Making the best of your surroundings :)

[onehothemi]

Well, times are rough and money is tight, finishing college and waiting on the police academy class to begin, I've moved into my grandfather's house to finish my education and save on rent. I've moved all my equipment into my new surroundings and set things up the best I can to be able to enjoy my equipment but I need some suggestions and help with my dilemma. I've attached a picture of my modest setup, and my questions are below.





I've changed out all the electric outlets and properly grounded them, changed the light switch to a Lutron Maestro IR dimming unit, and reprogramed everything into my Harmony remote, mounted my speakers, calibrated the amp, and gotten settled in. However, I need help and suggestions! I want to make the best of my environment.

My primary concern is my new receiver, Onkyo TX-SR606. I don't have a stacking solution, rack and so on, and the amp, scientific atlanta 8300HD, BDP-S300, PS3, and XBR5 produce ALOT of heat, most likely enought to heat the room but anyway. I am curently using an Antec laptop cooler ( http://www.antec.com/usa/productDeta...an=us&id=75004 ) to cool my amp off, but it is very noisy and very inefficient. Luckily it is powered by USB and the 8300HD unit has a front usb port for accessories, and it passes power, so right now the cooler is being run off of that, but I need alternate cooling solutions for my equipment, as I can't be burning out equipment as this is all I have left. Unfortunately the radiator for the room is right in the corner by the power source for my equipment so outside of shutting the radiator off and freezing in the NY cold does anyone have suggestions to cool off my equipment (realistic suggestions please no oppen the window stuff here).

Perhaps a spacing solution to raise the components off one another a few inches so they can vent, and be cooled. I'm always thinking of better ways to do things.

Also, I am looking for a stacking solution, some kind of rack, not enclosure, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[commandercool]

looks nice man your joining the police academy too? nypd or suffolk county? i still have a year left in college before i can join the nypd academy lol anyways back on topic there are a ton of racks to put your equipment in but what's your price range?

[onehothemi]

I'm open to suggestions.

[Johk]

Perhaps this could help (from HTmarket):



Buy two of these, on one put the receiver, and on the other the cable box on top of the BD player (or buy one and keep your current table for the other).

Or this:



As for the heat from the radiator, if your components are not stacked together and you're not heating your room like crazy (I know it's really hot at my grand-parents house :P) you should be ok.

[onehothemi]

I was seriously thinking two thin pieces of wood, like 2x4's cut to size wrapped in black cloth, just to raise the components off eachother about 4" so they can breathe, any plastic rings you can think of that can stack?

For example most components have those round plastic feet on the bottom that raise the component off the surface by about half an inch, do they make extenders you can clip in or something simliar to that?

I liked the rack components you suggested but I can't really drill into the walls and make holes as my living space is only temporary and I don't want to go repairing everything, plus the walls are the 100 year old strips of wood covered by plaster, not sheetrock. lol Keep em comin as I continue my search!!!

[hokie93]

Here's a stacking solution I found on AVS. It's a little past half way down the page.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...719146&page=22

You can pick from 8", 12", or 16" posts and either wire, wood, or glass shelves. Plus you can put casters on it so you can pull it out to work on components. I put one together with 8" risers, five wood shelves, plus casters for $54.