Show me your RACK - Page 52

I'm covering my rack door with GOM and hoping the signals pass through. If they don't I'll have to add an IR repeater as well.

Neurorad, is that photo your rack? If so are you going to do a review of it? I'm leaning towards the Mid Atlantic from the Sanus at this point.

If you have the money Middle Atlantic is the way to go. Excellent quality and many options. The only downside is the price. Try to find a used rack if money is an issue.

No, not my rack. Pics from MA's Canadian FB page. I don't think that new model is shipping yet, in the U.S.

MA models and options can make your head explode, and there are several models (of the dozens offered) which could be used for any given situation.

The MA Slim 5 is historically most popular for DIYers, a 4 post skeleton rack. If you need a freestanding rack with sides, top, doors, and casters, and want to splurge on MA quality, then the new RCS series is cheaper than a decked out Slim 5. The 24" depth fits neatly between the 20" And 26" Slim 5 racks.

I got a good look at the BGR Series at CEDIA. The epitome of a well designed product. If one had unlimited funds, it is the top of the line.

What are some great rack mountable AM/FM digital tuners with good amount of presets and looks good on the rack.. .

Markertek has several, such as the Tascam:

http://www.markertek.com/Audio-Equipment/AM-FM-Tuners-Receivers/Tascam/TU-690.xhtml

Thanks for the link and receivers model number. I guess that one they are selling is for over 230 dollars. Is it worth the value to spend that much for a simple AM/FM tuner?

I don't think so, but to each his own...

Several of the AV Receivers have FM tuners built in -- not sure if any have AM.

Thanks for your reply. I dont know what i was thinking since last night.. had spent atleast 2-3 hrs researching on an AM/FM rack mount tuner... I completely forgot that the Denon 4311CI AVR has a high end AM/FM and HD radio in-inbuilt. I guess i just have to install the antennas. Silly of me

Reason i am going crazy about adding components to the rack is i have a few slots empty, and i want to add something to it.. that isnt expensive and wont break the bank.

I will post the pics once everything is done. Until now i have mounted these on my 44u rack.

Rack Middle Atlantic ERK-4425
Panamax M5400-PM
Middle Atlantic LT-1RA Rackmount Light
Furman D10-PFP (extender)
Tascam CD-A700 CD Player & Cassette Recorder
Dish VIP722K receiver (with MA custom RSH faceplate)
XBox 360 Slim (with MA custom RSH faceplate)
Coolerguys 1U Bracket with (6) 40mm Med Speed CG fans / Programmable LED Controller
Denon 4311CI AVR
SuperMicro 24 Bay Server Chassis (72 Terabyte)
Belkin Titan 17" Dual-Rail LCD Rack (model no. F1DC101C-US)
HTPC SilverStone CW02 (with MA custom RSH faceplate)
APC SUA1500RMU2 UPS
2U Drawer
Buttkicker BKA-1000-N AMP (with MA Custom RSH faceplate)
Dayton SA-1000 Amp for the THT subwoofer

There is a 1U space between few components that gets hot. The 1u fan is between the xbox and the denon receiver, to blow out hot air from above the denon receiver and below the xbox.
Now the delimma is, i have a 2u space thats vacant, and for now.. i have no clue what to add there. Hence the idea of tuner. but i totally forgot that the denon avr comes with an inbuilt receiver.

Any suggestion guys.

Start with a good repeater system and they aren't flaky at all. Try Xantech. They basically wrote the book on IR distribution.

Empty 2U - blank plate.

Other ideas - another drawer, keyboard, EQ, DVD shelf, iPod dock, brush grommet pass tbrough for any front cables, LAN switch

Couple of nicer MA ERK racks in Birmingham, AL. Lots of extras.

http://bham.craigslist.org/ele/3457397621.html

I'm seriously considering the MA preconfigured rack but at 80" tall i'm wondering if it might look odd in my family room/tv room. It would be going in a back corner but still. Any opinions?

RCS4224.jpg 35k .jpg file

Yeah, by definition, an AV Receiver must have a built-in radio tuner to be called a "receiver"... The term is quite old, hence why you'll see references to "Pre/Pro" components instead, as that would be a Pre-amp and Processor (with no mention of the tuner).

Highly recommend any one of the Middle Atlantic drawers to fill up that space, assuming you've got adequate blanks for one more component (future) and spacing for airflow. I had a lot of extra space left over in my theater rack, and am so glad I have that drawer for the unused remotes (which get pulled out when things go wonky), a few tools, game controllers, etc.

The other thing I used was the light bar / power strip mounted at the top - the MA pull-out light is also very nice, and comes in handy in a dark theater, too.

Neither suggestion is as cheap as a blank plate, but both are certainly more functional!

Jeff

Here's mine. Built our own house this past year. That was the easy part as I am a former carpenter. I've always been interested in a/v and technology and decided to go for it this time. System contains Apple TV, hdbaset 4x4 distribution, HTD lync 6, pioneer vsx 1122 avr and 2 bell tv 9241 recievers with localized blu-rays at 3 TVs. Not nearly as complex as 90% of the systems on here but works great for me. Still a couple things to work out but it is functional for now.

Can the trim strips be trimmed/cut? I have a supermicro 24 bay server chasssis, that has on/off button on the rack mount ears, and thats mounted to the last four U's of the rack. i have placed an order for the trim strips last friday, and shud arrive by thursday. I was wondering if i cut off the trims at the bottom just before the supermicro chassis.

I dont see why not. I do not have the trim strips but I dont see why they can't be cut.

First attempt at an av rack. I am going to clean up the wiring some and add another patch panel and power strip.
1. Patch Panel (for cat6 ran everywhere in the basement)
2. 24 port gig switch
3. 4x2 matrix switch (my 4x4 doesn't play nice with the projector not sure why yet)
4. FIOS box
5. Receiver
6. PS3 & AppleTV
7. Xbox 360 and wii

^what kind of rack?

Monoprice 4ft relay rack built into the recently completed basement, with the back open to the unfinished storage area so I can walk around and wire it up.
I plan to make (get) a door for it made and I need to add a second patch panel in the back and trunk up cat6 cable so I don't have to feed cables from the back to the switch on the front (I bought a bunch of 1ft patch cables to take care of it once the trunks are in place)

Face plates from there too?

No the shelves and plates came from Musician's Friend awhile ago.
I stole them from my desk (it has rack rails up both sides)

Assuming you mean the MA metal trim strips? Yes, they come in one length and are cut to length. I used a metal cut-off disc with moderately ok results - the plastic end clips covered the imperfections.

I think they've been mentioned previously in this thread, but brushed cable pass through plates are available to pass cables from the front of the rack to the rear, cleanly.

Any pics or details of your cross bracing?

Thanks for the tip. I was able to cut these trims using a dremel tool.. and they came out really well, the caps actually hid the imperfections.

I am almost done with the rack now, waiting for a few 1u blank plates from customavracks. I think it should be here by Monday. Will post pictures by evening.
In the mean time, another quick question.. I am looking for a led/lcd display spectrum analyzer. I know its vintage, but i dont really want any equalization stuff off that. I am already using the Audyssey MultEQ XT32 equalization through my denon 4311ci avr.
This is just for pure eye candy. I like my htpc's vfd spectrum analyzer, but i was wondering if there is a dedicated rack mountable spectrum analyzer that can be attached to an AVR, or something that shows all those dancing leds...
There used to be one Samson D1500, but thats discontinued now, plus its blue color, i'd prefer something in black.

If it's just eye candy, and you have a HTPC, you could rack mount a display or 2 and run RTA software.

Searching for RTAs to meet your shiny and flashing lights needs, I don't see anything current. You might consider that used Samson, Mackie QuadEQ, or DOD RTA II.

I got a clean cut, with a hacksaw.

Neurorad gave very good suggestions, here are a few more...
http://harderstate.com/software-hardware-f20/what-is-this-studio-hardware-t17404.html

or take a simpler approach & use a Rack Mount dB Display( http://tpro.com/cats.php?cat=63 ).

Neurorad thanks again for the tips.

Finally the Rack is fully setup, but the living room is still under construction, i had to remove the foot board trims to do some cabling and few patches to fill on the walls.
``````
The rack is a Middle Atlantic ERK-4425

















This is my first attempt with the Racks, until a few weeks back i did not even know the basics, reading this thread, and help from member like Jautor, Neurorad.. made me get this up and running.

I think i did a decent job with cable management as well, will post pictures of the cabling soon.
Edited by holyindian - 1/15/13 at 6:53am

Looks great !