Questions on In wall wiring and rack selection

[lancer360]

I'm in the process of a HT build in the house my wife and I bought. There is a small office room (6'x6') attached to the HT room that my wife claimed as here little private area for her to have her computer and other items in. It has built in lower and upper cabinets with a corner desktop across two walls. I have convinced her to let me cut the desktop back in one corner and install a rack with the promise that she would still have enough usable desktop to have it as her office. So I leaped before I went shopping and cut off the corner of the desktop and pulled out (i.e. used a hammer and broke it apart to get it out) that piece of desktop and the lower cabinet it was attached to. Now I'm doing some searching for the ideal rack to fit in the space. I don't need a fancy show quality furniture grade rack, but I don't want some super industrial looking rack either with knock outs everywhere. I'm also hampered by the overhead cabinet which limits me to 54" max height. The best option I have found is the Sanus CFR2127 (MSRP $799). I would have to remove the castors to make it fit but that shouldn't be an issue. It comes outfitted with numerous shelves and a front door (wife requirement) so I don't have to pay for those separately.

Now that I have that picked I went back into the office and measured to see what it would look like. Not good. My wall panel for speaker wires etc is going in the same corner. I thought I could just have the rack pulled out enough to have the panel just behind it but it makes it stick out to far and would make the room impossible to use as an office. One option I see to solve the issue is to ditch the wall panel all together and bring the in wall wiring direct into the rack without terminating to a panel. It would save some money not having to buy all those extra wall plate connectors, banana plugs, etc. I plan on leaving the rear and right side panel off the rack (right side is against the wall anyway). So I have two questions.

1. Any other options for a rack that I should consider (No small than 24U)?
2. Is there anything I'm overlooking as to why I should not bring all the in wall wiring straight into the rack and forgo a big wall panel?

 

[adk highlander]

I would say the wiring is totally up to you and will make no difference. Just make sure to leave enough to pull the rack completely out so you can get to the rear of the components.

Have you considered building your own cabinet and using a slide out rotating rack? With this you could raise the rack up and have the plate at the bottom if you wanted to go that route. They pull out and rotate. Price is about the same as the Sanus here: Middle Atlantic ASR 48 Slide Out Rotating Shelving System Xcaseproaudio | eBay

I built my own racks using Middle Atlantic rails and shelving and they have been great. I did not need the ability to move them as I had access to the front and back.

 

[lancer360]

Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to build my own cabinet right now. Too many other projects in the new house to work on plus I still have my race car in the garage 80% finished and needing attention. Looking for a complete solution. After some more searching I think I will bring the cables straight from the wall and into the cabinet and leave enough of a slack loop to be able to pull the cabinet out.