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Show me your RACK - Page 3

post #61 of 1757
5/14/07 at 9:04pm
Does anyone know of a DIY thread on how to build an inwall rack using just rack rails instead of buying the full rack? I will have access to the rear of the rack. Used the search and came up with alot of people that had done this but none showing or explainging how they did it.
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post #62 of 1757
5/15/07 at 4:42am
Hello-

I am just setting up my rack and I really like the finished look of the custom face plates for non-rack mount equipment. I will spend the $$ to buy the $100+ for each of my pieces but I really started thinking about it when it came to the cable box. I'll have two and of course these things get changed out sometimes fairly quickly. Is there a generic shelf with a hinged door that will actually just hide the cable box as I won't need a line of sight to the box for IR?

Thanks,
T.Wells
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post #63 of 1757
5/15/07 at 7:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sauwill View Post

Does anyone know of a DIY thread on how to build an inwall rack using just rack rails instead of buying the full rack? I will have access to the rear of the rack. Used the search and came up with alot of people that had done this but none showing or explainging how they did it.

My upstairs rack is constructed this way. I am doing another one shortly in my Theater, so I will post a DIY thread on this type of application as soon as I'm done building it. It's extremely simple.
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post #64 of 1757
5/15/07 at 7:14pm
Thanks Max! Look forward to seeing it!
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post #65 of 1757
5/15/07 at 7:59pm
i want to somehow make a DIY rotating rack, as i wont have rear access to my rack and would rather not spend over $1000 on a prefabbed one. Has anybody pulled this off yet?
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post #66 of 1757
5/16/07 at 6:48am
Here's the rack I welded up myself out of steel I had leftover from another project. Yeah it's not quite level, but the components don't know that and the price was right (free).

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post #67 of 1757
5/16/07 at 4:29pm
Max, can't wait to see that DIY post. So hurry it up! Just kidding.

Here is what I have come up with using Rack Tools

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post #68 of 1757
5/29/07 at 9:05am
Here is a picture of the Middle Atlantic rack I have installed in the back of my theater:





Equipment:

Motorola HD Cable box
Oppo 981 DVD
Toshiba XA-2 HD-DVD
Outlaw 990 Processor
Outlaw 7125 Amp
Xbox-360
(2) Triad Silver Sub Amps (250W)

I apologize for the dark image. The whole theater is finished in black and blue GOM so it's really hard to get a good photo.

I also have a larger MA rack built into a custom entertainment center around the corner that I'll try and get a few photos of.

Regards,

Billmac
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post #69 of 1757
6/4/07 at 4:50pm
Finally got a couple of pictures of my other Middle Atlantic Rack around the corner from my Home Theater. This rack was built into a custom entertainment center wall unit during the basement project and houses most of my old equipment. It gives the kid a place to watch TV, movies and play their video games. The doors are on custom hinges so they can slide into the sides of the rack while the equipment is in use.




Equipment:

5 way video switch
Motorola HD Cable box
NHT Sub Amp
Polk XM radio receiver
Pioneer DVD Player
Pioneer A/V Receiver
Xbox
Playstaion2
Dell 42" Plasma





The MA rack is a 78" SLIM-5 that goes all the way down to the base.




I hope that gives you some more ideas of what you can do.

Regards,

Billmac
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post #70 of 1757
6/9/07 at 8:25am
Here is my rack in my electronics bay room. Very industrial but to get to the wires is a huge effort. I have to walk all the way around to the other side of the rack! Oh those three steps!

Powder coated welded steel and formica covered shelves.

Also pics of theater build

All pics here
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post #71 of 1757
6/10/07 at 7:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmackrell View Post

Here is a picture of the Middle Atlantic rack I have installed in the back of my theater:




Equipment:

Motorola HD Cable box
Oppo 981 DVD
Toshiba XA-2 HD-DVD
Outlaw 990 Processor
Outlaw 7125 Amp
Xbox-360
(2) Triad Silver Sub Amps (250W)

I apologize for the dark image. The whole theater is finished in black and blue GOM so it's really hard to get a good photo.

I also have a larger MA rack built into a custom entertainment center around the corner that I'll try and get a few photos of.

Regards,

Billmac

Looks like the same rack I have.

How do you like the custom face plates? I was thinking about getting them for my PS3 & XBOX.

Splotto
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post #72 of 1757
6/10/07 at 8:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splotto View Post

Looks like the same rack I have.

How do you like the custom face plates? I was thinking about getting them for my PS3 & XBOX.

Splotto

Splotto,

I like the custom MA face plates. They are a little expensive but you end up with a nice clean look. I will say that the quality control leaves a little to be desired on newer components but as products have been on the market for a while they tighten or adjust the laser cut. For instance, I ordered an Outlaw 7125, 7 channel amp when they first came out and the first faceplate I received didn't account for the rubber feet so it didn't fit, eventually they got it right. I also pre-ordered a Toshiba XA2 HD-DVD player and the faceplate I received was not cut properly to account for the front control panel door to swing open. My solution was to remove the door. The two triad sub amp faceplates are a little bit off also. My advice would be to wait until a product has been on the market for at least 6 months before purchasing custom face plates from MA.

For more main stream a/v and entertainment components like Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2 they fit and look great.

I'm not sure how the PS3 would fit into a rack mount though. I originally looked at getting one but with the curved design and side ports I didn't think it would be that functional in the rack.

I've bought all my Middle Atlantic custom rack mounted shelves from Chris at StayOnline.com. They've been very responsive each time I purchased and took care of the most of the problems I had. I went with them based on recommendations from others here on AVS.

Contact info:

Chris Knout
Rack/Premise Wiring Sales Mgr.

www.Stayonline.com
8121 Brownleigh Drive
Raleigh, NC
27617
Fax: 919-510-5466
Phone: 1-888-346-4688 ext:118
Chris@stayonline.com
Good Luck,

Regards,

BillMac
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post #73 of 1757
6/10/07 at 9:52am
A current work in progress..







To get to the "back of the rack", I bring the tracks in from the garage and mount them to front of the rack (first moving one chair out of the way), and then slide everything out. It is not as convenient as other solutions, but it only takes 5 minutes. The theory is that once I'm done, I won't be doing it that often. We'll see about that...

And, yes, I know I have some wire management issues to deal with.
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post #74 of 1757
6/10/07 at 12:28pm
That's a pretty sweet door...did you build that yourself?
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post #75 of 1757
6/10/07 at 7:25pm
Mach1_8,

No, the door was done by our cabinet maker so it would match the rest of the house. I had the glass done at a local shop and mounted it in the opening. The fabric behind the window is taped on there now - a more permanent mount is on the "todo" list.

When the fan is active, there is quite the breeze through the hole in the glass. We'll see how that works.

James
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post #76 of 1757
6/11/07 at 5:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmackrell View Post

Splotto,

I like the custom MA face plates. They are a little expensive but you end up with a nice clean look. I will say that the quality control leaves a little to be desired on newer components but as products have been on the market for a while they tighten or adjust the laser cut. For instance, I ordered an Outlaw 7125, 7 channel amp when they first came out and the first faceplate I received didn't account for the rubber feet so it didn't fit, eventually they got it right. I also pre-ordered a Toshiba XA2 HD-DVD player and the faceplate I received was not cut properly to account for the front control panel door to swing open. My solution was to remove the door. The two triad sub amp faceplates are a little bit off also. My advice would be to wait until a product has been on the market for at least 6 months before purchasing custom face plates from MA.

For more main stream a/v and entertainment components like Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2 they fit and look great.

I'm not sure how the PS3 would fit into a rack mount though. I originally looked at getting one but with the curved design and side ports I didn't think it would be that functional in the rack.

I've bought all my Middle Atlantic custom rack mounted shelves from Chris at StayOnline.com. They've been very responsive each time I purchased and took care of the most of the problems I had. I went with them based on recommendations from others here on AVS.

Contact info:

Chris Knout
Rack/Premise Wiring Sales Mgr.

www.Stayonline.com
8121 Brownleigh Drive
Raleigh, NC
27617
Fax: 919-510-5466
Phone: 1-888-346-4688 ext:118
Chris@stayonline.com
Good Luck,

Regards,

BillMac

Bill:

Thanks for the feedback. I do like the look. I have almost recreated the same look by using the 1U spacers in combo with the 3U shelves. It gives the device room to breath but it hides the gap to the viewer. I also purchased the rack top with the auto fans - it keeps it pretty cool.

I can see your point with the PS3. It doesn't lend itself well to a plate.

Overall I couldn't be happier with the MA rack.

Splotto
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post #77 of 1757
6/11/07 at 10:49am
I'm still in the design stage for my closet. My room is fairly small (12' x 16') and I'll have no access to the rear of the equipment other than what I create, so I'm currently planning on building a series of pull-out shelves for my gear in order to avoid having a huge closet in the back of my theater. However, I want to also try and create that custom faceplate look, so it gets a bit tricky to say the least. A pull-out, rotating rack would be the cat's meow, but unfortunately I just don't have the budget. I'll post pics when I finally get things built.
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post #78 of 1757
6/11/07 at 3:16pm
I bought a couple of Middle Atlantic vertical power strips last month for my two racks but long equipment power cables are a pain to wrap up when the strip is right next to the component. I just got an email from MA announcing some new products and these caught my eye:



Here's a link to the product page: Short IEC Power Cords

Thought some of you that are building out your racks would be interested.

Regards,

billmac
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post #79 of 1757
6/11/07 at 3:20pm
Here is what I have for a rack. It is a retrofitted old rack I had to fit under my stairs into my theatre.


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post #80 of 1757
6/28/07 at 12:37pm
Max,

Is your rack made up of a full Middle Atlantic rack, or, is it just the rack rails? I want to create my own rack using their rails (can't afford the metal ones).

More detailed pics?

Thanks
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post #81 of 1757
6/28/07 at 12:58pm
Here is mine. Still in construction so I need to dress the back at completion. Because it is an AXS rotating rack, I tried to keep a lot of stuff on the back of the rack which has made cabeling a bit harder. Plus I can't use those nifty rail mount power strips and power supplies.

I'm 6'2" and 300lbs and I can climb in to the closet space back there to tinker with some of the network equipment and my raid box back there on a shelf.








And here is all teh equipment in and attached to the rack (I'm using the front and the back rails)

Equipment list for this room:

-Middle Atlantic Rotating Rack System with 2 high speed fans
-Custom Rack shelves for each component
-Onkyo TX-NR1000 receiver
-PureAV 1500VA UPS
-Global Cache gc-100-18
-Modded XBOX used as XBMC media server
-XBOX 360 and HDDVD for 360
-Oppo 970H Upscaling DVD
-Custom Built HTPC using SilverTek LCM18 enclosure with 7" LCD
-2 - Series 3 Tivos with Dual Cablecards
-VideoStorm 8x4 HDTV Switch with Digital HDMI board
-Middle Atlantic Surge Suppressor with Light
-TV One HDTV to SD scaler for one output to go to analog TVs
-2 stereo Modulators from CElabs
-Linksys 16port Gigabit Switch (drives XBOX, 360, Tivos, HTPC, NetTune on receiver, Global Cache ...)
-2 - External SATA drives with 750gb storage attached to the 2 Tivos
-HD Signal Scaler to send video to 7" LCD on HTPC (all video sources can be displayed on the screen)
-Xantech IR Router
-Audio Authority HDTV over CAT5 system
-DVI Gear - DVI 1x4 splitter to push the HDCP compliant HDMI output to 2 other HDTVs besides the projector.
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post #82 of 1757
6/28/07 at 12:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splotto View Post

Bill:

I can see your point with the PS3. It doesn't lend itself well to a plate.

Overall I couldn't be happier with the MA rack.

Splotto

Another user got the custom plate for the PS3. It protrudes 1.75" (I asked via PM). Nice guy, nice rack:

Quote:
Originally Posted by enchntr View Post

Here's mine in my rack



As far as the whole rack, here's the image:



http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...07#post9587207
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post #83 of 1757
6/28/07 at 1:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Muadi View Post

Max,

Is your rack made up of a full Middle Atlantic rack, or, is it just the rack rails? I want to create my own rack using their rails (can't afford the metal ones).

More detailed pics?

Thanks

Mine is rails (in progress). Can require creative thinking if you want to add a mid-atlantic door to it, and your rack is more than 20 spaces (see my build thread starting around post #230).

It is pretty straight-forward, just space your opening and screw the rails in securely.





EDIT - Finished pics:



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post #84 of 1757
6/29/07 at 4:59am
Very nice. Thanks for the pics.

I'm setting up my theater with no equipment in the room it self. It is placed in a closet outside the room (back theater wall). I constructed a standard closet with two sets of bi-fold doors. My inital plan was to construct either a single or a dual rack. This rack would be free standing (maybe on casters for better rear access).

Thoughts on stability worry me a bit. I have not yet worked with any racks, and most of you all have. I'll have 4-5 amps, plus another 5-6 components.

I planned on using simple 2x4 construction. Vertical board, support leg on the ground bolted to the vertical board, and a 60 degree 2x4 from the base of the bottom board up to the back side if the vertical board. I'd have 2 or 3 of these (making a single or a dual) tied together with horizontal bracing between them.

Any thoughts on this? $600 plus shipping is a lot of cash for me atm. I saw some cheaper racks by Middle Atlantic, but they only have a load capacity of 400 lbs. --- Should I build or buy?
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post #85 of 1757
6/29/07 at 6:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigDvette View Post

Here is mine. Still in construction so I need to dress the back at completion. Because it is an AXS rotating rack, I tried to keep a lot of stuff on the back of the rack which has made cabeling a bit harder. Plus I can't use those nifty rail mount power strips and power supplies.

I'm 6'2" and 300lbs and I can climb in to the closet space back there to tinker with some of the network equipment and my raid box back there on a shelf.






Man that rack is killer!!! I like the paint job too as it looks very similar to mine. I went with a more conservative built in rack that looks fairly clean.

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post #86 of 1757
10/31/07 at 10:41am
[quote=swifty7;10527924]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Sonneborn View Post

Here are a couple:





I love this rack the best! SPECIALLY THE BLONDE ONE SHE'S ANGELIC


Every time I review this thread for rack ideas, I cant help but stop and stare at these racks. If I am not careful, I will be building boobies on my wall instead of a system rack!
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post #87 of 1757
11/3/07 at 10:33pm
Not mine personally, but a customers... Recessed at the back of the living room, near the entrance to the master B/R - houses cable box, monster power, Onkyo A/V receiver for the living room and zone2 office, CELabs HD distributor, RTI remote control processor and RF, DVD holder (cheesy?) and an Onkyo amp for the whole-house audio and backyard audio.

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post #88 of 1757
11/5/07 at 1:22pm
Rack w/Smoked Glass Door
LL
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post #89 of 1757
11/5/07 at 10:00pm
Here is a few pics of a rack I just finished up. Its a MA AXS sliding rack



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post #90 of 1757
11/9/07 at 11:26pm
Nice racks, But I think I am missing something. I am not seeing the backs closed off on many. And I am not seeing any fans for cooling. I know my rack is really hot and Had problems with my computer shutting off so I had to remove the back for now untill I can install some type of cooling solution.
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