How I Designed My Home Theater Rack for Organization & Cooling | Home Theatre Rack How To

[@KoldSteel1990]

Just a small tip about your networking that I think would make your wiring a lot neater. I have all my network wiring coming to a patch panel with Keystone jacks. I have a 24 port Keystone faceplate. Each number on the Keystone faceplate matches up with the port on the switch with a 6-in patch cable. Makes it very neat. Troubleshooting network related issues is a lot easier if it's organized this way, especially if you have the Keystone faceplate labeled. Punching down Keystone jacks is a lot easier than crimping RJ45 ends as well!

[@Techthusiasm]

Cool, thanks! I'll check that out.

[@shahross8366]

The best part about your setup is how neat, clean, & organized it is.

[@Techthusiasm]

Thanks!

[@ryanreed6785]

Really cool! Would love to see a video of the back of racks and your wiring of the system.

[@Techthusiasm]

Noted.

[@prcowboy3486]

Love your explanations. I agree with your justifiable organization.

[@Techthusiasm]

Thank you!

[@Nikita-P]

Oh great now I want a rack :) great job!

[@Techthusiasm]

Helping folks spend their money is my skill!

[@paulcarroll627]

Great job mate. Very professional. Cheers from Canberra, Australia

[@Techthusiasm]

Thanks and cheers!

[@Herofmine]

This stuff is more fun than actually watching a moving lol, I got all of these gadgets but don’t watch movies as much, it’s like good to have :)

[@Techthusiasm]

A lot of us spend more time tinkering than actually watching movies… It is fun. 😄

[@jeffmery]

Nothing like a well organized A/V rack! I actually need to upgrade to a larger one myself. Curious - what is the physical depth measurement of yours? You have a LOT more room to work with behind each component. I can't tell if you've got the 24" or 30" deep setup. Thanks!

[@Techthusiasm]

The side panel is 25" deep, so interior rack would be the 24". I wouldn't see a need to have the 30" one.

[@Rob_James]

Did u flush mount ur kscape. I did mine but I think it’s supposed to stick out a bit but I didn’t like that clean wire job…I like the lil snap on labels

[@Techthusiasm]

Kind of. I think it's sticking out maybe just like 1/8" or so. Thanks!

[@whothou]

Really getting into IT, so seeing people's network/entertainment rack set-ups is really cool! Helps inspire my ideas for when i finally move out after I start working. Though if I'm looking to get a home to have full control, I'll have to escape NYC first Lol. Can I ask how you got into this? Just a short explanation of how this interest really took off?

[@Techthusiasm]

I've been into tech stuff for a long. I'm old enough to have been around for the original NES launch and real start of using PC's at home. Getting my own more powerful PC before college led me to changing my major from Mechanical to Computer Engineering. I've long enjoyed movies as well and was in college when DVD launched. I spent my college years reading home theater and hi-fi magazines and looking forward to having cash to really get into the hobby, and so I have! :)

[@PeterEidegren]

How long does the UPS last and what hardware are connected to it? Super clean looking rack, nicely done!

[@Techthusiasm]

Thanks! I don't know about the UPS time, but it's a CyberPower PR1500RT2U. I actually don't need it to last long, so it doesn't matter. I have a natural gas whole house generator. The UPS only ever needs to least about 10 seconds to bring the switching when we have a power failure.

[@christopherellis1464]

Great video sir....

[@Techthusiasm]

Thanks! And thanks for requesting it. I did miss one concept I will a mini video about it.

[@CharlesLScofieldJr]

I noticed that you had various colors of ethernet cables, do they have any special purpose i.e. 1gig vs 10gig speeds and Cat5e vs Cat6+? I will have to commend you cable management of you system(s) very professional looking. I worked in data centers for close to 13 years and your cable management is defiantly on par with what I have seen in companies like HP, Lucent, and Gates Rubber Company data centers.

[@Techthusiasm]

Wow, thanks for the compliment! I'm kind of a neat freak, so having a clean rack is something I try to do. :) My Ethernet cables were pulled back in like 2012/2013, so it is a mix of CAT5e and CAT6. The colors were codings for various things. Like yellow is cameras. Blue/green are general drops. Some drops have 4 cables in each one and so we used 4 colors to be able to trace them back.

[@ASTIGG]

Thanks!

[@Techthusiasm]

Thank you so much for the super thanks! I'm glad the video was helpful to you.

[@ASTIGG]

Your home theater projects are very much in line with my own at the moment if you don’t mind me asking what is the width of the racks you installed? Or I guess technically both racks side-by-side?

[@Techthusiasm]

Each one is ~19" wide. So about 40" wide for the dual racks with the side panels.

[@JLRJ]

Your organization of your cables are very neat. I need to organize my cables a little better!😁What category Ethernet are you using? I’m upgrading mine to 8. I probably have half of my Ethernet cable’s already upgraded. Is it overkill? Yes but I’ll never have to upgrade them again. I only use WiFi when Ethernet isn’t available. I had a rack back in the 70/80s but I really like to showcase my equipment so I’m using 2 audio/video furniture stands. The power strip location on your rack is perfect! I have power strips on the floor behind my stands. I bought a label maker and I have all my cables labeled. It makes it so much easier when swapping out or tracing cables. Great Video!👴🏽

[@Techthusiasm]

Thanks! My Ethernet is CAT5e/6. It was pulled back in 2012ish.

[@rsgr3963]

what is your ethernet port?

[@Techthusiasm]

The switch is an Asus 24 port model. Long discontinued. It was released in like 2014.

[@gmartin0312]

You have 3 Parasound Halo’s? A31 or 51? How do they compare to the Emotiva DR3 3channel?

[@Techthusiasm]

Yes, I have an A31 and dual A52+. Parasound is awesome. I consider it an upgrade over Emotiva in build quality and performance. I like the sound as a great match with my Anthem and Focal gear.

[@DocBrown101]

How exactly do you play your local media rips? I haven't had any good experiences with the Xbox so far.

[@Techthusiasm]

I use an app called Infuse on my Apple TV. I did an overview video on it recently (kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4rGc6BmbM6bmas) and will be talking about it more to come. Thanks for watching!

[@lbraga565]

Hey man came across your video and you did a great job.. Being in Networking I appreciate your dedication to organizing the cables :) I do have a question, How are you running all this equipment from only those 4 power outlets? everyone shows the racks and all the equipment but very few talk about the backend and what's needed to power all the equipment. Do you have a separate electric panel dedicated for the RACK ?

[@Techthusiasm]

Thanks! Those outlets are run to a 20 amp dedicated circuit that serves the rack and my gear. Everything is plugged into UPS/power conditioning that is on those plugs.

[@lbraga565]

@@Techthusiasm so i understand all the equipment is plugged into the power strips, then the power strips plug into the ups? UPS then is plugged into the wall sockets?

[@Techthusiasm]

I have one UPS and one line conditioner. My amps go into the line conditioner because they are too much for the UPS. Everything else though is on the UPS. Both the UPS and conditioner are plugged into the wall, sharing that 20 amp dedicated circuit. The strips with the orange plugs are just strips, no power protection or anything on those. Technically, yes, the non-amps are on the strips, the strips into the UPS, and then the UPS into the wall. The strips just make plugging in everything up and down the rack much more convenient.

[@paulmardis1512]

QQ, Do you plug your audio gear into that UPS or just your utility gear? Just asking as it thought those types of UPS are geared more for office DC type of environments. I use power conditioners in my rack as I read somewhere feeding a full AC sine wave into audio gear is not good unless you have a true sine wave type of UPS. I have UPS for PC and network gear type stuff though. Great Job. PM

[@Techthusiasm]

Everything I showed in the rack runs on that UPS as well as my living room TV and sources, except for the Parasound amps. That UPS is a true sine wave model at 1500W.

[@paulmardis1512]

@@Techthusiasm Thanks for clarifying that for me. I was originally looking for a UPS that would work in my rack when I built it back in 2010 but heard about the sine wave issue so I went with Panamax power conditioners instead. Don't know if plugging power conditioners into UPS are good either but worth looking into. I will look into that model for cost and go from there. Thanks for the update. PM

[@rushilagarwal7663]

Which brand's server rack are you using?

[@Techthusiasm]

Strong brand from SnapAV.

[@rushilagarwal7663]

@@Techthusiasm Thanks

[@5AMCLUB-gi5pl]

What remote do you use ?

[@Techthusiasm]

It is a Control4 Halo.

[@38special4ever]

IF you have to spool your cables, make sure you do them in a figure eight!

[@Techthusiasm]

I've wondered about this for best type of bundling/spooling. Do you have info on why to use that shape?

[@38special4ever]

@@Techthusiasm You want to avoid creating a coil... Best option is shorter cables, but if you put the cable in the figure eight and then fold it. I know we are talking about AC here. I read an article, probably decades ago. No idea if that is available online :)

[@cjp6930]

Counsoles?

[@Techthusiasm]

Did I say "consoles" funny?