# A/V Equipment inside or outside dedicated HT?



## hockeypucks (Aug 16, 2013)

I'm a few weeks away from starting construction on my dedicated HT in the basement of my home. I bought a fixer upper that unfortunately requires mundane items like a shower and kitchen etc. ha so I couldn't start the theater right away but I'm getting closer. There are tons of things I want to discuss and get input on but one thing I want to nail down before I start (or relatively soon) is the location of my equipment. 

I've never used any type of IR blasters but the idea is appealing to me. I have a raw space of 14' wide by 28' long with 7' ceilings for my room. I plan on keeping a bit for storage so the final size will be roughly 14x22 with a 135" screen and a 7.2 sound setup. I have all of my equipment but I'm not quite sure if I want it in the room or in another part of the basement. I have plenty of placement options but I was wondering what your thoughts were for either case. All I know for certain is that I don't want any equipment lights on or near the screen. I don't like to see anything other than the image on the screen.

I love the idea of a clean looking theater with no equipment showing but I'm wondering if anyone regrets having their equipment in a separate closet or room? I don't want to spend a lot of money on IR equipment either so I'd like it to be fairly simple. I was looking at the Harmony Ultimate Hub to utilize my phone and tablet but not sure how effective this is. I appreciate all feedback and thanks for listening.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

I put my equipment all in a closet in the rear of the room as I, like you, wanted to keep the screen wall as clean as possible. Now that I have been using it this way for a while, I would still do it the same way. The only thing I would have done differently is to give myself even more conduit to the front wall area for connections.

As far as running everything, have you considered iRule? If you have an iPad already, your cost would be around $350 and you would have the flexibility to create the interface however you wanted. That's the option I went with, and I really like the interface.


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## hockeypucks (Aug 16, 2013)

Thanks for the input. I want to make sure I have enough conduit so I've been thinking of ways to ensure I have it all in the right spots. I don't have an ipad or anything apple for that matter. I'm an Android guy  But I believe there are similar programs out there for me as well. Thanks again for responding, have a good one


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

hockeypucks said:


> Thanks for the input. I want to make sure I have enough conduit so I've been thinking of ways to ensure I have it all in the right spots. I don't have an ipad or anything apple for that matter. I'm an Android guy  But I believe there are similar programs out there for me as well. Thanks again for responding, have a good one


If memory serves, iRule supports android devices as well. I am pretty sure I put a few screen shots in my iRule thread of some of my initial screens, and I can try to get the revamped ones loaded up if you are interested.

As far as the conduit, if you do end up locating it elsewhere and make longer runs of conduit, make sure to include a point along the way where you can put pull boxes. I had a hard time pulling wires from the front to the back due to the number of turns in the conduit until I out a pull box in after a couple turns. It was much easier after I did that...


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## hockeypucks (Aug 16, 2013)

Fantastic idea! I was wondering how difficult it would be to pull wiring through the conduit. My design will allow me full access behind the screen wall so that should help. I'll look into the irule option as well. 

Just can't wait to get started ha. I have almost 800 Blu-ray titles and several I'm saving to watch in the theater. How did you wire your sub (s) with conduit? I was planning on leaving the moulding off while I position the subs and then hiding the wire with the moulding but I'd rather use conduit if possible. With the equipment outside the room using conduit would help tremendously here but since placing the subs requires a bit of trial and error I'm not sure where to leave myself some openings. 

Also, while running room correction will it be challenging to not have the receiver close by if it's outside the room?


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

One benefit of having it out of the room is there is no heat from the equipment in the HT. That may not seem to be a concern, but if you add a lot of room treatments your HT will be pretty well insulated. Heat from a DVR, an AVR, etc. can build up over the length of a movie.

A caution about IR blasters and CFL lighting - they do not like each other. Noise from the light itself will flood the IR receiver with the result that the remote's IR signal will ride on top of the noise and won't work properly. I have tried several brands, including some that claim to be CFL compatible. Flat screen TVs that use fluorescent lighting do the same thing. I have heard that plasmas do it also. A much better solution is a RF remote so that you can put its blasters in the same room as the equipment.


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## hockeypucks (Aug 16, 2013)

Very good to know thank you. Would led lighting have the same problems with IR? And you're right, heat from all the equipment would be much better outside the room.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

hockeypucks said:


> Fantastic idea! I was wondering how difficult it would be to pull wiring through the conduit. My design will allow me full access behind the screen wall so that should help. I'll look into the irule option as well.
> 
> Just can't wait to get started ha. I have almost 800 Blu-ray titles and several I'm saving to watch in the theater. How did you wire your sub (s) with conduit? I was planning on leaving the moulding off while I position the subs and then hiding the wire with the moulding but I'd rather use conduit if possible. With the equipment outside the room using conduit would help tremendously here but since placing the subs requires a bit of trial and error I'm not sure where to leave myself some openings.
> 
> Also, while running room correction will it be challenging to not have the receiver close by if it's outside the room?


The best suggestion I have - put connection points all over. I have 5 sub connection points throughout the room (4 of them allow for powered or passive subs) which gives me both flexibility in placement as well as allowing me to add multiple subs. I pretty much have a sub connection point in every corner of the room. Good thing I did too - I am up to 3 subs in the room now...

Fortunately, the line on the mic is fairly long. If it is not long enough, you can always get a connector that would allow you to add an additional wire although I am not sure how this would impact the microphone's performance.


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## hockeypucks (Aug 16, 2013)

Multiple connection points should work well. That's what I had in mind but wasn't sure what others have done regarding subwoofer lines. Well thanks for all the input, I believe I'm leaning towards keeping the equipment outside the room.


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## RJ2 (Mar 11, 2010)

I like the receivers dvrs media players and all ethernet racks in home theater, I do pipe to the downstairs 
for the rack of power amps , 5- QSC 1500's with there 2 speed fans, Tried it in the room , because they look nice and are more convenient but it got a little noisy, kinda resonated with the projector fans.


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

It is truly personal preference. We spend a lot of money on our equipment, there is nothing wrong with showing it off. I do agree it should not interfere with the projected image during the show. I have seen some very nice in-wall rack displays in the rear of theaters. I personally have a rear equipment room.


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## bamabum (Dec 7, 2012)

I like the designs that do both show off the rack as well as keep it out of the room.









Image Credit

Is there room in the basement outside the room in the entrance area to showcase?

Also, if you are going to put it on display, you will need to invest significantly more in costs/time to keep it on par with a finished theater. Do you have pretty equipment? Are they rack mountable? I have seen some bobo shelves / equipment that really detracted from the clean polished look of a theater due to costs/time of nice racks. Even wire management becomes something to be a concerned over when displaying a rack.


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## hockeypucks (Aug 16, 2013)

Cost is a definite issue so I won't be spending a lot on an a/v rack unfortunately. I have plenty of placement options both inside and outside my room but only 4 components as of now. I do like the idea of showing off the components but don't want my room getting too warm. It is in the basement though which is naturally cooler and the winters can be brutal in Michigan so extra heat may not be too bad. The Onkyo 818 is the only component that'll really get warm aside from the pj so I'm thinking I'll keep it at the rear of the room. Wiring will be easier inside the room but I'll have a better idea once the walls are framed. Thank you all for the input.


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## bamabum (Dec 7, 2012)

You can definitely save money on wiring having it in the room.

If you are going to game in there, dont forget the HDMI cable/outlet to the front of the room if you have an xbox or wii that has the motion sensor.


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## hockeypucks (Aug 16, 2013)

Yeah I plan on having hdmi readily accessible for things like that even though I don't game with consoles anymore. Strictly pc gamer now but can't hurt to have those available.


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