Xantech has a cover for the Mouse Emitters: [Link: xantech.com]

What do you do if, on the last one of those beautifully uniform wires, you make a mistake and punch down on the wrong color? You accidentally cut your wire going to the last jack and punch it down on the next to last, now needing at least another inch. Has slack been shoved willy-nilly up into the wall to allow for such human error?

I actually have that question about each wire termination method shown in the other illustrations. Speaker wire, mistake made, have to shorten one wire 1/2". Crimp RCA doesn't work, has to be cut off and one wire shortened. You take a Cresnet to the wrong connector and now the wire is too short to go to the correct one. What does one do?

Let it suffice for me to say that every one of these is neater than everything I've ever seen except for military electronic wiring.

I'm guessing Stamp puts a service loop in the ceiling, for every cable.

Anyone have preferred rack depths?

Sofa....snapav sells those by the bag....I do like to bury my emitters though

I enjoy burying when time permits. If it's a fairly inexpensive piece or out of warranty, I also don't hesitate to drill a hole and install a jack.

There is a 10' service loop above the rack for every wire. In that house there was a loft above the control room and the client requested the long service loop. Normally there is about 6' in a drop ceiling above the racks. If/when their is a mistake i can slide the cable out of the bundle very easily. In most cases i can pull down a couple inches and thread it right thru the bundle where i pulled it out.

You can see the opening from the loft if you look at the cresnet pic.


I do the same thing i do with the Cat5 cables.


The reason its so neat is because i first pull every cable from the ceiling thru an access panel thats located about a foot back from where i plan to bring them thru the ceiling into the racks. I separate every bundle. Blue Cat5's Gray Cat5's Cresnet whatever. I pull the group for voice and the group for phones and then video then audio etc. I put a zip tie up as high as i can on each of these bundles and then i start making the bundles neat a few inches at a time and i put another zip tie on and so on and so forth until i have about 10' of perfect bundles. Then i route them thru drilled holes or cut slots that are right above the rear of the racks so they fall right on the rear rails or just inside them in the case of the patch panels.

I use the same technique with wall mount patch panels. The access panel lets you create nice neat service loops that you can get to when you need to.

Get as many of the old CEDIA Award Nominee Books and have them pour through the best dressed systems section.

We have learned lots of our trim ideas (not just racks) from those systems.

Or you could just hire stamp man for a week long company seminar.

One thing we do that saves a LOT of time, aggravation, space and heat is to not use wall warts at all if the system will have more than 3. I tally up the WWs needed, the various voltages and currents and AC/DC components.

Using the totals I spec out an open frame linear power supply with either single or multiple voltage drops. This is enclosed in a 2u rack unit and all LV power cables are routed to the PS unit and attached using Phoenix strips or on industrial systems, 3,4,5,or 6 pin XLRs.

This also provides all DC powered gear with the same ground connection.

We use color coded boots on the Neutrik XLRs to quickly ID them from audio. Red is DC , yellow is AC.

When we build the PS units we use prepunched panels of LMB Heeger rack enclosure kits we stock. Depending on the budget and the owner requirements, each output is fused with an LED across the fuse holder terminals.

We use this concept for not only WW replacement but for control loop power supplies as well.

One HD supply, all outputs easily monitored and best of all ONE PLUG. drastically reduced lacing/routing and all the inherent problems with WWs.

I buy these supplies from MPJA.com or Jameco.com. New, name brand units at surplus prices.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

small vacation house system we did a few weeks ago..... thats rg59 serial digital coax..... does not dress good too big

One thing that hasn't been covered is using a consistent spacing for labels.  I prefer to space my labels in 1.75" increments from the tip of the connector or from the rear of the casing.  This allows me to use the back of the rack a measuring tool for label application.  The key is be be consistent.  Printed labels are the only way to go.

Also, try to keep inputs coming in from one side and outputs on the opposite side.  This creates a better flow on swithers or pre-amps.

Knowing when to use lacers bars is also an important tool.  Sometimes (as is the case in the below XLR cables) it is better to have a smooth straight loop than to run to the side of the rack and then back to the center.

Maintain the same bend radius for cables bundled together. 

Who plugs a vertical power strip into the UPS?

Not always the UPS, but often into a Power Conditioner.

Ditto.

Power conditioner...OK

Vertical power strip may help here in this pic, with power cord management. Not that it needs much - beautiful job.

thanks your too kind... not one of my better jobs =( omg i just noticed that the power cords were never dressed and just tied up =( thats not good.....

also the rg 59 coax is too big...but i have been using it for so long i just dont want to change....12 years at least...maybe closer to 14 years