. He wanted a perfectly recessed, “museum-grade” look, which meant that the mount had to disappear entirely into the wall.
“The MM815 just isn’t feasible for that,” Grossman explains. “Its back box is too small to work inside a tile wall retrofit, and you can’t physically fit tools inside it to rebuild the framing. With the MM860, the box is large enough that I can literally climb inside the opening and do 90% of the structural work from there.”
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Once the client understood the constraints and the possibilities, the decision was clear: The MantelMount 860 was the only way to achieve the flush, recessed aesthetic he envisioned. Before any installation begins, Pure Media Systems conducts an on-site consultation, reviewing framing, construction photos, or any available documentation. Even so, retrofitting into tile always involves unknowns. This home featured a dramatic, continuous tile façade (likely marble or stone) surrounding the fireplace, with built-in shelving framing the area on both sides. To recess the mount, Pure Media Systems needed to cut through tile, thinset, drywall, and unpredictable framing
And in this case, the framing proved unusually complicated. “When we measured where the box had to go, it landed right on top of a cluster of studs,” Krebs recalls. “Not just vertical studs; there were horizontal beams, doubled-up studs, and sloppy joins. Everything we needed to cut through was reinforced in the worst possible spot.”
The location couldn’t shift; the box needed to be precisely centered for both aesthetics and MantelMount’s engineered drop range. Therefore, the team had to remove the obstructing framing; tie into vertical studs on both sides; rebuild a complete internal support structure; ensure clean electrical relocation; and maintain untouched tile outside the cutout area. And because the tile couldn’t be replaced — there was no extra tile available — there was literally zero margin for error. To avoid damaging the surrounding tile or creating a dust disaster inside the client’s living room, Pure Media employed a combination of high-powered vacuums; dust separators; drop cloths and full masking; angle grinders with specialized blades; and oscillating tools for fine cuts. Once the tile was cut with millimeter accuracy, the real work began.
Inside the opening, Grossman and Krebs found extensive framing blocking the mount’s required footprint. They carefully removed and re-engineered the structure, creating a reinforced box capable of supporting the heavy-duty MM860 mechanism and the client’s large OLED display.
“It’s not uncommon for these jobs to take 10 to 12 hours under normal circumstances,” Grossman notes. “But this one was packed with surprises.” Even so, Pure Media Systems completed the installation in a single day, as they do with nearly every MantelMount MM860 project.
Scenes, Presets, and Daily Convenience
Once the mount was installed, Grossman integrated it into the home’s automation ecosystem. The MantelMount MM860 supports sophisticated control features, memory presets, auto-lowering, and compatibility with systems like Control4, Crestron, and virtually all popular brands. For this home, the team programmed multiple scenes:
- Living Room View: Lowers and angles toward the main seating area
- Dining View: Pivots left to face the dining area
- Cooking View: Optimizes angle for visibility from the kitchen
- Entertainment Scene: Syncs lighting, shading, and mount movement
“It’s all about real-world use cases,” Krebs says. “Whether they’re cooking, eating, entertaining, or relaxing, the mount moves to wherever it’s needed with a single tap.”
Related: A Perfect Union Between Samsung Frame TV and MantelMount
When completed, the installation delivered exactly what the homeowner had asked for: a fully recessed, flush-mounted MM860 hidden perfectly behind tile. What they also got was the ability to automatically drop down the television more than 30 inches to create the perfect viewing angle; multi-room viewing options through the MM860’s side-to-side swivel; seamless Control4 integration; and a clean aesthetic that enhances the distinctive tiled fireplace as a focal point of the room.
For Grossman and Krebs, this project reflects the essence of Pure Media Systems’ mission: doing things the right way, the first time, with craftsmanship that lasts. “It’s never about upselling,” Grossman concludes. “It’s about giving clients the right product for their needs and installing it the right way. That’s what builds trust, and that’s what keeps our clients happy. And MantelMount plays an integral role.”
For more information, visit https://www.mantelmount.com.
