I am looking to add a cabinet rack to a clients cabinet in which their previous installer just stacked everything on top of each other, with no spacing, venting, or fans. He also added 4 zones of audio to a 2 channel amp by twisting the wires together and wire capping them. Thats a whole other issue.

I am proposing that we replace the amp with a proper 8 channel amp. Will probably just go with the Episode 8 channel. There is also a receiver, cable box, bluray, AppleTV, Sonos Connect, and I believe thats about it. The original installed sold him a MX850 with no RF basestation or IR repeating kit and the equipment is behind closed doors, so I will be adding a MRF350 to the proposal as well.

The opening to the cabinet is 29.5" wide x 23.25" high. The cabinet is also 29.5" deep. A typical rack is about 19" wide I believe, so I cannot had two side by side. I don't believe I have enough height to fit everything with proper spacing. Would you do something other than a rack? How would you tackle this to not only make it more appealing to the eye, but to properly space the equipment? One thing I plan to explore is whether there is access below to possibly relocate the 8 channel amp so its not in the cabinet.

not sure if i want to post this and i have never done this, a thought i had was to secure everything in a SnapAV 14u Cabinet rack, then lay it on its side. the only thing i would not put in the rack would be the Blu-ray. I know this is not ideal, but at least everything would be properly spaced and you could clean up the wiring mess. remember, you didn't start this project, er mess, you just need to make it work.

Is the cable box a DVR? If not, swap for a small client box.

Some of those components could possibly hang at the rear of a CFR or laminate rack - maybe the Sonos and AppleTV? Measure the components, figure out exactly how much rack space they will need. I don't know much about the Episode, but maybe it can be mounted on the side wall, vertically?

Cablevision does not have small client boxes. There is enough room in the cabinet to set things on the side, but the goal is to clean it up as part of the whole deal. I think laying a cabinet on its side will look pretty bad IMHO. I know it would help with the spacing, but it simply will not look right.

MA's CFR rack, love them. Try Lexicon's DD-8 to save space and give your customer "quality sound"! Better than a big Snap...oops it broke... AV amp that you will be replacing early and often :)

You could make it fit no problem.

Are there pin holes in the cabinet? For regular shelves?

If so you could do 10" wide shelves and add pin holes on the back corner for 3 pin support. Get the pins that can be screwed to the shelf to prevent the shelf from tipping. Good enough to hold the Sonos, Apple TV and MRF-350.
[Link: homedepot.com]

Or place the amp sideways, on end.

Middle Atlantic CFR-12-18.

AVR = 5u
Episode 8 ch. amp = 2u
cable box = 2u
bluray = 1u
sonos + appletv + mrf360 = 2u

Overall height = 22 3/16" including the runner kit. Rear mount one of Snap's wattbox units. Vent the cabinet if needed. Done. :)

Snaps new multi channel amp coming out is 1 u.

[Link: snapav.com]

Would save some space.

Silly question of the day:
Is it a standalone piece of furniture..can it be replaced with something that would work for the equipment rack?

Obviously, use as high of a rack as you can fit.
Don't discount the possibility of mounting 1 or 2 pieces on the side/back of the rack.
It might not look best, but I'll still be light years ahead of what you have now.

Some rack years can be rotated 90deg to allow equipment to mount to bottom shelf. Placing equipment on it's side and mounting it to the rack rails might do the trick and it'll keep all the equipment and interconnects together.

Another way is it get a taller rack and cut the rails down to size and use the amp on top with rear mounts for stability. You would be removing the top getting another 1u for free.

That 1u Snap amp would be good too.

In the slim 5 ,you could do the same. There is room, but this needs to be a forced ventilated install. The fan does not have to be part of the rack.