Well, after my bit of *ahem* irreverence last night, I thought I'd get back to serious business (yeah right).
Anyways, because of the way the house will be laid out, there's a 2' x 2' x 10' alcove in the back of the media room where I plan to place my equipment on an equipment rack. I'm already planning to run speaker wires in the wall to it, as well as a conduit to the ceiling mounted projector and another conduit to the front of the riser. For a couple of hundred dollars, the builder can frame and put a door to turn the niche into a closet. I'm interested in opinions on whether it's worth it.
The big appeal of the closet is aesthetics. While I don't mind displaying the electronics on a nice rack, it's the wiring that could look unkempt (especially with the conduit in the ceiling). The closet might help with noise from the electronics, though the reviews I've read seem to imply that the fans on most receivers and amps are relatively quiet and only run when the unit is working particularly hard (in that case, the loud sound from the speakers will probably drown out the fan noise anyways). I would also put an AC vent (additional expense) in the closet to help with the heat from the electronics. WAF is not much of an issue: I let her have her way with the kitchen, so I get to have mine with the media room.
The appeal of having the niche is that it's easier to work with. Though the niche is 24" wide, the width of the door frame for the closet is only about 22", which is a little narrower than most of the racks I've seen on racksandmounts.com or standsandracks.com. I didn't want to invest in an industrial-looking rack system (like Middle Atlantic) b/c it's not aesthetically appealing to me and rather pricey. With the 24" wide niche, I'd have more choices in terms of racks with casters and get my own rolling rack. I'd also be less worried about ventilation with the niche, pay less money, and could show off my gear.
Anyways, I just wanted to hear opinions/recommendations. Do people who have their electronics in a niche or out in the media room wish it was hidden away in a closet? Do those who have their gear in a closet wish they had more direct access to their gear?
