Equipment Racks

audiobliss

I'm soon going to be looking to purchase an equipment rack when I rearrange my system. I'm not sure how many shelves I want yet, but I want something that's fairly affordable. I'm assuming I'll try to buy it from a member here or possibly from Audio Advisor. I'd want it to work for a while, so I'd want it to be able to accomodate gear I don't have yet.

Gear I'd want to put on it:
TT
Tuner
Cassette Player
CDP
Preamp
Amps (4 monoblocks...might fit on one shelf, but wouldn't want to with the heat they produce)
and possibly at some point some kind of line conditioner or some such

How much stacking of gear could I do to maximize the space available?
What're the brands to look at, and the brands to stay away from?

Thanks!
audiobliss

mmcgehee

A quick google search pulled up this site:

http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/product197_0.htm

Never shopped with them, but they have some nice stuff.


This place is offering free shipping

http://www.standsandmounts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=209

organ

Check out some racks at CC or some audio shops. There's really no point in buying used racks from a member. Shipping cost is going to kill you.

audiobliss

organ wrote:

Shipping cost is going to kill you.

Good point. I wasn't sure if CC and BB would have anything worth buying; I never looked at them there, and I hardly go shopping at those places any more. However, I'll try to swing by one of them here soon.

tryrrthg

build your own flexi rack. Easy, inexpensive, and custom. I've build one and there are a few others around here that have.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/flexye.html

Attached is a semi-shot of mine.

faster100

I also need a new rack,, how did you finish the shelves on the flexi rack? and what wood did you use for the shelves..?

tryrrthg

faster100 wrote:

I also need a new rack,, how did you finish the shelves on the flexi rack? and what wood did you use for the shelves..?

I used MDF and wrapped it in cherry vinyl from Parts Express. You could go just about any route you want, but painted MDF is probably the cheapest.

krabby5

what's a cassette player?:D

audiobliss

That's a neat looking rack, tryrrthg. It actually looks like it could be perfect.

krabby5 wrote:

what's a cassette player?:D

LOL!

Demiurge

DIY can also be a huge pain in the **** and cost you more in the long run if you don't know exactly what you're doing or have all the tools. Not everyone is 'talented' enough to make good home made things. That's something you'll figure out eventually -- so I wasn't sure if that was up your alley or not.

Also, if you're going to be moving a lot -- don't buy expensive racks because you're just going to destroy them. Don't worry much about good furniture until you're going to have your own home. That's just my .02 cents. I would go to BB or CC, or better yet -- browse a Good Will.

crazy

http://www.soundations.com/ --> coolest designs

http://www.audio-video-furniture.com/Audio-Racks.htm --> nice designs

http://www.racksandstands.com/ --> lots of options

Brand Names:

1) Sanus
2) Salamander --> very clean designs
3) Omni Mount
4) Bello

I-SIG

I like my VTI rack quite a bit.

Wes

audiobliss

Demiurge wrote:

DIY can also be a huge pain in the **** and cost you more in the long run if you don't know exactly what you're doing or have all the tools. Not everyone is 'talented' enough to make good home made things. That's something you'll figure out eventually -- so I wasn't sure if that was up your alley or not.

Also, if you're going to be moving a lot -- don't buy expensive racks because you're just going to destroy them. Don't worry much about good furniture until you're going to have your own home. That's just my .02 cents. I would go to BB or CC, or better yet -- browse a Good Will.

Good points. I'm definitely not totally inept at working with my hands, but I'll readily admit I'm not too talented with it and have next to no experience with such things. I'll check out the DIY rack and the expenses involved, but I'll also check out the local GW. That was a good idea.

Thanks to everyone else for the other suggestions, too!

halo

I love my racks from studiotech (I have the HF-33 and the HF-6G - similar to the HF-4 but with glass shelves). The HF-33 is cheaper at racksandstands and the quality is top notch, no tools are needed for the assembly, you can put it together in less than 10 minutes, and you can break it down to re-arrange shelves or change out pole lengths to suit your application.

audiobliss

Those Studiotech racks do look really nice.

tryrrthg

The only way you could possibly screw up a flexi rack is by drilling the holes bigger than the diameter of the threaded rod. If you buy 1/2" threaded rod, drill a 1/2" hole. simple as that.

Have HD or Lowes cut the MDF for you, then all you need to do is drill the holes. It's best to drill the holes through all the shelves at the same time, that way they all line up.

unc2701

Yep- can't go cheaper or easier than a flexi rack. I'd reccommend 13 ply birch- if you route the edges with a roundover bit then clear coat the whole thing, it looks great. I've also done one in oak ply w/ 1x2 oak facing. It takes longer to thread the nuts into place than it does to make the shelves.

MDF would certainly be the cheapest- my only reservation is that it might be prone to warping eventually.

audiobliss

I don't know anything about buying wood and such, so I have no idea what I'd want. How much weight can MDF, 13 ply birch, etc support?

unc2701

Depends on the size of the span. If you space the vertical rods a little more than one component width apart you'll probably fine with just about any 3/4 inch material. So if you got 2'x4'x3/4" material, you'd want 6 rods- one in each corner and two in the middle.

I like the 13 ply birch not for the strength, but because it looks good just with a little sanding- you don't have to laminate it or put anything on the edges.

crazy

Not to try and attempt to steal audiobliss' thread, but I was wondering if anyone knows if there's somewhere I could purchase a single rack, rack?

Right now, I have my amp on a table. But there is no room to put my future CD player. I don't want to put my CD player on top of the amp directly but if I had some sort of a shelve or something with 4 legs that I could put on top of the amp, I could place the CD player on top of that.

I'm not looking for an amp stand (http://www.standsandmounts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=216)

but something more like this http://www.standsandmounts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2017

The amp goes down below while the CD player sits on top.

Any suggestions or is the Sanus Systems add-on described above my best bet?

Gaara

Salamander makes a two shelf stand for around $100 which may work in this situation. If the amp is to large to fit on the bottom shelf then personally I would build a flexy to serve this purpose. You could make it short and have the legs rest on the amp, or a little taller and have it just outside the sides of the amp.

As for flexys in general, I love them. I have built three now, one for my equipment, one for my cds and dvds, and one for shoes for the family. Personally they are easy to make, the only time consuming part is threading the nuts on. My last one that I made only took about three hours and about $70 worth of materials. Not bad for a staggered shoe rack that holds 24 pairs of shoes.

Jared

crazy

Gaara wrote:

Salamander makes a two shelf stand for around $100 which may work in this situation. If the amp is to large to fit on the bottom shelf then personally I would build a flexy to serve this purpose. You could make it short and have the legs rest on the amp, or a little taller and have it just outside the sides of the amp.

As for flexys in general, I love them. I have built three now, one for my equipment, one for my cds and dvds, and one for shoes for the family. Personally they are easy to make, the only time consuming part is threading the nuts on. My last one that I made only took about three hours and about $70 worth of materials. Not bad for a staggered shoe rack that holds 24 pairs of shoes.

Jared

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a "flexy" and where can I get these?

reeltrouble1

What is the floor this rack is going to be sitting on made of and what is underneath the floor?

RT1

unc2701

crazy wrote:

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a "flexy" and where can I get these?

See above, but in short, you get 1/2" threaded rods, bolts &washers from HD or lowes and a few pieces of 3/4" MDF or plywood. cut the plywood the size of your shelves. Drill 1/2" holes in each corner of each sheet of MDF (centered about 1" from each edge). put bolts above & below each shelf, level, tighten and you're done.

Gaara

Here are the directions I used originally Except I used dampening material after, didn't lube, and didn't use the rubber washers.

audiobliss

I finally got around to reading about the Fexy rack on TNT's website. That sounds like it'd suit me perfectly. However, I have some questions.

1. Did anybody actually spray any of that vibration damping material on the bottom of their shelves? Does that actually help?

2. Why do they recommend using three posts instead of four? Wouldn't four be a lot more stable? I certainly wouldn't mind paying for just one more post for the extra stability.

3. Cord management. How would drilling another 1/2" hole in the middle of the back (or two, one on each side, one for power and one for signal) do for managing your cables?

Thanks!

unc2701

1)I hung mine from the ceiling, so vibration really wasn't a problem.

2)Three is stabler than you might think. No matter what, all will be in contact with floor, whereas you can get some rocking action with four. Four also gives more floor contact for vibration to get transmitted to the equipment. If you don't need it, dump it.

3)should work great. Wish I'd thought of that. Just don't put them too close to the holes for the rods.

tryrrthg

1. I didn't. Use cut up mouse pads or something under equipment instead.

2. three is also easier to level than 4 posts.

3. You'll likely need a bigger hole than 1/2" for power cords. I would consider just using some hooks or something mounted to the back of each shelf. There is nothing more frustrating than having to re-route all cables through holes when you need to change something. Hooks would make it a lot easier.

audiobliss

I just remembered I have $100 in Target GF's, and a Target just opened 4 mintues from my house last week, so I was just browsing their website as well as CC's and BB's. Mainly because I don't think I'll have time to devote to this Flexy rack before school starts (and yes, I know it wouldn't take that long). However, I didn't really find anything that's what I want.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_1/602-2378673-9041461?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000CSXRFU
That looks pretty nice, and is also quite cheap - relatively speaking.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_7/602-2378673-9041461?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000DN79BW
A little taller, with a drawer, and a bit deeper. Deeper is good, but I wouldn't use the drawer and taller isn't good; and it's more expensive.

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/122685/originURLEncoded/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.circuitcity.com%252Fssm%252FStands-Mounts-and-Storage%252Fsem%252Frpsm%252FcatOid%252F-12892%252FN%252F20012866%2B20012892%2B1330%2B40001066%252Flink%252Fref%252Frpem%252Fccd%252Fcategorylist.do/rpem/ccd/productDetailAccessory.do#tabs
This is by far the nicest looking one, but I couldn't find any specs on the shelf size, and it's more than I want to spend.

I'm thinking the Flexy rack has got to be the right answer. Plus, I'm now considering going with a side-by-side configuration instead of tall, since it's going in front of a window.

audiobliss

Oh, and thanks for the answers to my questions; they all make sense.

sucks2beme

I did a flexi rack with 3/4" by 2'x2'. I cut four 5/8" threaded rods, and used 1/2" pvc to cover the exposed rod. By cutting pvc to fit over the treaded rod as it was built, the spacing on the shelves was easy. I have a miter box and used a dead stop so all four pieces of pvc were the same length. If you are not handy, don't even try this! The cost is not cheap, but it customizes
well. It also takes time to cut all these pieces and assemble. I painted the pvc, washers, and nuts with a black/metal flake spray.
There is a example on the net of this. Sorry, I'm on dial-up today, or I would search for the link.