Say Goodbye to Huge Racks (and Other CE Megatrends)

This is one of the more poorly assembled articles that you have ever written.  I can’t entirely blame you, Jason, because I know you are reporting what Moore said.  But I am disappointed that you did not bring up some good counterpoints.  1.  The “cloud” is a source.  It doesn’t just magically flow through someone’s house.  There has to be a device in the rack that accesses cloud content and relays it to the home AV system.  That device might be smaller, but it hasn’t completely evaporated.  2.  The bulk of what takes up space in a rack has never been sources.  It’s amplifiers and switchers and power conditioning - none of which will go away with the advent of the cloud.  3.  You CAN’T stretch a rack.  Small racks are only used when you have space constraints.  You always specify a rack that is larger than your current needs so the system has room to grow.  What happens when we need a new device to access Cloud2.0?

@Rob—Great points but you are wrong on one major point: I have written much more poorly assembled articles before!

I’ll bet the boys at MM liked this article—-(NOT)! ha ha

MM is keeping up with the times, as usual. They’ve been developing smaller racks for a long time.

Choosing my own rack, I bought one larger than I need (even after adding up the space required plus some fudge…).  I filled the space with some blanks, and more importantly - a drawer and a light!  Worst case, if my rack needs increase, I lose the blanks and then the drawer. 

And if my space needs decrease over time, I can always add another drawer!  Cheap reclaimed space at that point.  But then again, won’t the cloud get rid of any need for discs and other media that go in the drawer…  (yep, sarcasm intended)

NO MORE RACKS, SOURCES OR AMPLIFIERS NEEDED!!!
- Rob, you raise some valid points which I like to address.
Sources: People want to watch TV, movies and listen to music.
- At this time, consumers might still need a cable/sat box.
  - Both Satellite and Cable companies are working on providing streaming solutions. Not only does it make more sense for them but it increases their market potential; They can reach out to every TV or home that has internet, plus they don’t have the equipment cost to deal with.
- They might still need a bluray player if they want to play a physical media
  - Majority of the people are concerned with convenience over quality.  With netlix and streaming services, they have access to what they want to watch, when they want from wherever they are. They have a unified and simple user interface and they are HAPPY!
- So within the next 3-5 years, the sources that are remaining will also vanish! No more SAT/Cable box, bluray players, receivers or amplifiers….
  - Your TV will have all the applications for entertainment and music that you want.
  - Receivers and amplifiers will be gone because there will be wireless home theater and music systems that will have the guts (amplification and other) built in.
So now you have essentially the TV and Speakers as the medium.
The TV connects to the internet and provides you with all your viewing options which you can control through an app on your andriod, iphone or windows mobile device.
You speakers will have the same capability, they will be self sufficient, smart devices that can stream anything from the internet or you can send content directly from your phone or computers to them.

To recap: racks are gone, sources will be very limited, power conditioning (sure you can sell that in an empty rack!)

It’s time to change our outlook and shift so we can survive and prosper in this new market!

I can disagree with Rob on several points ez3d.tv has a rack that goes flush inside the wall behind the TV or above a video projector.  With the changes of Cloud and streaming I no longer need a large centralized rack to put equipment.  My amplifier can go behind the TV.  With a few sources like an Apple TV, Roku box, Satellite receiver I can get everything I need with out have a rack or running wires.  Customers spend a lot of money for the pulling of wires to a centralize location now it is no longer needed.  Our industry is changing quickly and products like AppleTV are leading the way.  It amazes me how many dealers I talk with that don’t know everything an AppleTV will do.  Plus how good does a 40watt distribution amp going through 100-300 feet of wire sound.  I would much rather have my amplifier in the room with 5-8 feet of speaker wire.  Don’t forget that AppleTV has HDMI out so no switchers required.  Not to mention much easier to RETROFIT!!!  Wireless and short speaker runs.

As much as I like the cloud I don’t see it as the default answer.  I offer and use cloud based services but there is something of a lemming like approach with everyone embracing the cloud. 

I may use it for back up but having some things local ensures you will always be able to use your system.  Once in a while my net connection drops out, there go my phones, audio and connection to the outside world.
Thank heavens for my turntable and vacuum tube integrated amp.

What did Warren Buffett say “When everyone is buying I’m selling”.  The cloud has great potential, but maybe we should temper that with a little caution.

Jim, Finally someone that understands the potential and is utilizing it to and giving consumers what they want.
What we do doesn’t have to be so complex, and overbearing for the consumer. If we can simplify things for them, give them what they want and at the same time save them money, how happy would your clients be?

Interesting points to ponder but I’m sure Steve and Jason would agree ... if you have space to spare, then spec a bigger rack. The extra height isn’t going to cost much extra. You can always store your books in rack drawers. Oh wait ...

There’s one little problem with the cloud, once the connection drops, there goes your system and for sure a phone call for you to explain what happed.
Also, when you start washing anything from the cloud on a 110” screen or bigger, you starting to settle for much inferior quality, not to mention the sound quality.
While it sounds great, we still very far from it.
I have yet to hear from any of the smart device generation said they prefer to keep washing and hearing movies , games, etc from their beloved iThing or droid when given the right demo on a big projection screen (full HD) w/ DTS-HD MA.
The Racks fill up on my projects really fast all the time.

We are spec’ing more rack space than ever. Agreed, sources may be disappearing, but graphics engines, amplification, network storage, switches, distribution, HDMI matrices, are filling racks faster than ever

This isn’t really about racks.

It’s about a change of mindset. Your customers get this.

Playback will remain in the home. Control, distribution and infrastructure becomes more lightweight.

Networking design and implementation is now way more critical, as is multiple-stream-friendly broadband. UI design remains very important.

You’ll need to charge for getting it right, and supporting it right, rather than relying too much on the margins on the stuff you sell.

Bravo, Steve. We were getting a little too carried away with the rack thing (go figure). The incredible shrinking machines bode well for integrators and consumers alike—if you don’t have the wiring or the space for a big centralized rack, they can be distributed throughout the house, say, next to the TVs. This has also been enabled by new one-wire (Cat 5) technologies.

To Julie and Steve, the name of the article is “Say Goodbye to Huge Racks.”
To Jim and Zubuman, you guys are talking about the wrong customers.  The guy who will be satisfied with whatever awful sound comes out of the magical do-everything speakers you are imagining was NEVER going to spend the money on a rack in the first place.