Okay, so I FINALLY got my new equipment rack 99% set up in my new house, with thanks to help from the Parasound guys! (I couldn't find my HRA-4u Halo C1 rackmount ears after my move, for one thing) First, the pic of the equipment rack itself. Wish I could post larger, more high resolution pics.
My new home has what I've always wanted--a small central electronics room for the entire house. You don't see to the side and behind the rack, I have wall panels that house security, phone, internet, audio, and video distribution panels. This equipment rack houses all gear that can be accessed from any room in the house, through Elan A/V distribution equipment and control panels. So, for example, if you're watching a movie in the living room and someone calls, it will mute the audio and ring the phone over the speakers. You pause the movie, pick up the phone, and talk. (you can also do stuff like put the person on hold and they'll listen to a radio station or CD that you select, or page somebody else in the house over the phone) After you're done talking, if you're tired, you can go into the bedroom, plop down on the bed, and resume the same movie you were just watching, right where it left off. Cool stuff. You don't have any A/V gear taking up room around the house, and everything is centrally located right in one place. No longer do I have to walk around the house, asking, "Who took the Toy Story DVD, and where is it?" Now it stays in the room, and can be watched from anywhere.
Okay, on the left stack, starting at the top:
- Cheap TV currently used as a monitor for the equipment room. (this will be improved)
- Just to the right of the TV are two "THX Robot" dolls, not easily seen in the pic as some of my DVD shelves are peeking up from behind the rack.
- Toshiba HD-A35 HD-DVD player. (I'll keep this one for a while)
- Standard CD changer for home audio use
- Standard SD-DVD changer for home video use
- Parasound Halo D3 universal DVD player, mostly for critical audio listening of CD, SACD, and DVD-A
- Behringer Feedback Destroyer, a parametric equalizer for subwoofers, used for the home theater room
- Parasound Halo T3 radio tuner, also used for home audio distribution
- Parasound Zhd HDMI switcher and Zbreeze cooling fan
- Two satellite receivers (soon to be replaced with new satellite HD-DVR's) One for me, one for my wife, so we can record and watch TV on our own DVR's, then access them from anywhere in the house
- Below that is the various Elan equipment for the home A/V distribution, communications control, and a cooling fan
- TrippLite power conditioner and distribution
On the right side is mostly the "power" and "control" of the systems:
- Sitting on top of the rack is my PS3, for various reasons. You can't see it very well because of some of my DVD shelves are peeking up behind the rack. (note that in this kind of setup, you can play PS3 in any room in the house! Even play multiplayer from different rooms, although it's more fun being together)
- Denon AVR-4802 receiver, used to power the living room surround setup on the upper floor
- Denon 2808ci receiver with HDMI 1.3 audio decoding. I really only bought this to use as an outboard HDMI audio decoder for the theater. (more on this soon in the Club Parasound subforum)
- Two Parasound Zbreeze cooling fans (gotta keep this stack ventilated!!!)
- Parasound Halo C1 home theater pre/pro controller (powering the theater)
- Parasound Halo A51, 5-channel amp (powering the theater)
- Parasound Halo A21, 5-channel amp (powering the theater)
- Old S-VHS VCR, kept around for the kids and as a clock.
- Another Elan Zfan cooling fan
- Another TrippLite power conditioner and distribution
And hey, you know how I like the groovy pictures of equipment racks in the dark!!...
My new home has what I've always wanted--a small central electronics room for the entire house. You don't see to the side and behind the rack, I have wall panels that house security, phone, internet, audio, and video distribution panels. This equipment rack houses all gear that can be accessed from any room in the house, through Elan A/V distribution equipment and control panels. So, for example, if you're watching a movie in the living room and someone calls, it will mute the audio and ring the phone over the speakers. You pause the movie, pick up the phone, and talk. (you can also do stuff like put the person on hold and they'll listen to a radio station or CD that you select, or page somebody else in the house over the phone) After you're done talking, if you're tired, you can go into the bedroom, plop down on the bed, and resume the same movie you were just watching, right where it left off. Cool stuff. You don't have any A/V gear taking up room around the house, and everything is centrally located right in one place. No longer do I have to walk around the house, asking, "Who took the Toy Story DVD, and where is it?" Now it stays in the room, and can be watched from anywhere.
Okay, on the left stack, starting at the top:
- Cheap TV currently used as a monitor for the equipment room. (this will be improved)
- Just to the right of the TV are two "THX Robot" dolls, not easily seen in the pic as some of my DVD shelves are peeking up from behind the rack.
- Toshiba HD-A35 HD-DVD player. (I'll keep this one for a while)
- Standard CD changer for home audio use
- Standard SD-DVD changer for home video use
- Parasound Halo D3 universal DVD player, mostly for critical audio listening of CD, SACD, and DVD-A
- Behringer Feedback Destroyer, a parametric equalizer for subwoofers, used for the home theater room
- Parasound Halo T3 radio tuner, also used for home audio distribution
- Parasound Zhd HDMI switcher and Zbreeze cooling fan
- Two satellite receivers (soon to be replaced with new satellite HD-DVR's) One for me, one for my wife, so we can record and watch TV on our own DVR's, then access them from anywhere in the house
- Below that is the various Elan equipment for the home A/V distribution, communications control, and a cooling fan
- TrippLite power conditioner and distribution
On the right side is mostly the "power" and "control" of the systems:
- Sitting on top of the rack is my PS3, for various reasons. You can't see it very well because of some of my DVD shelves are peeking up behind the rack. (note that in this kind of setup, you can play PS3 in any room in the house! Even play multiplayer from different rooms, although it's more fun being together)
- Denon AVR-4802 receiver, used to power the living room surround setup on the upper floor
- Denon 2808ci receiver with HDMI 1.3 audio decoding. I really only bought this to use as an outboard HDMI audio decoder for the theater. (more on this soon in the Club Parasound subforum)
- Two Parasound Zbreeze cooling fans (gotta keep this stack ventilated!!!)
- Parasound Halo C1 home theater pre/pro controller (powering the theater)
- Parasound Halo A51, 5-channel amp (powering the theater)
- Parasound Halo A21, 5-channel amp (powering the theater)
- Old S-VHS VCR, kept around for the kids and as a clock.
- Another Elan Zfan cooling fan
- Another TrippLite power conditioner and distribution
And hey, you know how I like the groovy pictures of equipment racks in the dark!!...
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