I was going to build a projection booth, but then the room seemed too small.

Next idea was corner closets, but we were concerned about the acoustics.

So, we decided on under the bench in the rear, which will have an access panel on top.

Here's the line of thinking:

1) equipment rack wound be around $1000.
2) while I will access the rack from time to time, its ok if the equipment is a little tricky to work with
3) there aren't that many pieces of gear (1 5 channel amp, 1 2 channel amp, 1 sub amp, processor, dvd player, dvr, eq)
4) having two "stacks" of gear under the bench means cooling a lot easier than a tall stack of gear in a small enclosure
5) only the sub amp has a fan, and I may switch that to something else if its too loud, or put it behind the screen if the sub ends up there

Thoughts?

Same question posted in my construction thread (which people don't seem to be reading):

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12016317#post12016317

Thoughts:

Think about how to do an exhaust vent out of the HT for the equipment. Like a silent bathroom fan and some ducts. Use an attic fan line voltage thermostat to control the fan.

I'm not sure how practical putting the DVD player under there will be for loading dvds.

You will certainly need a very good universal remote system to make this setup work right.