[atlantar6]

I have a built an Audio/Equipment rack from 3/4" plywood in my HT that will go into a closet. Currently it's all sealed and I am planning on cutting a panel in the back to access the connections, one in the bottom for venting, and one it the top to put a fan in to suck fresh air from the bottom. It will be covered by 2 swing out cabinet doors in the front.


I just realized that I'm doing double drywall, green glue, acoustic caulking, and sealing all outlets, etc. Now I'm cutting this big hole in the cabinet with only 2 maple doors (not airtight) covering it!


Any suggestions? I really want to keep the cabinet in the room to change DVD's, etc. Thanks all!

 

[bpape]

You can vent directly into the room at the top and get air in from the bottom - also inside the room. It should be fine. That takes care of the hard part. You'll want to build some rigid ducts for this out of ductboard. If you are covering the walls with GOM or similar, you'll never know they're there. If you're not, you'll have to make some sort of grille to make it look nice.


As for the door in the back, lay an edge all around the opening and weatherstrip it so that when the door closes, it seals the cabinet. While it doesn't have the mass of the drywall, it will still keep a large air leak from occuring.

 

[PAP]

All I can tell you is that this is one of the reasons I decided to move my entire equipment rack into an adjacent room. Heat build-up in an enclosed rack is difficult to manage without fans (i.e. noise!).

 

[atlantar6]

I've actually found a really quiet fan and behind closed doors you won't be able to hear it. The bigger problem is sound escaping OUT the theatre through the venting/holes.

 

[PAP]

That's the point - you have to have the fan venting back into your room. If you have it going out, you've punched a hole in your envelope.


To me it makes no sense to spend a couple thousand bucks on sound containment and then punch several large holes. Now the HVAC I had to live with.


If you do go with fans, I'd use a muffler like system with several turns enclosed and insulated.

 

[Tedd]

An alternative would be to use an AVtrak rack, or build something similar, where the rack pulls out and swivels 180 degrees for access to the rear. ( www.avrak.com ).


As for ventilation, why not use a punched metal panel as the center panel of the rack doors? And for the exhaust fan, why not locate it further down the exhaust piping?


My answer to heat was to eliminate the amplifiers from the AV rack completely.