Bought some new racks for the gear

Ron-P

Found these at a Target by my work for $16, and in black. So far they seem perfect. Each shelf can hold up to 160lbs., they have rubber feet and each shelf has a plastic isolator between it and the legs. Add to that the wire shelf, so all-n-all these should do a pretty good job at isolating my gear from vibrations.

I got tired of my old, worn out DIY racks made from mdf and all-thread rod.

jgido759

I have had the same rack for years and it does work out very well. Even used velcro wire ties to fasten cables to the legs.

superjunior

in black and for $16 - good score

Conradicles

Do they sell them online? Anybody got a link?
Those are nice for the $.

AGUERRA

have one of those but bigger and use it for storage they are awsome never thought about a rack though good idea

Phil Dawson

I use a bigger version that I got at Lowe's. I also bought the heavy duty casters for it so now it is easy to get behind all of the gear and check/move cables etc. The shelves can be placed at 1 " intervals when you assemble the unit. Extra shelves are also available.I got mine in an antique nickel finish - white, chrome, and black are also available. I think my total cost was about $80. It works great.
Phil

SRS-SDA Front
2 cs400i Center
SRS-SDA Rear
Shure 12in sub
B&K ref 10 pre-pro upgr to ref 50
Techniques 1200 TT
Mac MR71 Tuna
Lexicon rt-20 uni player
HK citation pre for TT
2 PSE Studio Mono Blocks
4 PSE Studio Stereo Amps
1 Mac 2100 Amp for su[/SIZE]b

madmax

I must say, I don't care for those. There, I said it.
madmax

Face

Ron-P wrote: »

Each shelf can hold up to 160lbs.

And if you come close to that rating, the shelves will sag.

cfrizz

I have a 36" wide 5 shelf unit on wheels. It's been holding up my 130lbs TV, & my 42lbs amp & my 32lbs center channel for years!

It might not look all that fancy, but I don't have to worry about it collapsing under the weight. And that's ALL I care about!

cfrizz

Conradicles wrote: »

Do they sell them online? Anybody got a link?
Those are nice for the $.

Go to any True Value store. Or http://www.metro.com/healthcare/shelving/wiresolid

danz1906

Sweet-Great deal!

Ron-P

Face wrote: »

And if you come close to that rating, the shelves will sag.

Considering I'll be putting one amp per shelf I don't think I'll ever get near that, maybe 25 lbs is about it.

madmax wrote: »

I must say, I don't care for those. There, I said it.
madmax

Hey, there not for everyone. But perfect for me, why; great for air flow for the gear, strong, and black, to which they'll completely disappear when the lights go out.

treitz3

Ron-P wrote: »

....perfect for me, why; great for air flow for the gear, strong, and black, to which they'll completely disappear when the lights go out.

We are still talking about racks, correct?

Ron-P

HA HA, yes we are, not the type of women I'm into.

treitz3

You prefer the ones who like the purple pill I presume? :eek:

I keed, I keeeeed. Just razzin' ya' tonight.

maximillian

Ron-P wrote: »

Hey, there not for everyone. But perfect for me, why; great for air flow for the gear, strong, and black, to which they'll completely disappear when the lights go out.

I must say that I am with madmax. Sure you won't see them when the lights go out, but when you try to show off your gear to someone they will not be impressed. Many people care how their equipment looks. The color of the unit, it's front panel design, scratches (lack thereof). Why would you then put the equipment on what is in essence a kitchen rack?

IMO, those shelves belong in a garage or pantry. To each his own.

Ron-P

maximillian wrote: »

I must say that I am with madmax. Sure you won't see them when the lights go out, but when you try to show off your gear to someone they will not be impressed. Many people care how their equipment looks. The color of the unit, it's front panel design, scratches (lack thereof). Why would you then put the equipment on what is in essence a kitchen rack?

IMO, those shelves belong in a garage or pantry. To each his own.

Heck, before I changed the theater room all my gear was hidden behind the screen wall so you couldn't see any of it.

Plus, I like to show off my room when it's fired up and the 7.1 system is running with the 96" screen showing off the 1080p image, that's what really counts if you're into showing off your rig.

...and, these look much better then the DIY all-thread rod shelf system that I have been using.

Ron-P

maximillian wrote: »

I must say that I am with madmax. Sure you won't see them when the lights go out, but when you try to show off your gear to someone they will not be impressed. Many people care how their equipment looks. The color of the unit, it's front panel design, scratches (lack thereof). Why would you then put the equipment on what is in essence a kitchen rack?

IMO, those shelves belong in a garage or pantry. To each his own.

Before I changed the theater room, all my gear was hidden behind the screen wall so you couldn't see any of it, none, other then the PJ hanging from the ceiling, even the speakers were hidden.

I like to show off my room when it's fired up and the 7.1 system is running with the 96" screen showing off the 1080p image, that's what really counts if you're into showing off your rig. But, you are right, some are more into showing off their gear.

...and, these look much better then the DIY all-thread rod shelf system that I have been using.

Phil Dawson

I have always had trouble getting close to the idea of spending as much or more on a rack than on a nice piece of new (used) gear. I use a rack like this and I got in the same finish as the rest of the hardware in my house and I think that it looks pretty good - certainly better than the cinder blocks and particle board that I used for many years. I love being able to get behind it (it's on casters) to change things. I have been in Madmax's living room and I can see how it wouldn't look good there (by the way I am jealous of his system). The big boys he sold (gave) me are still sounding great. This is a good alternative fro those of us that don't want to spend a lot of money on a rack. I have always thought it was more important to impress others with the sound of my system than with the look of the rack.
Thanks again Chuck, Phil

SRS-SDA Front
2 cs400i Center
SRS-SDA Rear
Shure 12in sub
B&K ref 10 pre-pro upgr to ref 50
Techniques 1200 TT
Mac MR71 Tuna
Lexicon rt-20 uni player
HK citation pre for TT
2 PSE Studio Mono Blocks
4 PSE Studio Stereo Amps
1 Mac 2100 Amp for sub

sTiLlLeArNiNg

great rack for a good price! An acquiantance of mine has used one for year's without any issues

madmax

If it had a 1" layer of mdf under each component I would be happier. I see noise galore vibrating through each component.
madmax

Ron-P

How so?

madmax

Ron-P wrote: »

How so?

First of all I have found some components sound best when spiked to a higher mass (usually things that vibrate), some when isolated totally (usually things you don't want to vibrate). Also, you can't get rid of a vibration, you can only transfer it. Since I don't know everything I tend to try both ways.

When I see multiple small mass structures like the racks are made of I see multiple tuned elements, each resonant at different frequencies. I see these multiple frequencies being transfered to a higher mass, the component. Really though, the component has a bunch of vibrating components all resonant at different frequencies too. All of this combines and there is no control at all of which freqencies vibrate what. If you had a higher mass than both the rack and component it would give a path to dampen the higher frequencies of both the rack and the component. Hopefully the lower frequency vibrations won't cause dynamic variation of the capacitor and inductor values in the component. If it does, at least it will be more controlled.

Just a theory but I see more and more people go with very rigid higher mass platforms to sit their equipment on. To date I have never had a component sound good on a piece of glass. Its very rigid but has a faily low mass. (transfers higher frequencies)

I don't know if all this is correct or not but this is where I'm at.
madmax

Ron-P

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I've never put much coin into racks, of course, I've never had a problem so until I do, I won't dump a lot of money into them.

The nice thing about these racks is the threaded feet. I can get some spikes to screw into the bottom of the legs instead of the rubber feet supplied, doing this should really cut back on vibs that may get to the gear.

Just finished getting the bulk of the gear on the racks and wired up. I need to buy one more set so I can get a couple more shelves. Lots of clean up and wire management to come but for now, it's time to watch Van Helsing on Blu...

jgido759

Not bad, Ron. Is that split-loom between the racks? You might also want to look into some black cable ties.

With the lights out, it should disappear into the room.

nguyendot

Those go on sale all the time at target for $12 for those of you thinking of doing this.

I use the same onese with closet doors across two of them for makeshift desks!

I find them not quite deep enough for my equipment (I don't like stuff hanging off the back) but if you don't mind that, they hold up standard pieces of equipment quite well.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Can someone explain how vibration's will affect an item such as an Amp or AVR? I can understand a TT or CD/DVD

Face

Vibrations affect all electronics. Tap on a crossover capacitor while playing music, you can sometimes hear it through the speaker.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Ok and how does it work really? It's kinda hard to get my head around it when you say it that way. Do the vibration's alter the electricity and cause distortion's?

I'm no electrical specialist so i really don't know but i would like to know! lol

Ron-P

jgido759 wrote: »

Not bad, Ron. Is that split-loom between the racks? You might also want to look into some black cable ties.

With the lights out, it should disappear into the room.

No split-loom on the racks, they came all black. But, lots of black split-loom, cable ties and clean up work still to do.

Ron-P

nguyendot wrote: »

Those go on sale all the time at target for $12 for those of you thinking of doing this.

I use the same onese with closet doors across two of them for makeshift desks!

I find them not quite deep enough for my equipment (I don't like stuff hanging off the back) but if you don't mind that, they hold up standard pieces of equipment quite well.

The only piece that hangs over the back rack is the Onkyo receiver, everything else has several inches of rack space behind with nothing hanging over the front.

Eventually I want to ditch the Onkyo and get a pre/pro but prices are just to high so the receiver has to do it for now.