Many homes have great looking cabinetry that is ideal for holding home audio and video gear. Unfortunately, once the equipment is installed, the only way to operate it is by opening the cabinet doors so the remote control signals can get to the equipment. While this is fine during the watching of the movie, what ultimately happens is that the doors are left open all the time. To some folks, having open cabinet doors showing their AV equipment doesn't mix well with the surrounding décor of the room.
There was a time where the quality of an audio or video device was mainly determined by the cabinetry. Cabinets made of real walnut, cherry, and other hardwoods made it more a piece of furniture. Stereo components today have aluminum and plastic coverings and to some folks, they just look ugly and stick out in a well decorated home.
Smarthome takes many calls on this subject in our Technical Support department. There are several ways to get around this problem depending on how many AV devices are contained within the cabinet. You may have noticed on our Home Theater page, we have a couple of categories that contain products that might do the job if combined properly. Items in the Hardwired Ir Distribution and Wireless IR Transmission pages have products that will transport Ir signals from one room to another. So, is there some combination of products that will take remote control signals (also known as Ir signals) and transport them into a cabinet?
Hot Link Pro
While many callers are willing to spend the big bucks to fix this problem, it can be solved with one product for around a hundred dollars. The Hot Link Pro contains all the parts and pieces to catch Ir signals and pass them through to your AV equipment behind closed doors. This one kit solution will allow you to control up to six units in one cabinet.
The Hot Link Pro system starts with an Ir sensor mounted on the outside of the cabinet. The Ir sensor measures an inch long and a quarter-inch in diameter. The Ir sensor is placed outside the cabinet to catch the Ir signals from remote controls up to 65 feet way. A three-foot cable connects the Ir sensor to the Hot Link control box.
All the connections are made at the Hot Link control box. The power from the included AC to 12-volt DC adapter, the Ir emitters, and the sensor all connect here. Think of the control box as the brains of the system. It takes the signals from the Ir sensor and routes them to the Ir emitters.
Six Ir emitters handle the output of the Hot Link system. The emitters convert electrical signals into infrared light the AV equipment understands. It does the opposite of what the Ir sensor did when it saw the light from your Ir remote control. The emitters are placed directly over the Ir window of the AV device. Each emitter has a peel and stick adhesive that will hold it firmly to the Ir sensor window of the AV device. A green 'Talk-back' LED indicator can be placed outside the cabinet to provide visual feedback that the Hot Link system saw your remote control's signal.
Remote Control Extender
Another way to control fewer devices behind closed cabinet doors is with the Remote Control Extender. This product adds the convenience of wireless operation between rooms. A transmitter module attaches to a remote control and sends an RF signal up to 150 feet to a receiver station. At the receiver station, three Ir 'blast' emitters will repeat the Ir light to the equipment. Some users have reported that they just place the receiver inside a cabinet and the Ir light is strong enough to hit more than one AV device. In case that doesn't work for you, there is a jack to plug in a stick-on Ir emitter. Use a 8170S Single Headed Emitter or a 8171S Double Headed Emitter to control one or two AV devices. Be forewarned that when stick-on emitters are used, the three blast emitters on the receiver are disabled.
One of the disadvantages of the Remote Control Extender system is that is only operates on a single remote control. Ideally, the transmitter module would be placed on a universal remote control that operates several devices.
If none of these products with exactly work for your needs or you need a more customized solution, we do have the individual pieces for you to build your own system. It come out to costing about twice that of the Hot Link Pro system, but you can choose the Ir sensors (you can have more than one) and number of emitters needed for the project. To learn more about Ir system, please read a previous Solution here:
How do I build a hardwired Ir distribution system?
Now that you found a solution for controlling your AV devices in a cabinet and are loading up the cabinet with amps, CD players, and other audio gear, you'll soon find that another problem will plague your system. The heat from the equipment may cause components to stop working or be damaged. Since the AV equipment is now enclosed in a cabinet, steps need to be taken to deal with overheating components.
Take a few moments to check out our equipment cooling products:
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Cool Stack Rackmount Equipment Cooler |
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Cool-It/Cool-Plate Equipment Coolers |
Rack Mount Fan Panels |
These products will keep your audio and video components operating within safe thermal ranges. If you amplifier(s) kicks off halfway through a movie or DVD and Laser Disk player freezes up during playback, you may have a heat related issue.
