# HT Cabinet Setup. Wire routeing, Power and Cooling.



## dabusabus1 (Aug 5, 2012)

Hi All,

I have a cabinet in my family room that I would like to store my A/V components in. As of right now there is no cooling, no wiring, and no power. I am looking for some recommendations on how I should cool the cabinet and run the wiring. My basement is unfinished so I plan to run the wires as needed through the basement. Beneath the bottom shelf is the sub floor so I will have to drill through that for any air flow, I assume. I can't vent out the back of the cabinet because the back faces the kitchen area.I have attached pictures of the cabinet and the mock up of A/V components I'll store there as best I could. If you need any more details please feel free to ask. 

Edit:

For some reason I can't embed the pictures so I posted them as links. Sorry for the inconvenience.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

I fixed the images for you so that they showed up. :T Sometimes it takes a little bit after your fifth post.

Have you thought about doing some type of ducting with fans for ventilation? I would think a duct run from the top to a hole with a fan blowing out on one side and a fan blowing in from below on the other side. :huh:

Do you plan on leaving the doors closed when you use the equipment? If not I wouldn't worry about it.


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## dabusabus1 (Aug 5, 2012)

Mechman thanks for the quick reply and fixing the pictures. I do plan on leaving the doors closed when I use the equipment. I did think about some type of ducting, but I cant have any holes anywhere except for the bottom and right side of the cabinet. The cabinet is view-able from the back and the side leading into the family room. I am concerned about condensation if I use some type of ducting and don't do it right way.


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

How deep is the cabinet ?
I built my cabinet 22" deep and I would not want it any smaller.
Since you have access to it through the basement you can cool it with fans located below the floor (silent in the living room).
I would use three input ducts (one for each level) 3 inches should be fine with forced air flow.
The exhaust can be combined, on the top level it needs to be no smaller than the inlet, the second level needs to be 1" bigger than the inlet, and the bottom level needs to be 2" bigger than the inlet.
Life will be easier if you mount the shelves on high quality ball bearing slides and make sure ALL of the cables have enough slack you can pull the shelf out.
Decide what kind of remote you are going to use and plan / install the IR repeaters accordingly.
I have no idea how robust the Bluetooth on the PS3 is for the controllers, might check to see if it works through the closed doors before you get to far along in the project.


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## dabusabus1 (Aug 5, 2012)

chashint said:


> How deep is the cabinet ?
> I built my cabinet 22" deep and I would not want it any smaller.
> Since you have access to it through the basement you can cool it with fans located below the floor (silent in the living room).
> I would use three input ducts (one for each level) 3 inches should be fine with forced air flow.
> ...


The cabinet is about 16 inches deep. I am going to test things out this weekend. I was thinking of replacing the shelving with vented shelving.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

I like chashint's idea about venting from underneath - would completely remove any fan noise as well as venting to an area that most people hardly use.


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

@ 16 inches deep I don't think you can put an AVR in the cabinet.


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