AV & Media Room Design - Home Automation

> 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.

By all means make sure the equipment is mounted such that you can get to
both the front and the back without a lot of hassle. This means an open
back to the rack or one that 'moves'. Middle Atlantic makes racks that are
designed to pivot out from the wall. These aren't cheap but they do the
job. Or you can go with a rack on wheels and patch cables from wiring
terminated on a nearby wall. As in, do not pull wire straight from inside
the walls into a movable rack. Pull the in-wall wiring to a patch panel and
then use pluggable cabling from there to the rack. This will save you from
pulling a whole new wire again WHEN it gets frayed/broken due to movement of
the rack. Even if it's a fixed rack you still want to consider a patch
panel to avoid breakage. It's a little less of an issue with a fixed rack,
just keep it in mind.

> Try something like this. Find a house that has a room with a large
> closet, with the closet on a wall that is shared with a room that would
> be an acceptable room for watching TV.

Or, since drywall and 2x4s are relatively cheap, just look for a space that
won't be terribly expensive to remodel to suit your actual needs. Always
factor in repainting the place, this will make drywalling less painful too.

All too often a great deal of time and money gets wasted trying to shoehorn
the wrong stuff into the wrong spaces. Like not rearranging a wall and
jamming expensive gear into a tiny closet and having it get wrecked by
overheating. Or trying to reuse existing gear not well suited for the new
installation.

> By all means make sure the equipment is
> mounted such that you can get to both the
> front and the back without a lot of hassle...

Another consideration is lighting in the rack
closet. Rather than a standard ceiling fixture
I installed fluorescent lights. Since there are
heavy items like amps and receivers going in
there, use protected fixtures. I've used
"under-cabinet" fixtures, mounted vertically
on each side, to light my racks.

Some folks like gooseneck fixtures (a few
rack makers offer 19" rack-mounted power
supplies with goose neck lamps attached).
I find fluorescents give more even lighting.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

=============================>
Bass Home Electronics
941-925-8650
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34233
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
=============================>

"Oren" <Oren@home.yes.us> wrote in message

<stuff snipped (sorry I've been so late in replying!) >

>> 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.
>>
>>Any input would be appreciated.
>
> Consider a "Server Rack"; used in network closets.
>
> This site** has a three step click and buy (only a pointer link).
>
> **Server Racks Online's rack configurator lets you "Click & Design"
> server racks from leading manufacturers. Build a rack to your specific
> requirements, and we'll ship the rack you designed!
>
> http://www.server-rack-online.com/

Thanks, Oren. Since asking that question here and elsewhere, I've come up
with a DIY approach with double slotted heavy duty shelving that I think
will serve my needs.

I'm going to put the "servers" - by which I mean PC's, DVD jukeboxes, etc.
in the basement. I've decided to put all of the equipment in an "island"
configuration the way some kitchens are designed. That way, there should be
"wheel around" access to all the components. This design appealed to me
because all the wires could be routed to conduits and wouldn't be lying on
the floor where they would interfere with powerchair wheels. Since I've
gotten a few floor cleaning bots, cords on the floor are a real
show-stopper.

The issue I am facing now is the length limits on all the new cable schemes
like HDMI and USB. If the server room is just below the living room, I'll
be able to route the HDMI and USB cables directly. The plan is to have very
little "artifact" in the living room. Right now I envision a remote
control, an external single disk DVD player - perhaps even a "slot load"
drive that can be built into the wall or into some furniture. With PC based
music and video servers, it should be possible to operate nearly everything
remotely. The upstairs DVD player could be used to play rental DVDs and
disks friends bring over. After fussing with a number of DVD and Tivo-like
stand-alone recorders I've given up on them and will build my own video
server.

Thanks for your input,

--
Bobby G.

"Abe" <noone@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:lgl873t4k2pc11qmb3fqefr9t2g3cg4o7m@4ax.com...

<stuff snipped (sorry I've been so late in replying!) >

>>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.
>
> I hate to say it, because I usually like to design and build stuff
> myself, but it sure sounds to me like this is the time in life for you
> where it might be best to consult an A/V design specialist. A good one
> will take your requirements (space, access, expandability) and create
> a plan you can follow for the build.

You guys *are* my consultants! (-: I've looked at swing-out commercial
racks
and a number of other solutions and have decided to "roll my own" for now.
I just haven't been impressed by the "bang for the buck" I get from
commercial designs. While they make more sense in industrial and business
environments, they're a little too pricey for the size setup I envision.

What I've decided to do is go the "island" route. I WAS going to drop some
2
x 4's from the basement ceiling and mount them to the floor but I found out
that might be against code. I'll have to talk to my local inspector first.
If it's OK, I'll run industrial strength dual-slot steel shelving standards
along the length of
the 2x4's. Since the shelves will be floating (not backed against a wall) I
should be able to access the front or back with ease, as long as I take the
powerchair's turning radius and clearances into consideration.

If money were no object, what I would really like is some sort of hydraulic
lift that would enable to access several shelves' worth of equipment from
the wheelchair. If I find some sort of heavy duty lift mechanism that I can
adopt that can raise and lower the shelves the way some fancy legal filing
cabinets work, I'd be ecstatic! Dad's powerchair has a lifting center
column, but the bad part is that it only extends a paltry 6 inches. Better
than nothing but darn close to it!

> If you find a good one, it'll well be worth the few hundred dollars
> for the consult.

I find it never hurts to ask on the web first about anything because it at
least helps me insure I've covered the basics and learned the lingo. I've
already come up with a dozen modifications to my original plans, just seeing
the way other people do things.

One gentlemen's approach (John W., if memory serves) was to mount equipment
at waist height between stud bays and cover the openings with vent panels.
Ten bucks worth of super neodymium magnets make it removable without tools
and accessible from a wheelchair. BruceR. used long outlet strips to
provide good ventiliation and access to all the wall "wart" power
transformers that power a lot of home A/V gear.

It may turn out that a consultation will provide me with even more ideas and
clue me into local building code issues. I'll probably get good wiring
diagrams out of the process, too, so it's something I will seriously
consider.

As for mounting gear hidden in stud bays, my only concern would be a
potential heat buildup but that problem can be assessed by initial
monitoring with a good recording thermometer. Thermal protections could
also be built into the enclosure just to be on the safe side. I can also
add fan cooling and fan rotation monitoring so I can shut down the gear if
the fan fails. Cheap PC 3-wire fans generate a signal that corresponds to
their RPM so it's simple to tell if they've failed. A simple clothes-dryer
type thermostatic switch could be used to shut off system power and sound an
alarm with a few simple components and a relay.

Thanks for the input, Abe, I appreciate it.

--
Bobby G.

"Karl S" <nospam@ak.net> wrote in message
news:khn6om5prbh8$.13ge0p10yvcc3$.dlg@40tude.net...
> On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:54:25 -0400, Robert Green wrote:
>
> > 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.
> >
> > Any input would be appreciated.
>
> You might try the AVS Forums. Here is a link to the "Dedicated Theater
> Design & Construction" forum:
>
> http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...ysprune=2&f=19
>
> It's takes a while to get your bearings on the AVS Forums because there is
> so much information there.

Thanks! Sorry for the long delay in responding. That's an excellent
resource. Your comment is quite accurate. It's a very information-dense
site. Nice to know that there's a dedicated forum. I'll scan there for
some ideas.

> Scroll down to the bottom and change the screen color from AVS Dark
Theater
> to AVS White and it will be easier on your eyes.

Ah yes. I noticed that there are a number of viewing options that make
things easier. I chose the "print" view because the clutter of the regular
view is for a younger generation!

I've been thinking about putting in ventilation that would capture the heat
from the equipment in the winter but vent it externally in the summer and
picked up some ideas here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archi.../t-748441.html

I might even look at using a heat exchanger so I wouldn't upset the humidity
balance in the house with a low-tech dryer vent sort of arrangement.

Thanks again for the URL.

--
Bobby G.

"Tim Smith" <reply_in_group@mouse-potato.com> wrote in message
news:reply_in_group-E2C512.20265816062007@news.supernews.com...
>
> Try something like this. Find a house that has a room with a large
> closet, with the closet on a wall that is shared with a room that would
> be an acceptable room for watching TV.
>
> If your TV is a plasma or LCD that you can hang on the wall, hang it in
> the viewing room on the shared wall, and put the equipment in the
> closet, and connect through the wall.

That's an interesting idea. Since one of the goals was to reduce the heat
load in the viewing room by moving all the electronics outside the room,
even a partial "removal" might be helpful. It might even be possible to put
remotely operated sliding doors in the viewing room that expose the gear
when access is needed. That would also address another goal - to make the
living room still look like a living room and not a Best Buy showroom!

I'm beginning to wonder if new houses shouldn't be built like old horror
movie castles with passageways between each room. The number of wires
associated with PC's and home theater just seems to be growing exponentially
but I've haven't seen any solutions that I really like.

Thanks, Tim, for the suggestions.

--
Bobby G.

"Oren" <Oren@home.yes.us> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> >Scroll down to the bottom and change the screen color from AVS Dark
Theater
> >to AVS White and it will be easier on your eyes.
> >
>
> An active Usenet group is _alt.home-theater.misc_

Thanks! I looked on Usenet and all I found was the rather moribund:

_alt.home-theater_ which only had 10 or so posts a month. Sometimes the
hierarchies don't seem to make much sense. I'll go take a look now . . .

--
Bobby G.

"Bill Kearney" <wkearney-99@hot-mail-com> wrote in message
news:f7GdnVreC5p1eOrbnZ2dnUVZ_tqnnZ2d@speakeasy.net...
> > 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.
>
> By all means make sure the equipment is mounted such that you can get to
> both the front and the back without a lot of hassle. This means an open
> back to the rack or one that 'moves'. Middle Atlantic makes racks that
are
> designed to pivot out from the wall. These aren't cheap but they do the
> job. Or you can go with a rack on wheels and patch cables from wiring
> terminated on a nearby wall. As in, do not pull wire straight from inside
> the walls into a movable rack. Pull the in-wall wiring to a patch panel
and
> then use pluggable cabling from there to the rack. This will save you
from
> pulling a whole new wire again WHEN it gets frayed/broken due to movement
of
> the rack. Even if it's a fixed rack you still want to consider a patch
> panel to avoid breakage. It's a little less of an issue with a fixed
rack,
> just keep it in mind.

Good idea. I saw some wear and tear on cables that I had plugged into a
stack of equipment mounted on a turntable so I could access the back panels
easily. If I use Lewis' closet idea, I'm not sure how I'd bring the cable
in since almost all the vertical surfaces would be taken up by bi-fold
doors. Since I expect the room to be in the basement, I could make an
angled panel above the equipment that wouldn't be as hard to reach as a
horizontal one and that would take up a little less space than a vertical
one.

--
Bobby G.