How to Eliminate the AV Credenza and Why Your Next Conference Room Should

A facilities manager at a Minneapolis company walks into a newly renovated boardroom. The room looks sharp. New finishes, great lighting, solid furniture. Then she opens the credenza doors to reset the AV system after a call dropped mid-meeting. She is on her hands and knees, flashlight in hand, trying to reach a cable behind a 12RU rack crammed into a 9-inch enclosure. That scenario plays out in conference rooms everywhere. The AV credenza became standard practice decades ago because integrators needed somewhere to put equipment. It solved one problem and created several others. The good news is that the credenza is no longer necessary. Equipment has gotten smaller, mounting systems have gotten smarter, and the rooms we design today do not need a piece of furniture dedicated to hiding technology. If you are planning a new conference room or refreshing an existing one, this is worth reading before the furniture order gets placed.

Author

Spye

Editor

minutes read

Posted on

February 27, 2026

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Key Takeaways

AV credenzas take up significant floor space and complicate room layouts, especially in smaller conference rooms

Modern wall-mount systems house all AV components directly behind the display, eliminating the need for separate enclosures

Removing the credenza shortens service windows, reduces cable runs, and lowers infrastructure costs

Prefabricated mounting systems allow components to be assembled and tested off-site before a single screw goes into the wall

Spye’s proprietary Clam System 3.0 reduces service labor by 50% and saves 60 to 90 minutes per service event

Credenza-free rooms look cleaner, allow more flexible furniture arrangements, and give facilities teams faster access during maintenance

This decision affects budget, schedule, and long-term serviceability. It needs to happen at design, not after furniture is ordered.

1. What the Credenza Was Actually Solving

The AV credenza came from a real problem. Codec units, switchers, amplifiers, control processors, and power distribution equipment all needed a home. Wall space was limited. Rack rooms were expensive and far away. The credenza was a reasonable compromise.

That logic made sense when AV equipment was bulky and numerous. It makes less sense now. Consider how much has changed:

Video conferencing bars have consolidated cameras, microphones, and codecs into a single unit

Processing components have shrunk dramatically over the last decade

USB-C connections have reduced the number of cables a room requires

Many rooms today have a fraction of the hardware that used to fill a 12RU rack

The credenza stuck around not because it is the best solution, but because it became a habit. Specifiers kept calling it out. Furniture vendors kept selling it. Installers kept using it. Now is a good time to question it.

2. The Real Costs of Keeping One in the Room

Floor space is the obvious issue. A standard AV credenza takes up three to five linear feet of wall space. In a boardroom that is manageable. In a medium or huddle room, it crowds the layout and forces seating further from the display.

Beyond floor space, the credenza introduces a chain of problems that compound over time:

Cable length. When AV equipment lives in a credenza away from the display, every HDMI run and control cable has to travel across the room. Longer cables mean more conduit, more labor, and more to troubleshoot.

Serviceability. When a component fails, a technician opens furniture doors and works inside a tight enclosure with limited access. It is slow, awkward, and often disruptive to the room schedule.

Aesthetics. A credenza full of blinking lights and tangled cables tells a different story than a clean wall with a display and nothing else visible.

These are not small inconveniences. They add real time and cost to every service event across the life of the system.

3. What Goes Behind the Display Instead

The alternative is a wall-mounted system where AV components attach directly behind the display. Switchers, control processors, power distribution, and compute units all mount to a structured chassis that hinges open for front access. No rack room required. No credenza required.

We engineered the Clam System 3.0 specifically for this approach. Here is how it works:

The chassis standardizes mounting geometry, cable routing, and airflow

All components are pre-assembled and tested off-site before the system ships to the job

It opens at 15 degrees for front access, so one technician can service the room without removing the display or moving furniture

Compatible with all typical AV devices up to 1.75 inches thick

Can be specified to pivot on either side depending on room layout

A full boardroom's worth of AV components fits behind the display without any additional enclosures. For facilities teams, that means no more flashlight diagnostics inside furniture. For GC partners, it means predictable wall penetrations and cleaner installations.

4. How This Changes the Room Layout

Removing the credenza is not just a technology decision. It changes how the room actually functions.

Without a credenza anchoring one wall, furniture arrangements become more flexible. Tables can be repositioned. The wall below the display opens up. In smaller rooms, reclaiming three feet of furniture can shift the feel from cramped to comfortable.

Camera placement benefits as well. Many credenzas hold cameras on top, which puts the lens at an awkward height relative to the display. When everything mounts to the wall at a defined height, camera positioning can be calculated precisely during design and held consistently across every room on a floor.

Cable access points move too. Rather than routing cables across the floor or through furniture:

Everything terminates at the wall behind the display

Housekeeping crews stop bumping power bricks

Employees stop accidentally kicking things loose

The room stays the way it was designed

5. When to Make This Decision

The worst time to decide you do not want a credenza is after the millwork has been ordered or the walls are closed. Furniture dimensions get locked in early. Blocking for wall mounts needs to be part of the framing scope. Power and data need to be roughed in behind the display location, not at the credenza location.

This is exactly why we push to get involved at design stage. Moving a power outlet six inches is a 15-minute conversation in schematic design. It is a patch, a paint job, and a schedule delay after the room is built.

On multi-room projects, standardizing on a credenza-free approach pays off many times over:

Rooms built on the same mounting system share the same service playbook

Spare components are interchangeable across floors

A technician who services one room already knows how to service every other room on the floor

For reference, a 15-room install using the Clam System produced 178 pounds of job site waste, all recycled off-site. A traditional install of the same scope generates significantly more through custom millwork scraps, excess conduit, and field-fabricated parts.

6. What This Looks Like on a Real Project

The Jamf 9th floor build-out in Minneapolis is a good example. The project included multiple Zoom Rooms, a Town Hall with live broadcast capability, and room scheduling throughout the floor. None of those spaces use credenzas. AV components are mounted behind displays on a consistent wall-mount system, giving the design team clean sight lines and giving Jamf's IT staff a straightforward service process across every room.

SunOpta's new headquarters follows the same approach across office, lab, and conference environments. When all rooms are built to the same standard, onboarding new staff to the technology takes minutes instead of a guided tour.

Whether your next project is a single boardroom or an entire floor of conference rooms, the credenza question deserves a direct answer before anyone starts drawing furniture plans.

FAQs

Does removing the credenza affect the quality of the AV system?

Not at all. The same components that go into a rack or credenza mount behind the display on a structured chassis. In many cases performance is better, because cable runs are shorter and airflow is more consistent than inside a closed furniture enclosure.

What happens if a component needs to be replaced?

That is where the wall-mount approach wins. The Clam System opens at 15 degrees for front access. One technician can reach and swap most components without removing the display or moving furniture. Service calls are shorter and cheaper.

Can this work in a huddle room or smaller space?

Yes, and it works especially well in smaller rooms where every square foot matters. The Clam System scales from huddle rooms to full boardrooms using the same chassis family across common room types.

Is this approach more expensive upfront?

In most cases, no. You eliminate the credenza cost from the furniture budget and reduce labor for both installation and ongoing service. Equipment pricing is subject to change without prior notice due to tariffs being implemented, so this is worth discussing with your integrator early in the budget process.

Does this require special wall construction?

Standard blocking at the display location during framing is sufficient. We provide wall penetration specs during design so your GC can coordinate with the framing crew before walls close.

If you are planning a conference room and have not yet decided how to handle AV equipment placement, it is worth a conversation before the furniture spec is finalized. Reach out at Info@Spye.co or visit spye.co/projects to see how we have handled this across projects in the Twin Cities and beyond.

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