[Uther]

This is the dilemma I face in planning my theater room. Do I place the component shelves on the front wall with the screen, which is the traditional location, or on the rear wall in order to keep my cable runs shorter? I guess the biggest concern that I have is if putting the components on the rear wall is going to make use of the remote painful, otherwise, this seems like the ideal location.


Anyone else struggled with this or have any lessons learned?

 

[ebr]

Rear.


Get the components and their lights away from the screen. Especially, if you're talking front projection.


As far as IR is concerned, again if you are talking front projection, that big, flat surface in front makes a great reflector for IR signals. But, putting in a remote receiver is not hard either (and recommended). Run an extra cat5 cable from the equipment area to the front of the room to use as an IR extender if you need it.

 

[CptnRandy]

Another room! Get it out of there all together. One of the things I really like about the design DE did for me was to get the equipment room completely out of the theater space. It's still easily accessible, but when you're in the theater you don't see ANY technology.


Randy

 

[Golden Cuboid]

I agree, another room but if thats not possible then go for the rear because like ebr said it gets the cool but distracting lights away from the screen.

 

[Uther]

Interesting idea. I do actually have a walk-in closet with attic access behind connected to the theater room .

Quote:

Run an extra cat5 cable from the equipment area to the front of the room to use as an IR extender if you need it.

When you say cat5, that is the same as ethernet/network cable, right?

 

[Larry Fine]

Check out my closet pix in my link below.


Yes, CAT-5 = ethernet.

 

[patrickwebb]

Yes, I am going to do equipment in back of new basement. Multicolored LEDs are cool to look at for about 10 minutes, then they become annoying. You want to be focused on the picture.

 

[boykster]

I wrested with this as well....I have an equipment room (network servers, wiring etc) right next to my HT and wanted to mount the rack in wall there, with a solid door, but wasn't able to due to several issues. Back wall wasn't available, as it's an exterior wall, and I wanted the flush in look.


What I ended up doing was putting doors in my proscenium (false front wall) and recessing the rack in there. I use an IR repeater system to control the equipment.


Blinky lights are cool, but are very distracting.


Cheers,


Rich

 

[Uther]

Any recommendations on an IR repeater or remote receiver and where I can find them? I cannot imagine they are extremely expensive, but in the world of HT, you never know...

 

[boykster]

expect to spend as little as $30-$50, or as much as you'd like (Xantech comes to mind...very reliable but can get pricey).


I use a slinke ( www.nirvis.com ) for all of my IR, but only because I already had it (for controlling my sony cd jukeboxes). I wouldn't buy one of these simply for it's IR control.


There are many options, check out smarthome.com for some ideas....


Cheers,


Rich

 

[thebland]

My equipment is in the back of the room (see pix below) and it worked out nice.


The advantage is that the lights from the equipment aree not distracting and you can see the displays if needed (e.g. volume level, source, etc) if need be.


In a seperate room would be my second choice. Not up front though.

 

[Jim Mc]

Definately the back of the room.


Niles is another maker of repeators. Check out Smarthome or PartsExpress.

 

[Uther]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I think I am going to build the equipment rack and DVD/CD shelvels into the closet - especially since the wife loved that idea. Hey, any amount of agreement on the theater room is a good thing, right?


(BTW, I think I solved the IR repeater problem as well - I am going to pick up the Pronto TSU3000 with the RF extender base)

 

[ebr]

That's a good plan. Just make sure you plan for adequate ventilation for the equipment.

 

[Uther]

I will. By placing the equipment in the closet, I can leave the door open so it will still receive the A/C. Additionally, someone on here mentioned that they built a standard floor fan into their cabinet, which also sounds like a good idea to me. It should not be too hard to disassemble the switch and flush mount it on the outside of the cabinet. Actually, I could probably buy an IR on/off switch and control the fan with the TSU 3000 .

 

[Texas Aggie]

How do those rf extenders work?


Does it work like a crestron system i.e. convert the RF to IR at the equipment location?


GigEm


Greg

 

[Uther]

Quote:

Does it work like a crestron system i.e. convert the RF to IR at the equipment location?

As far as I have read, yes. The RF signal is received by something that looks identical to a junction box, in fact, it may even still be called a junction box, and then has an IR emitter that you adhere over the IR receiver on the device.

 

[kcn823]

I'm also thinking about putting my components inside a closet. Can some recommend a good a/v rack to use inside a closet.

 

[patrickwebb]

If its going to be inside a closet, why not build your own? You can get pretty fancy, or really simple with only a few tools.