box or mini rack for tiny gear?


I've finally gotten my first hi-fi system together (everything until this point was mid-fi).

I have some bits that I need to place.

I have limits in my house (the future media room is a playroom for now) so my system is also centered around my TV.

They are a Mac Mini (for HD tracks), an AppleTV (itunes streaming for parties plus), and a Roku (for movies generally better than AppleTV). I also have a Monoprice HDMI switcher that pulls out coax from these latter two for when we watch movies and that also pulls out high definition digital audio (DVD-A, Blu Ray Audio, and SACD) from my OPPO BDP-105 to feed my W4S DAC-2. There's also an HDMI Detective to mimic the presence of the TV which allows me to turn the TV off when I'm listening to high definition audio.

My stereo rack is an old Swedish unit and it's not going, so I am faced with where to stash these. One option is in a nearby cabinet, but that requires runs of 3 or 4 meters to the DAC plus 5 or 6 meter HDMI runs to the TV from the switch.

I have an option. All of these units will be controlled by a Logitech Harmony 900 remote with RF blasters so they could be hidden behind my Oppo and the W4S DAC. This could keep runs nice and short.

But how do I prevent this from becoming a complete mess? These small units are lightweight and easily move around. They are likely to get out of the line of site of the RF blasters and then it's game over.

I'm thinking that some kind of mini rack would be what I'd want..

I could probably get one of these for the mini

http://www.macessitywebstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MI360, oh but then I'll still need a spot for the hard drive my massive audio library is on.

and maybe one of these for the roku and the appletv?

http://www.wayfairsupply.com/HIDEitMountsInc-R2-Wall-Mount-for-Roku-2-LT-HD-XD-and-XS-media-players-HIMR29029-L1562-K~HID1004.html?refid=GX21919286340-HID1004&gclid=CKzZuqaugrYCFUhV4AodnX0AYA

are there other possibilities that you've run into?

cheers,

kaz
128x128intermediatic
And what, exactly, is the problem with running some cables a few meters? Sounds to me like you can quickly solve this problem by purchasing some 3-5 meter cables. What's the big deal?

-RW-
Well, the question is whether that will degrade the sound.

I had a surprise with an HDMI cable the other day. For reasons particular to my own brand of insanity, I figured that a 25' Mediabridge cable running from my HDMI switcher to my TV would do well. 594 out of 678 customer reviews on Amazon suggested it would be fine. I figured that HDMI is HDMI (I have some Audioquest HDMI cables that never struck me as more impressive than Monoprice or Mediabridge).

The only problem I had was that my Monoprice HDMI switcher would need to be woken up by having the cable pulled when I did this. Alright, I wrote to Monoprice and they said I should use either a heavier gauge cable or a Redmere. Alright, in the grand scheme of things that's not a lot of cash. I plugged in the Redmere and NO WAY. Both my wife, hereforth known as the Unbeliever, and I couldn't believe how much more contrast there was. It was as if the Mediabridge cable was desaturated 30%. Not 2%, 5%, 30%.

We compared a shorter Mediabridge cable and some others. There wasn't a difference. Unless this one was a dud, it seemed clear that Monoprice was right and many cables don't have the ability to handle such long runs.

Again, my thought is that shorter runs in HDMI, Coax, Toslink, and so on will be better.