Need help with stereo cabinet design.

I'm sorry. There is one more consideration for isolating everything from the floor. The floor inside the closet should be built on their own floor joists that are separate from the room and the closet wall. An elastic skin can be used between the joist and the flooring.

Now you have ground, air, electrical, and component isolation.

Consider a thermal alarm inside, in case of fan failure. There may even be a way to set the fan on a variable speed thermostat.

Jgiacalo is correct, get the blower as far away as possible.

I built a closet for my equipment. I ran 2 blowers, one on each side wall. One blower brings conditioned air in from the hallway and the other to take the air out and to the attic. I ran 4' insolated flex duct from each blower and then reduced down to 2" PVC with a 2"T every 6 inches. The 6" spacing allows me to put the shelves where ever I want and still get air onto the shelf. Then I used armaflex with different diameter holes to control the air volume from each 2" hole of the pvc supply. The only place in the closet the air does not go is where my TT is, those holes are blocked off.

If you are going to use a blower to move air only in or out, you must make the unit loose so it can get the air from the room or send it into the room. If the structure is too tight you will not get any air. The air must have some place to go.

I used Russound ACT1 12 volt trigger to turn them on and off with my ARC REF3.

if you live in a cold climate, do not duct the run into the attic. Either run out through the attic and out the roof, or out the side of the house. You never want just plain warm air dumping into your attic.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It will definitely be a cabinet rather than a closet, given the room design and my desire to see the components when they are in use. I wonder if, when the cabinet is open, the heat will rise to the top, where it can be vented, or if much of it will escape out into the room. I like the idea of putting the fan in the attic, with a switch in the cabinet or using the 12 volt switch on the REF 3.

I live in Austin, TX, which has a very warm climate. My main reason for considering venting is concern regarding adding heat to the room. In the winter, or should I say on the cold days that we sometime have in winter, I'll obviously want to let the system add heat to the room.

I wonder how the power required to exhaust heated air compares to the added air conditioning work load due to non-exhausted heat.

As for isolation, I agree with the suggestion regarding separate joists. In that particular spot we're considering a small concrete pad for that purpose. I suppose we could bolt down a rack system to that pad and somehow add wood facing to the shelves to improve their aesthetics.

Thanks,

Chuck