Re: AV & Media Room Design

["Robert L Bass" <RobertLBass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I hate the idea of having to give up a whole
> bedroom-sized room for AV gear but there
> seems to have been a never-ending parade
> of new formats and advances that overloaded
> the garden variety stereo "console" a long,
> long time ago.   I've got CCTV and other AV
> related gear dispersed throughout the house
> and when I move I'd like to centralize them.
>
> I'll be looking at houses today and I thought
> I'd pick everyone's brain as to how best design
> an accessible AV center.

Bedroom-sized?  Assuming you place everything
within reach of a wheel chair bound person, you
could install 56" tall (32-space) racks for everything.
Install cooling fan inserts in the lowest 2 spaces.
Place a 2-space vent at the top of each rack.
Here's an example from Middle Atlantic, one of our
vendors:
http://www.middleatlantic.com/rackac/cooling/uqfp.htm
That leaves you with better 28 spaces (49") for
gear in each rack.  They also make several "residential"
cooling solutions:
http://www.middleatlantic.com/rackac/cooling/qcool.htm
These are better suited for listening room racks.

Middle Atlantic makes custom rackshelves which
are precisely cut to fit the fronts of your A/V gear.
They have an extensive library of cut-outs for
thousands of models.  If your unit isn't in the
library they will make the face to your specifications.
They don't charge for custom fitting.  The finished
look is much slicker than the typical rack since all
the gear looks as though it was made to fit.

I've installed media racks (mostly Middle Atlantic)
in numerous homes, including my own, over the
years.  In a home theater environment I like to
install the racks in a side wall or, if the front wall
is wide enough, on either side of the screen. Done
right the effect is attractive and the system is easy
to use.  If you can afford to buy enough A/V gear
to fill a bedroom, make the front of your home theater
wide enough for two side-by-side racks on each side
of the screen.  This would give you 112 spaces
(16'4") of usable rack.  With most components using
between 3 and 5 spaces (both of my HT receivers
need eight spaces) you'd have room for enough
gear to provide a large home with entertainment
throughout.

You can install an IR pickup on the ceiling to trigger
a sequence that opens the curtain, powers up the
projector and sets the lighting.  Here's an example
of a low profile IR receiver from Xantech, another of
our vendors: http://www.xantech.com/newprod/49090.htm

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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