Home theater room equipment location help (1 Viewer)

Hi All,

I'm having a new house built and it's been very difficult to find a room that could fit a home theater decently, but i've compromised with my wife on a house and it has a loft I think I can make work. I plan on blocking out the window, which is where I will also be putting a projector screen. I plan to do two rows of seating. I also plan to have 3 sets of very heavy curtains that i can block off the halls when i'm watching a movie as well as block out everything behind the loft essentially. The dotted lines in the attached image are approximately where I'd plan to have my curtains. I plan to eventually have a dolby atmos 7.1.4 setup, but my dilemma is where I should put my equipment. I put some possibilities in orange boxes and rectangles on the image but I was curious on your guys expert opinions? I definitely do not want to disturb the two north-most closets as those will be the kids rooms. The room i put a rectangle in the closet would probably be my office so that would probably be ok.



http://imgur.com/lyVc4i3

I've never understood "hiding" equipment. Mine is front and center of the room for everybody to see.

schan1269 said:

I've never understood "hiding" equipment. Mine is front and center of the room for everybody to see.

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Depending on the size of the room, an equipment rack can make it seem cluttered. And, if it's line of sight, the lights are certainly distracting unless they are completely shut off. My equipment is behind my seating area. Best of both worlds - it's accessible and out of sight.

Peter Apruzzese said:

Depending on the size of the room, an equipment rack can make it seem cluttered. And, if it's line of sight, the lights are certainly distracting unless they are completely shut off. My equipment is behind my seating area. Best of both worlds - it's accessible and out of sight.

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Nothing pretty about an equipment rack. Since I have to have a room for 35mm projection my audio equipment is racked and accessible from the "booth". All of the red/green lights would be a distraction, at least to me. Maybe there are people who like to look at the equipment rack instead of a BAD movie...lol

If your equipment is enclosed, plan on ventilating the area.. I had an enclosed set of shelves with a glass door on the front, in one of the houses I lived in, and had frequent problems with overheating and the amp shutting down. I moved before I got around to correcting the problem.


If the equipment is enclosed in a small area, you can set up a ventilation fan, either with an on-off switch or with a thermostatically controlled switch. If you leave the equipment on an open rack, this isn't as likely to be a problem.


Some equipment has a display that can be dimmed or turned off. You can also use a smoked glass front if you locate the equipment in view. IR signals go through smoked glass (at least my smoked glass) without a problem. I also use IR repeaters for some of my equipment.

Mine is in a tall but small area. I can get to the back via a small door behind curtain.

Four 6" computer fans running slow keep things cool.