Too much heat? AVR in a cupboard?

[kyuu]

Well, I'm going to have to continue to disagree with some of the overly alarmist members here. A fire risk? C'mon. I've dealt with a lot of A/V gear, both my own and other people's. Your cabinet is not that bad. When in operation, the cabinet doors will presumably be open which will provide an avenue for air exchange to happen. It would be a good idea to allow a little more airflow to happen in the side with the amp and other equipment. You don't necessarily have to completely remove the division between the two sides, just drilling a series of holes would help.

You can certainly use separate amps and things, but ultimately that will all generate just as much heat an as AVR. Also, if you're going for multichannel you're going to need a couple of stereo amps plus a mono amp at the least, plus a pre/pro for your video connections and decoding. In the end you'll spend more and the separates (and all the cabling to connect them together) will occupy more space, although you do get a bit of flexibility in placing it (but you also need space between all the separates).

I'm still of the opinion that a smaller AVR using class D amps, like the JBL MAs, will do what you need and will be fine. If you can put a fan in there to help move air, do so. If you can't, it'll still be fine.