We're embarking on our first Equipment Rack job. I'd be very interested in any tricks of the trade, best practices, dos/don'ts etc you guys have learned from experience.

Eq placement, ordering, etc?

Cabling best practices or processes ? (order of eq to be cabled up, order of cabling tie up per equipment, external cable routing, interconnect cable routing, type(s) of cabling, etc?)

Accessories that aid in dress out? (lacer bars/panels, cable ties/clips, etc?)

Other tricks of the trade, suggestions, opinions or gotchas to watch out for?

Thank in advance!

Have all of your components laid out ahead of time.

I place stuff that doesn't normally need to be touched or viewed (amps, sat boxes, etc.) on the bottom.

DVDs and CDs should go at a comfortable height for loading and looking down into the trays.

PrePros/Receivers should go at eye level.

Plan your power distribution very carefully. Make sure that you have enough jacks for your plugs, and that your power cords will be long enough to reach your power strips.

I bundle signal cable and speaker wires on one side and power cables on the other side.

Use racks that are large enough to accommodate future expansion and will allow for proper venting panels.

That's just a few that jump to mind.

Awesome, thnx very much AHEM! I appreciate it very much Sir...

If I may ask....in regards to cabling it all up.....which in this case the racks (two of them) will have a mix of external cabling coming in and some internal interconnects. Do you recommend a certain order....like interconnects first and then external cables?

Also, do you have a preference of using single conductor interconnects or siamese'd interconnects? I'm basically talking component video, l/r audio (analog) and single digi coax audio type stuff.

Thanks again...

If this is one of your first (gee, I still remember my FIRST, then I remember my first Rack too)...

Being this is a first one for you, I'd use velcro wraps instead of plastic cable ties, because, the first few that I did, I'd stand back and admire - then I would see a lot of things that I should have done differently, and it's a lot easier to re-do stuff with the velcro pre-cut wraps.

AHEM nailed everything pretty much, in fact I wish I'd had that info a few years ago, I'd print it out and stick it on the office or equipment staging area of the shop.

Have fun, as racks are kinda fun to do, when you are not in a huge rush - and they are sort of an art-form too!

I agree with Stanley about the velcro straps. It's easier to add cables or wire later with them rather then cutting all the zap straps off. When using a AC line conditioner in the rack I like to label all the AC plugs and ir emitters if they go into a processor. This helps at a later date if you need to service the rack.
Take your time and make it neat.

Use lacing bars to guide the wires to the back of the components. I bring along flat, 1". and 2" versions. Also use custom cut wires, we use AudioQuest ITC.

Read thru these links they will be of great help.
[Link: middleatlantic.com]
[Link: repnet.middleatlantic.com]
[Link: middleatlantic.com]

Read the grounding white paper at MA.

Make sure you get gangable WRK's if you are doing 2 racks.

Your first didn't have a rack? SHAME on you!

A while back i posted pics of a rack i had done and sought opinions on what people thought of the work because i was looking to improve my methods. That thread is below. Maybe have a look at it because there were some good helpful hints in there, despite the general consensus being that it was a reasonable job. I learned much from the comments.

Simon.

[Link: remotecentral.com]

LOL!!! Raisons on a board!



...My first kiss you perv!

Put as many vent panels in as you can, don't put any fans at the top and bottom and don't label any wires. I also wouldn't worry about wire management or power management on your first one. Just get it done and move on. Oh, and lots of wire ties - every 1/4 inch use another to be safe.

Make sure to use lacer bars and make sure there is 1 for each piece of equipment. It works best if you use custom length wiring for everything possible, but if you have to use premade cables (power, hdmi, etc.) try looping the extra wire at the trunk line rather than at the equipment. This leaves it looking cleaner but harder to remove. I also like to have all of the incoming wire coming in at one point either the top or bottom and have a "trunk" for all of the wire to run, separating power on one side of the rack and all others on the other side. It's never possible to completely separate the power, so don't stress over it too much. Since you said you've got two racks next to each other you can think of this in 2 ways. You can run your inter-rack wiring down your trunk then into the next rack's trunk, or you can loop it straight across (which looks terrible if there are no holes between), but the second method requires a lot less wire if money is an object. I just added a second rack to a PVID system and had to run 400 feet of loop wire to the new pvid and pad8. Had i just ran it straight across that wire length would've been less than half of that, but I wouldn't have been able to close the doors. Looks mean a lot to rack owners. For general wiring tips check out that pic from the earlier post as a good example. Pull all connection points to the lacer bar then use a zip tie to make sure there's no stress on the connection without leaving slack. Too much slack means a messy rack, but not enough means a service call when it pulls loose. It also helps to make sure you have a deep rack, so you can mount things like baluns and network switches to the inside wall with velcro and not have to use a rack shelf mounted to the rear rails (this only works if you have extra space in the rack). My main rule is one bundle coming in to the rack, not several bundles strung all over (sorry simoneales), but sometimes this just isn't possible. Remember "custom" means we do whatever necessary to make it work. Also, i always do internal wiring first before pulling external wire into the rack, to answer your question.

Thanks everyone! I REALLY appreciate the input.

I had read all of the MA docs, lots of good info, thnx SDZD!

And Simon, thnx for sharing your earlier post. I haven't read through all of it yet, but I will by end of today. And the pics are great as well.....very nice Sir!

I do plan to build and use custom length cables. As suggested by Roddy, we're trying to get onboard with Audioquest. Last week, I spoke to the Regional Sales Mgr for my area but he seemed pretty hesitant. He said he would follow up with paper work but I haven't seen anything yet. I'm hoping he will follow up after CES (I assume he's there). Does anyone know if they currently do distribution through anyone? I'll take it if that's my only option. My other option (through disty) is Pl@net W. But I really like the ITC stuff from what I've seen and heard.

Anybody have any thoughts on using single conductor cables for interconnects, versus multiple conductor, siamese'd type interconnects?

Keep 'em coming if you have more thoughts or suggestions...

Thanks again guys.....I can't thank everyone enough....

Sincerely, Roger

i only use velcor. never wire ties.... just my preference