I'm building my theater from scratch in my basement and I'm stuck on what to do for an AV rack. Has anyone built one or found somewhere that offers a nice kit? I am looking for the racks that are mounted flush in a wall with the metal face plates. Please let me know if you can point me in the right direction. I'm looking to spend about $200-$300 if possible. Thanks!

If you can't find it here, you don't need it.....Have FUN......

http://www.middleatlantic.com/

I agree with heli001: Middle Atlantic is the brand of rack we installed in our home theater. Our "ERK" model is a bit out of your mentioned budget, but there are many more-affordable configurations that should fit your needs.

We ordered ours through: Markertek who freighted it to our house. Markertek also has other brands of racks as well. Best of luck! -Glenn

 there's nothing particluarly special about these racks/cabinets. go find a typical server rack on your local craigslist for around $100 and paint it whichever color you wish. shelves get a bit more expensive, especially if you have really heavy gear, but many options exist from places like monoprice - or even from the person you purchase your clist rack off of.

The problem with server racks is;

They are not threaded for 10-24 screws which is the standard for the Audio/Video rack industry.

10-24 cage nuts immediately remove that problem ;)

i just don't want the guy to think that there's something magical about AV racks and shelves and feel forced into the price tag they garner. server racks and shelves are just as usable - i picked up a bunch of APC rails for free and built my own full-depth shelves out of 3/4" mdf. a couple 2-post shelves for my odds and ends stuff, and some cage nuts for the items with rack mount ears, and everything is nice and tidy. once I pull everything apart and paint, I'll have about $100 invested in a rack system that is no less capable than "AV racks".

or just buy the rack rails and build cabinet yourself. Easy beasy.

That's kinda what i did. The rack rails are readily available in any length you want up to eight feet and relatively cheap if you can cut them yourself.....

.. and whatever you do, resist the urge to crank in the screws with a drill. I see stripped threads way too often. use the IndyCar mechanics trick of starting the screw gently BACKWARDS until you hear the threads click into place, then clockwise to tighten. you can ruin a good rack in a hurry if you're not careful. Can find rack parts (and Anvil cases) at a place in GA called AV FOR SALE, they have a great eBay presence and show great photos and grade fairly. Sometimes you can find some real steals there. i got a whole crateload of drawers and shelves once for $100.

Would something like this work

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pair-24-Space-24U-Full-Hole-Rack-Rail-EIA-19-Mount-/220514449904?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3357af79f0

I think something like that would work. So if I want to have 2-3 amps, a ps3, an oppo, a preamp/processor, a cable box.... How many U do I need? Here is another issue I have. Right behind my rack is where my heating and air is for the house. It might be loud if I don't have the equipment enclosed somehow. Any suggestions on this. I know I can just buy those rack rails and shelves... But I'm worried about the noise from furnace.

thaddeussmith:

10-24 cage nuts immediately remove that problem ;)

i just don't want the guy to think that there's something magical about AV racks and shelves and feel forced into the price tag they garner. server racks and shelves are just as usable - i picked up a bunch of APC rails for free and built my own full-depth shelves out of 3/4" mdf. a couple 2-post shelves for my odds and ends stuff, and some cage nuts for the items with rack mount ears, and everything is nice and tidy. once I pull everything apart and paint, I'll have about $100 invested in a rack system that is no less capable than "AV racks".

Do you have any pics?? Thanks, Nate

 i still need to re-install the cabinet sides, but don't plan on putting the front/rear doors back on. I'll also be painting everything black at some point. It's a big cabinet in a small room, so getting easy full pictures wasn't really possible - this should give you an idea though.