Equiptment Cabinets / Ventilation

[morch]

My plans for the near future are to build cabinets for my bar room / home theater. I will be doing all of the work; the design, build, and install. I have been reading a lot of posts with concerns around ventilation, and do not want to damage the equipment because of a lack of preparation on the design.

The current plan is to have the cabinets built in to the wall with adjustable shelves. What considerations should I take into account? I currently own a H/K AVR 147, other posts/reviews claim that these units run hot. Without anything to compare this receiver to, I can neither agree nor disagree with this statement because everything is relative.

The concept is to have all of the electrical components and possibly the sub in the cabinet ( Polk Audio RM6750, the sub is not ported ). When the unit is in use, the cabinet will be open to allow access to the components and the sub, and when not in use, the door(s) will be closed giving the room a clean look. ( I hate looking at wiring jobs that look like a plate of spaghetti. )

Any thoughts and or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Frugal]

cold air return

Sometimes it's possible to plumb the house furnace cold air return to the rear of the cabinet near the top. Worked for me cause it was handy and I run the fan all the time.

 

[CraigA]

Wow...I could go on for days here. First I wouldn't necessarily put the sub in the same cabnet as your components. I just seems like problems can be created with vibrations to DVD players, and hard drive based DVRs..etc. Just my thoughts.

I have to tell you now, that unless you have rear access to this cabnet, wiring will be a pain. Can I sugguest this as a possible option? Click here.

Now if you are staying with the wood cabinet shelves...then I would say make them deep. I would also notch out a large slot at the back side of each shelf to allow as a wire chase as well as for air flow. Next I would put your hotter, less touched compents higher..receiver and DVR cable box. Your DVD player and game systems can go lower. They produce less heat and you need to reach them routinely.

In the cabinet, I would vent the base into the cabinet to draw air in then install a ATM Cool Cube in the upper sections or ceiling of the cabinet to pull the air out.

If you were to also use a wireless/univeral remote system, RTI preferrable, then you could keep your cabinet shut the whole time and maintain that cleen look.

Some Cool Vents might also do the trick.

But for serviceability and a professional look...the MiddleAtlantic racks are a nice choice. They can be costly though.

Hope this helps a little.