Opinions on custom media cabinet to accommodate SS7 CC

yetis · « **on:** 29 Mar 2014, 03:48 pm »

Hi,

I have recently commissioned a media cabinet and wanted to get some 3rd party comments on the design. So the media cabinet is very comprehensive. One the left and right of the cabinet, the interior of the cabinet will have Middle Atlantic racks. They will be forced vented from the rear, with intake holes coming from the bottom front. In the center, there is a slot large enough to accommodate a Salk SS7. The whole rack will sit on a steel base, to support the weight of the components. There is space at the bottom to place real heavy amplifiers.

Thank you

benguin · « **Reply #1 on:** 29 Mar 2014, 04:21 pm »

The timing on this is pretty amazing- I'm working on a combo unit for audio/video as well, and found that custom building was about the best way to go for best use of space.

I like the overall width of your unit, which should give you a good amount of rack space and some storage.

One thing you might want to play around with is the clearance for the SS7. The 12.5" height will be a pretty snug fit for placing the speaker in there- not sure if you are putting any pads underneath as well. The overall width of my SS7 is 31.5", so plenty of room side to side.

Will your video be wall mounted, or resting on top of the cabinet? It might be worth totaling the entire weight of the cabinet and all equipment, "just in case". Depending on the size of the steel being used for the frame and legs, you might want to consider a center support (although I'm frequently inclined to lean to the overkill method of sizing).

For any rack based devices with the wood doors, you're likely planning on a remote repeater?

I'm looking forward to seeing the final product!
- Ben

yetis · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 Mar 2014, 04:34 pm »

Thank you for the response. I forget to add that there has been a modification already to add a 5th leg in the middle of the rack which is height adjustable. For now, the TV will be on a stand. I will drop the bottom of the center channel down to make some space, as I actually need a little space to angle the speaker up oh so slightly.

Mudslide · « **Reply #3 on:** 3 Apr 2014, 01:08 pm »

Hi Chris.

It seems as though you may have already submitted your project for build...so feel free to circular file this post. So....just a suggestion:

I find that I don't want to crane my neck upwards to watch tv/video. Depending upon your seating arrangement you may want to consider lowering the height of the cabinet. There are some rules of thumb that guide the best viewing angle, but I can't provide a link at the moment. I have mine where eye level is 1/3 the way up from the bottom of the screen. Your unit design is 10 inches higher than mine.

If you decide to ditch those legs, I find that heavy duty castors make my equipment access MUCH easier to work with...rather than having to set the unit out in the room or having to pull this heavy, legged unit out from against the wall to do wiring or other work on the equipment.

Also, I agree with benguin, 12.5 inches of height for the C7 is pretty tight...you may want to increase that for the cc or changes in the cc in the future.

Best of luck with your setup and enjoy it!

benguin · « **Reply #4 on:** 3 Apr 2014, 09:53 pm »

Mudslide- that's a good addition. We played around with height quite a bit on our unit, and struggled to balance the height of the speaker with the viewing height of the TV. For us, we ended up with a 32" height with a 65" tv on top, which seems to work out pretty well with our seating. Ideally, I wouldn't have minded the tv a bit lower, but this was a good compromise.

Also- for the legs, I ended up with "ball transfers" attached to my steel frame. I thought they looked much better than most of the casters. As a plus, they rotate very freely in any direction, are available with nylon non-marking ball, can be tucked up almost invisibly in the frame and had a 250 pound/caster capacity. Sourced from a US manufacturer at a very competitive price, who also had them in stock. I had never even heard of these until I was searching for low profile casters. I'm curious to see how they'll hold up- but the seem very sturdy.
- Ben

Mudslide · « **Reply #5 on:** 3 Apr 2014, 10:27 pm »

Quote from: benguin on 3 Apr 2014, 09:53 pm

Mudslide- that's a good addition. We played around with height quite a bit on our unit, and struggled to balance the height of the speaker with the viewing height of the TV. For us, we ended up with a 32" height with a 65" tv on top, which seems to work out pretty well with our seating. Ideally, I wouldn't have minded the tv a bit lower, but this was a good compromise.

Also- for the legs, I ended up with "ball transfers" attached to my steel frame. I thought they looked much better than most of the casters. As a plus, they rotate very freely in any direction, are available with nylon non-marking ball, can be tucked up almost invisibly in the frame and had a 250 pound/caster capacity. Sourced from a US manufacturer at a very competitive price, who also had them in stock. I had never even heard of these until I was searching for low profile casters. I'm curious to see how they'll hold up- but the seem very sturdy.
- Ben

Ben,

Those look very cool, indeed. The casters are hidden in our cabinet design (which rides only about 1/2" above the floor). The transfers look like they can be likewise hidden. I didn't know they existed when we built ours about 10 years ago. But what kind of prices did you find compared to heavy duty casters? Any issues with them on laminate or wood flooring?

RJ

yetis · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 Apr 2014, 01:18 pm »

Thank you guys. First deposit hasn't been sent yet, so still time to change.

I have struggled with and have lost sleep over the height of this unit. I am driving my wife nuts, as everywhere I go, I ask people how high this cabinet is... My conundrum is that I have a very sizable three channel amp. The plan is to slide the amp in under the unit. I have already reduced the size of the side compartments. If I go any smaller, I won't have space for all the servers, etc. Also, as you go lower, you have to angle the CC up more, which I don't love. I guess I could put the amp on the side. Hope my speaker and IC cables are long enough. They are all DIY, so not that hard to fix..

I will leave the legs, but make them shorter, as there are design accents meant to tie in with other furniture in the apt. Add casters that roll.

Thank you

Thank you guys!

benguin · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 Apr 2014, 03:00 pm »

Yetis- I've definitely found that the more time we have taken considering overall design and trade-offs, that has really helped our end decision.

I'm working with a clearance of 14" on my upper shelf, and 12" on my lower shelf. I didn't have any other specific features that I was trying to tie into other than complementing my speaker veneer and the aluminum spikes/black plinths. The 12" lower space gave me plenty of room for my AVA 2-channel amp and a 5 channel amp for the center/surrounds. I can probably tuck my DVD stacked with another component in between those two.
The upper shelf has plenty of room for the SS7 and my AV receiver.

Mudslide- I found the ball transfers to be much more competitive over quality casters, plus they don't really look like 'casters' and are very low profile compared to traditional casters (big pluses for me). The ball itself can be carbon steel, stainless steel, or nylon. I went with the nylon as it is non-marring. Cost is all over the board for these, but the #250 capacity nylon pieces that I got were less than $15/ea (in quantity). There are a lot of vendors (and auction site) sources, I found a US company that makes their own with domestic sourcing for the materials. Some of the higher capacity units get pricey in a hurry- in the $70 and up range, but depending on the style and capacity needed might be worth it.
-- Ben

Mudslide · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 Apr 2014, 03:49 pm »

Quote from: yetis on 4 Apr 2014, 01:18 pm

Thank you guys. First deposit hasn't been sent yet, so still time to change.

I have struggled with and have lost sleep over the height of this unit. I am driving my wife nuts, as everywhere I go, I ask people how high this cabinet is... My conundrum is that I have a very sizable three channel amp. The plan is to slide the amp in under the unit. I have already reduced the size of the side compartments. If I go any smaller, I won't have space for all the servers, etc. Also, as you go lower, you have to angle the CC up more, which I don't love. I guess I could put the amp on the side. Hope my speaker and IC cables are long enough. They are all DIY, so not that hard to fix..

I will leave the legs, but make them shorter, as there are design accents meant to tie in with other furniture in the apt. Add casters that roll.

Thank you

Thank you guys!

If you're locked into the legs, then so be it. But I have one more thought about your lowered center comment. I'd rather have my main speakers main drivers level with some part of the screen. Audio becomes more centered to the video. The pointed upward cc isn't much of a problem. But this is just my preference...and I have had to make my own indulgences in 'settling' for less than is desirable (slightly off-center center channel).

By the way, what is your main listening/viewing distance from the tv? If it's far enough, the extra height won't matter as much.

Here's a view of our hand-built cabinet. It was originally built for 2-channel...thus the absence of a centered cc shelf. (That's my unfortunate compromise. Happily, it isn't noticeable when listening at our typical viewing distance.) This quite heavy, solid oak unit, slides as smooth as silk and I would never consider a large, equipment filled cabinet that I couldn't easily get behind.

Note the hidden caster feature.

benguin · « **Reply #9 on:** 4 Apr 2014, 04:43 pm »

That "floating" look you've got is just what I'm after. Nice job on the cabinet as well- nice, clean, and organized!

yetis · « **Reply #10 on:** 6 Apr 2014, 01:01 am »

Ok, so the cabinet has been dropped to the height of the roller casters... The cabinet is going to be 800-1000 pounds with everything in it, so these need to be real load bearing caster. They are surprisingly expensive. If you get the full SS variant, and they are several $100's each! That was a little bit of surprise. Need to have the metal worker figure out how to integrate the units into the legs.

Thank you for all the input

Mudslide · « **Reply #11 on:** 6 Apr 2014, 02:48 am »

Quote from: yetis on 6 Apr 2014, 01:01 am

Ok, so the cabinet has been dropped to the height of the roller casters... The cabinet is going to be 800-1000 pounds with everything in it, so these need to be real load bearing caster. They are surprisingly expensive. If you get the full SS variant, and they are several $100's each! That was a little bit of surprise. Need to have the metal worker figure out how to integrate the units into the legs.

Thank you for all the input

I think you're going to be much happier with this solution, Chris. Congrats on the final choice. And yep, those beefy casters are dang expensive. However, otherwise think how much you'd have to pay a surgeon to fix your back after trying to move that 1,000 lb. cabinet to install a new piece of equipment.

Do you now have space for all your gear?

benguin · « **Reply #12 on:** 6 Apr 2014, 02:34 pm »

Yetis- if it's not too late, you might want to search out the ball transfer units- the ones I picked up are rated for 800 pounds for the four of them- and there are higher capacity ones as well. The ones I picked up are under $20 each. Nicely made and the move well in any direction.

You had the same reaction that I did to the wheel based casters, that's when I looked for the industrial style solution.

I'm confident you're going to like the changes you've made!
- Ben

Frans · « **Reply #13 on:** 6 Apr 2014, 03:34 pm »

What is a SS7? I can't find a picture of it.

benguin · « **Reply #14 on:** 6 Apr 2014, 08:20 pm »

Jim Salk has two SoundScape series center channels- the traditional C7 and the newer C8-

I think Jim now has a picture of the larger C8 on his site now.
- Ben

Frans · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 Apr 2014, 02:12 am »

Ah ok... http://www.salksound.com/soundscape%20center%20-%20home.htm

I thought the C7 was just called Soundscape Center. Thanks for clearing that up!

yetis · « **Reply #16 on:** 23 Jul 2014, 11:34 pm »

Well, here it is. After a couple months, took three guys and a lot of grease to get it into apt. Ss7 just arrived and doing a little zeppelin break in. These speakers are tough for the first couple hours...

Needless to say, very happy about cabinet. Could have made it a little smaller. Ventilated racks work very well, with servers all running nice and cool on the left, behind closed door. Battery backup and power conditioner in the slot below speaker.

JerryM · « **Reply #17 on:** 24 Jul 2014, 03:54 am »

Very fine, yetis. Very fine, indeed.

audiotom · « **Reply #18 on:** 24 Jul 2014, 12:53 pm »

looks very nice Yetis

stylish and disappears in the room

did the veneer come from Jim or same source? it looks spot on
love the triple repeat pattern on the left side

yetis · « **Reply #19 on:** 24 Jul 2014, 06:04 pm »

As far as I know, it could have been from the same tree! Purchased from the exact same place. Jim did a better job laying it, but that is largely my fault. It would have taken a lot more material as well, to do the front as I suspect Jim would have done them. Sort of begs for a larger TV, but I am done spending here for a while.