What percentage of your jobs use equipment racks that you supply versus cabinets and shelves that the client has in the house.

I'm getting tired of crawling into cabinets!!! lol

Not nearly enough! I HATE cabinets with shelves. Just hate them!

100% of the time we spec/force racks.

Using the right tool/product/part for the job means that it takes you less time to install it. It means you spend less time commisioning the system. It means you spend less time troubleshooting at each future service call. It means that future upgrades (system swap in 5-10 years) will go much smoother for you and the client.

If you total up the added labor for dealing with cabinets your not saving anything vs using a rack. What happens though is that you let the client get away with 'saving money' by using cabinetry and you eat the labor involved "crawling into cabinets".

Dont give them a choice. You wouldn't give them a choice of using cat5 for speaker cable would you? Even though it will work and costs less? If they just have to have it on shelves in a cabinet double your labor bid to cover all the time your crawling around in the dark.

Priceless advice. 

Stamp, so my question is....Do you guys spec the rack into the basement?, a 1st floor closet?, or is it generally something else that I'm missing?   Generally speaking of course. 

Well said Stamp!

It really is true that by the time you do the math, the rack not only looks more professional but it's a good value too.  I've not had any problems selling racks once I started to explaining to customers that it would actually save them money. 

I'll still install a very basic system with just two components in a cabinet or shelf (cable/sat box & DVD/Blu-ray), but as soon as you go and add an AVR, surge protection, or game consoles the rack is really the best way to do it.

I've only had one customer that simply refused to use a rack.  She wanted everything on shelves in a custom cabinet.  By the time she paid the cabinet guys to make the cabinet/shelves and paid me to install the gear and ventilation she spend about $1500 more than my quote for the rack...

My answer on this is that we rarely have basements in California so larger "whole-house" type equipment racks are usually located in closets, or most often in larger homes in dedicated equipment or mechanical rooms.

For 4-5 components for a simple surround sound system, the rack would normally go in cabinetry where you would nomally just place the stuff on shelves.  It might be built-in cabinets or free standing...

Middle Atlantic has some really affordable small racks for this type of installation called the CFR series:



I also use the Middle Atlantic SRSR series that pull out and swivel a lot when built into cabinets:


If you have an application where the rack can roll on casters, I've found the rolling racks from Snap AV are nice and inexpensive:

Always proposed, and about 85% bought. We sell Raxxess and Middle Atlantic.

At a minimum we put in a MAP REB-18 in every system. We offer one of these for free if they order a complete system. This it is the best "discount" we have ever given. We almost mandate this shelf. Our job has been much better ever since.......

Almost all are a central rack now. And after doing one of the pull out MA racks in a cabinet, if its more than an AVR and a sat box, cabinets are getting racks too.

Basement is a favorite location because there are usually rooms we can steal but its not the rule. We like to build our racks facing into a hallway or room with space behind them (utility room/large closet) so that we can comfortably work on them.

Obviously this doesn't always happen and we sometimes end up with the roll out or slide out racks. I hate slide out or slide out/twist racks. I prefer a freestanding rack on wheels that i can roll out and stand behind.

Last few years though i have been lucky with nice sized control rooms where i can easily get at the back and front. My boss has no problem buying tools or spending money on the right parts because he sees how spending a dollar today will save you a thousand tomorrow.

We have started to get them into more and more projects. All big projects with centrally located equipment get something. We've used the AXS racks, a lot of SLIM5's on casters and the new CFR's are great for cabinets.

I just found out about these and am really wanting to order one for really small system similar to what we'd use a CFR for, but a little less expensive. Actually a BRK16-22 with the rear rack rail option (RK-RR-16) is close to the price of a CFR rack, but 22 inches deep, you can actually work with it. Probably around $250 msrp plus the needed accessories, like lacer bars, casters, etc.


[Link: middleatlantic.com]

The small racks for surround zones are really nice. You can load your gear in... bring all the cable in a nice bundle into the rack and wire everything up and then put the whole thing in the cabinet.

I love that pic above with the wheels on the small rack. Thats a great idea! Just have the cabinet built so that you can roll that guy right on in.

Most of our racks end up in closets, so I try to have them all on wheels. It is WAY easier than dealing with a AXS or other track based rolling rack.

This was a cost saving measure on a job that was originally going to have a SRSR rack in an enclosed cabinet.  The equipment was located out of the way in a butler's pantry so the customer didn't really care if it was visible.

I think the savings to the customer was around $1500 using this little rolling rack instead.  They saved on the rack, cabinet and no need for active cooling.

The budget was tight at the end of their construction and the customer asked if it would cost less to just put the equipment on shelves... this was the compromise and it worked out so well I've done two more that are similar.

We use RK in MBR closets all the time. We put wheels on them and go to town. You can get a maple finish as well as black.