Cabinet for AV gear

Wife works for a joinery company, so I have decided to let her build me a piece of *furniture* to house my soon to grow AV gear.

It will be heavy, but only at the bottom and two units wide. with a top enclosing a good centre speaker.

I will allow extra room around the multiple amps and the cetre speaker to give them room to breathe. If heat becomes an issue I may install silent fans to draw more air through it.

I appreciate any advice - even the don't do it sort - but this peice of furniture will be allowing me to spend the thick end of 25k without much of a wimper from SHMBO - so don't do it has some real implications!

The bit I would like the most help with is the size, weight and mounting of intermediate shelves. Most stuff won't weigh that much - just processors / DVDs etc - but proprosed centre speaker weighs 30kg and will be at the top and the amps .... well the largest is likely to be a Krell FBP600 or similar. But these will be at the bottom sid by side.

The back of the unit will be open and each shelf will be 24 inches wide to give room around the units for heat dissppation. I was planing to have the intermediate shelves in glass. I could put rack mountings inside and get some kind of attachment - but not sure what.

I will not be using a phono.

David

[Johnny Thunder]

Hello mate.
Visit the websites of some of the AV furniture manufacturers.
See if there are any designs that you like, and take down the measurements.
Not ideal, but it gives you a reference point to start from.
If you tell the joiners what weight is involved on each shelf, they will
know what is required to manufacture something that can cope with
the load you will be putting on each shelf..............

[Joe Fernand]

dmurfet

I'd consider integrating some Middle Atlantic racking into your furniture - the pull out and swivel racks are brilliant when you want access to the rear of your kit and the racking is built to take the weight of all your heavy gear.

It makes life so much easier when you can get quick and easy access to your kit - especially when you have heavy kit to work with.

There are now low cost MDF options in the ASR Range for those working to a tight budget - we've used these a couple of times now and they are excellent.

Any questions do please shout.

Joe

See http://www.middleatlantic.com

[richjthorpe]

Hi dmurfet,

Be wary with MDF spanning large distances without a backing. I've worked with my father in law making bookcases out of 18mm MDF and found that anything wider than 24" and the shelves need extra support from underneath to hold the weight of the books as the shelves will sag over time. Should be OK for the amps but that centre speaker might be too much ! To hold the shelves, we would either screw the shelves to the back panel (normally 6mm MDF or 4mm ply with veneer) or have to put supports underneath.

For glass shelves, speak to your local glazier about toughened glass. They'll be able to cut to suit also.

HTH,

RIchie.