Hello all,
I am hoping to get some suggestions on how to make my theater rack/closet look more presentable. Beside storing the av equipment, the closet also serves as a storage area (to the left of the av rack). As you will see in the pictures, the closet did have a door that I recently removed. Since there is no ventilation in the closet, the door always had to remain open, so it was pointless. Plus, I recently installed new equipment in there and thought this was the perfect opportunity to also make the area more presentable. I always loved the look of having those built in av racks into the wall, but unfortunately I don't have space for that since the only potential spot (where the door used to be) is the entrance into the closet... I am kind of out of ideas

What do you guys think? I am definitely open to changing out the old rack, and suggestions that can be diy projects would be great...

thanks!

oh, and that hdmi cable you see coming from the ceiling will be taken care of, I just rewired everything (and installed the new equipment) last week... And the light you see is on the inside right wall just fyi

Couldnt you just turn everything to the right and cut out the wall where that speaker is.... you would prob need some sort of fan for cooling but you would have nice access with the door and still be able to use everything with the door closed

what about putting some sort of louvres/vents for air flow in the old door and re-using?
unless you wanted to be done with door anyway.

I really don't want to reuse the door, plus to be honest, I like having the equipment exposed, just not in its current form :)

I can't have the rack to the right unfortunately because that is where the surround and sub sit (and thats the only place for the surround at least)... I really wish I could though

anymore suggestions?

A bizarre idea: there are several designs for racks where you can slide the rack back and forth -- the intent being that you can pull it out of an enclosure or closet in order to get to the back of the equipment.

So maybe you could do the opposite. Have the "slide out" position be flush with the door frame, put the door back in place with a hole for the equipment faces, and keep the rack slid out most of the time. You could also replace the doorknob with some sort of flush handle to give a cleaner look. Then when you need to get into the storage area, open the door and temporarily push the rack back so that you can get to the rest of the room. You could do the same thing with a wheeled rack, though getting it lined up with the door every time you use the storage space could be annoying.

For ventilation you could use a rack-mount fan or perhaps mount a vent/fan on that side wall above the speakers.

A bizarre idea: there are several designs for racks where you can slide the rack back and forth -- the intent being that you can pull it out of an enclosure or closet in order to get to the back of the equipment.

So maybe you could do the opposite. Have the "slide out" position be flush with the door frame, put the door back in place with a hole for the equipment faces, and keep the rack slid out most of the time. You could also replace the doorknob with some sort of flush handle to give a cleaner look. Then when you need to get into the storage area, open the door and temporarily push the rack back so that you can get to the rest of the room. You could do the same thing with a wheeled rack, though getting it lined up with the door every time you use the storage space could be annoying.

For ventilation you could use a rack-mount fan or perhaps mount a vent/fan on that side wall above the speakers.

WOW do you know whats funny? Thats exactly what I have been thinking about for the last two days, BUT here are the two major problems that I couldn't get passed... how in the world do I ventilate the closet? You mentioned a vent/fan, do you have a link as to what you mean? Is this expensive? Also, an even larger problem is that at the top you will see that the ceiling inside the closet is slanted (because this closet is under a staircase), and it comes out at the top of the door frame... SO, i would have to get a shorter rack, and modify the door frame/trim by lowering the top down to cover that area... This seems like a great deal of work...

Another reason that I didn't mention of why I want to change things up is that I need more space. I have a power conditioner and I do also want to put a gaming system. I would also like to avoid having to stack the equipment as it currently is...

You mentioned a vent/fan, do you have a link as to what you mean? Is this expensive?

If you go with a standard-sized rack, Middle Atlantic has several "ultra quiet" rackmount fan panels (http://www.middleatlantic.com/rackac/cooling/uqfp.htm) available. They're pricey, though; the high-end "designer" models with the nicest looks and finishes can run over $400. You can get much cheaper panels in the sub-$100 range and populate them with your own fans, but be careful not to use noisy fans.