Rack Mounting MC2205, C32, MR78?

[Bubo]

I am looking at rack mounting my equipment, given the pricing of racks and shelves, I hope to get it right the first time.

I will be placing two 19" x 42U racks on either side of the TV, space is tight and this is my only option. Four post racks are too big, so it's two post. Plus I think the gear looks pretty.

From my research, I think the Mac Gear can fit comfortably into the 19" racks, but would like to hear from someone who has done it.

My concerns are:

1. Can the Mac equipment be installed in the racks with the factory wooden enclosures, or do they have to be removed? I think the answer is yes, and it will be tight. Or better to just forget the wood and have access to all of the controls? No wood better for access and heat, but worse for dust?

2. Can the front glass bezels be pushed back into the shelf or do they have to protrude in front of the shelf and rack vertical rails? Again, I think they can be pushed back into the rack if need be.

3. I have listed two shelves from two manufactures that I plan to use, will they both fit the rack, or are the mounting holes and screws different. I think the answer is that both shelves will fit into the rack, but might be different sets of screws which are included with the shelves.

The most viable racks I have found are the Startech 2 post rack with casters. These sell for around $134ea on Amazon.

http://www.startech.com/Server-Management/Racks/DuraRak-42U-2-Post-Open-Telco-Rack~2POSTRACK

http://www.startech.com/media/products/2POSTRACK/PDFs/2POSTRACK_Datasheet.pdf

The shelves are kind of a mixed bag, and I will have to use two manufacturers. This raised the issue of standards, and standards.

For the MC 2205, 85 lbs amp, Startech appears to have a solution in their 2U 150lbs vented center mount shelf, which shouldn't protrude from the back of the rack. I'm planning on mounting it at the bottom of the rack for center of gravity and aesthetics.

http://www.startech.com/Server-Mana...Cabinet-2-Post-Shelf-150lbs-68kg~CABSHF2POSTV

Startech's other vented racks are 16" deep which will leave some of my other gear's connectors hanging over the rear and no lips on the shelf to prevent the equipment from sliding out. Yes we do get earthquakes in IL, much to everyone's surprise.

http://www.startech.com/Server-Mana...erver-Rack-Cabinet-Shelf-50lbs-22kg~CABSHELFV

I did find vented shelves by Tripp Lite that are 18" deep, 60lb capacity, and have front and rear lips which appear small, no drawings available. I am planning on using four of these per rack, with generous spacing for heat dissipation.

http://www.tripplite.com/shared/product-pages/en/SRSHELF2P.pdf


I am planning on leaving the front and sides of the racks open, and spacing the shelves at least a few inches apart to prevent heat buildup and the chimney effect.

Any comments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Mike Gibson]

I don't see any problem with putting the units in the rack with the cases on. I have done it for many years without any trouble so far. I've sat them in both ways. With glass front exposed and prefer to have the front shoved back under the protection of the shelf above. Heat has never been an issue for me but where I live dust is. So I leave the cases on the gear that has them.

Here is a picture of a vertical rack I had. You can see that the newer wide front units are a snug fit but they do fit. I have since switched to a horizontal rack as I needed more shelf space. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Gregory]

My teakwood rack (or cabinet) is just a tad over 19" wide and the ~17" wooden Mc cases fit in with plenty to spare. The rack is 15-3/4" deep with is almost perfect for Mc gear in the walnut cases. Sometimes I use blocks of 3/4" Formica laminate to space the walnut case from the back wall 3/4". That's so the units can be 'pushed' into their panloc rails w/o the case crashing into the teak plywood backing. Without the blocks, the knobs are just inside the cabinet edges. Couldn't fit much better!!

It fit and worked so well that I built another one out of oak:

-Gregory

 

[Mike Gibson]

Looks very nice Gregory.

 

[Gregory]

Thanks Mike but let's see what the OP comes up with. The racks he has picked can be used depending on the decor.. with Mc units in their walnut cases. The 2120 had rack mount `handle´ adapters which bolt-up to a standard 19". If I had to do it again, it would probably be a built-in unit with satin white painted shelving and trim just like the room.


-Gregory

 

[John James]

My teakwood rack (or cabinet) is just a tad over 19" wide and the ~17" wooden Mc cases fit in with plenty to spare. The rack is 15-3/4" deep with is almost perfect for Mc gear in the walnut cases. Sometimes I use blocks of 3/4" Formica laminate to space the walnut case from the back wall 3/4". That's so the units can be 'pushed' into their panloc rails w/o the case crashing into the teak plywood backing. Without the blocks, the knobs are just inside the cabinet edges. Couldn't fit much better!!

It fit and worked so well that I built another one out of oak:

-Gregory

Very nice!

 

[twiiii]

If your speaking of commercial racks built to EIA standards, you have the choice of flush mounting the units using the panloc system or if you choose you can use Midland Atlantic's custom reinforced panels and or shelves for recessed mounting. The also provide cooling systems, sequential turn on controllers, cabling tie downs, Wheels, rollers security doors, and custom panels drilled for connectors for externally mounted equipment. Residential racks can be had in any style you like, metal, glass, wood, etc. Good shopping.

 

[Bubo]

If your speaking of commercial racks built to EIA standards, you have the choice of flush mounting the units using the panloc system or if you choose you can use Midland Atlantic's custom reinforced panels and or shelves for recessed mounting.

Yes EIA standard racks, leaving them open for heat.

I was wondering about the panlocks, I may go this way to save $150 on shelves, plus I like the look and access to the mac controls. I will have to take the panlocks out of the wooden enclosures.



The also provide cooling systems, sequential turn on controllers, cabling tie downs, Wheels, rollers security doors, and custom panels drilled for connectors for externally mounted equipment. Residential racks can be had in any style you like, metal, glass, wood, etc. Good shopping.

I'll give their racks another look, I was looking at Startech for the rack since it looks more stable than a relay rack.

Thanks!

 

[Bubo]

If your speaking of commercial racks built to EIA standards, you have the choice of flush mounting the units using the panloc system or if you choose you can use Midland Atlantic's custom reinforced panels and or shelves for recessed mounting. The also provide cooling systems, sequential turn on controllers, cabling tie downs, Wheels, rollers security doors, and custom panels drilled for connectors for externally mounted equipment. Residential racks can be had in any style you like, metal, glass, wood, etc. Good shopping.

MIdland list only the C-32 for a custom shelf, they probably have others that would fit same form factor.

How could I use the panlocks, they do not appear to be wide enough to bolt directly to the 19" inch rack?

 

[Bubo]

Decison made

I will rack mount the Mac gear using standard 19" shelves. The gear with enclosures will easily fit on top of a shelf and should display nicely.

MidAtlantic's solution for 3 shelves is approximately $500--600 and won't look as nice as the walnut cabinets. Since I will only be transporting the racks 3 feet off the wall and back, bolting everything into the rack is nice but not worth the money.

I scored 15 x 2ru, Southwest Data 15" 50lb load shelves for $300 on e-bay that I will populate 2x 42ru racks with The mc-2205 will require a 150lb load shelf from Startech (others make the same two post shelf) for about $60 on Amazon. The 19" racks with casters are $130 delivered to my door on Amazon.

Stock casters will probably be replaced with better locking casters from Home Depot or similar.

 

[twiiii]

We use to send M/A the cut out dimensions we wanted for their RSH shelves and mounted the panloc panels to the plate with the bottom of the panloc reating on the M/A shelf. For the heavier amps we used their full depth heavy duty shelves and had M/A cut out custom panels to cover the shelf. Other wise we would go to a machine shop and have them make custom anodized 1/4 " thick rack plates to mount the panlocks. (MC 2255, 2125, 2205, 2125) Other wise we sold 2120, 2250, 2200 and 2120 with macs own rack mounts. That's why 2300's, 2500's and 2600's were so popular. If we wanted free standing rack rails with support base, we used Soundiler racks.

 

[Bubo]

Startech 2 Post Rack arrived and assembled.

Wow big.

As soon as the 150lb load capacity shelf arrives, I will build the rack out for the Mac Stack and some other goodies.

 

[Bubo]

Halfway there

Waiting on more 6M cage nuts

 

[kevinmasters]

Looking forward to the end result!

Waiting on more 6M cage nuts

 

[Gregory]

It looks like you have a sub there to the left? That would make sense to extend the very sensitive and dynamic LaScalas down to 20 Hz. The amp is close to the floor, yes? It DOES weigh a hefty 84 pounds. That means you had to LIFT it into (and back out of) the rack at just a few inches from the deck while bending. Aah! Lol

Are you going to use blank panels in the rack? IOW.. inserts to cover open areas?


-Gregory

 

[Bubo]

It looks like you have a sub there to the left? That would make sense to extend the very sensitive and dynamic LaScalas down to 20 Hz. The amp is close to the floor, yes? It DOES weigh a hefty 84 pounds. That means you had to LIFT it into (and back out of) the rack at just a few inches from the deck while bending. Aah! Lol

Are you going to use blank panels in the rack? IOW.. inserts to cover open areas?


-Gregory

Gregory,

The amp was still packaged in its factory box that Mac sent it back to me in after they refirbid it a couple of years ago. The unit is pristine after the refirb, I was unable to set the system back up due to space constraints until now, unfortunately the left analog meter was not repaired.

I dread removing the unit from the rack to take it to a shop, but do what we must.

It's difficulty to find a cantilevered shelf that will support more than 60lbs, so I had to settle for the un-stylish TV shelf that Startech makes for $65. approx 150lb capacity.

Actually, what I am doing is setting up two systems literally stacked on top of each other. The two channel system with turntable etc is being installed in the rack you see in the pics.

When complete, the surround system with a Pioneer Elite and 3 class A yamaha amps will be installed into a second rack on the other side of the TV, the sub woofer is part of the surround system.

As to the 20hz frequency and lower, I am using the low filter on the C-32 to moderate what I am asking the LaScalas to produce.

Because of the age of the 2 ch equipment it is easy to maintain and have serviced, also because of the age, everything needed a trip to the shop, sometimes twice for the last few tweaks.

Rack 1:

Mac C-32, MR-78, MC-2205

Dual 604 Turntable

Wireless Networked Laptop PC connecting to NAS drive and internet as a source, connecting via USB 2 to an Emotive XDA-1 DAC, not a perfect DAC but one hell of a value with lots of connections options. My PC recognized the DAC and installed the drivers...plug and play. Before switching to the PC and DAC via USB the low end using a SONY DVD player was distorted, the clarity with the DAC is noticeable.

Pioneer GR-777 EQ with spectrum analyzer (record tracking was never more obvious).

Yamaha mid line Cassette player ( gave my cassettes away a few years ago, but why not)

Yamaha TX-1000 digital tuner, might as well use it, also needs a complete alignment and a partial re-cap

APC G5 power filter and sequencer (nice for all of the switched gear) great product for the application. IMHO does far more than the $1,000 Furman units at 1/10th the price. I like the high and low voltage shut off thresholds.

Cooling; all of the shelves are vented on the bottoms, all are spaced at least one inch, all components run cold or slightly warm, the MC-2205 stays cold after hours of use.

No plans to use blanks to restrict air flow, besides the rack and equipment have a retro tech cool factor this way.

After all of the equipment is working perfectly, I will take careful measurements and purchase new fit-to-size cables from Monoprice inc balanced from the Emotiva DAC to the C-32. For 1 ft runs I will use a 2 foot cable etc......

Speakers are Vintage Klipsch LaScalas circa 1979 original owner, the crossovers will be going to Crites for a rebuild and test once everything else is perfect, possibly replacing the tweeters.

I built my own pig tails for the speaker connectors so that they could be banana plug friendly using Pomona 5-way binding posts, 14ga speaker wire and lots of electrical tape. If I redo them, I will carve a block of styrofoam to cover the rear of the banana plugs then wrap them in tape, should be cleaner and better. a block of rubber would be better, but may be too much trouble.

In my telecom days, I recall the techs taking weeks to build out the and test the racks for the customers before crating and shipping. That was all new, and still it was a chore.

 

[Gregory]

Gregory, The amp was still packaged in its factory box that Mac sent it back to me in after they refurb'd it a couple of years ago. The unit is pristine after the refurb, I was unable to set the system back up due to space constraints until now, unfortunately the left analog meter was not repaired. I dread removing the unit from the rack to take it to a shop, but do what we must.

It's difficulty to find a cantilevered shelf that will support more than 60lbs, so I had to settle for the un-stylish TV shelf that Startech makes for approx 150lb capacity.

Speakers are vintage Klipsch LaScalas circa 1979 original owner, the crossovers will be going to Crites for a rebuild and test once everything else is perfect, possibly replacing the tweeters. As to the 20hz frequency and lower, I am using the low filter on the C-32 to moderate what I am asking the LaScalas to produce.

Because of the age of the 2 ch equipment it is easy to maintain and have serviced, also because of the age, everything needed a trip to the shop, sometimes twice for the last few tweaks.

Cooling; all of the shelves are vented on the bottoms, all are spaced at least one inch, all components run cold or slightly warm, the MC-2205 stays cold after hours of use.

No plans to use blanks to restrict air flow, besides the rack and equipment have a retro tech cool factor this way.

I built my own pig tails for the speaker connectors so that they could be banana plug friendly using Pomona 5-way binding posts, 14ga speaker wire and lots of electrical tape. If I redo them, I will carve a block of styrofoam to cover the rear of the banana plugs then wrap them in tape, should be cleaner and better. a block of rubber would be better, but may be too much trouble.

In my telecom days, I recall the techs taking weeks to build out the and test the racks for the customers before crating and shipping. That was all new, and still it was a chore.

Hmm.. you have a LEFT power meter that's out? Is it dead? or intermittent?

The 2205 is HEAVY.. and you could come up with angled brackets or braces to support the shelf. They'd be in back, and underneath the amp so no one would see them.. especially if painted black.

You are the original owner of the LaScalas?

Seems like EVERYTHING that's classic has to be reworked a few times these days, and that goes for older automobiles too. Some of us have turned the gear into "ongoing projects."

Your 2205 stays COLD? My amp warms due to the bias settings, and the glass/meter compartment gets nice and warm. I can feel and smell warm air rising up from the meter vents, and that's with the amp "pulled out" from the walnut cabinet slightly. The ports measure around 100° F after a few hours.

Know what you mean by "retro-tech" and I used to be in telecom during Info Superhighway days.

The pigtails look interesting. Have peen planning to do more with high quality banana plugs and jacks on the speaker cables for years. Barrier strips are good but cannot be changed over so easily.


-Gregory

 

[Bubo]

Hmm.. you have a LEFT power meter that's out? Is it dead? or intermittent?


Right is great, left is severely attenuated, moves but barely in unison with right.

 

[Bubo]

Thanks to everyone for their input!

Just picked up MC-2205 from shop and re-installed it in the rack, all components run barely warm or cold to touch.

This is the final rack config, next is to dress it with new fit to length cables and push it back against the wall.

 

[R-2-R]

That sure is a 'sweet' racked audio system setup you have there! :thmbsp:

Like the rack! :tresbon:

I have all mine racked just like that but in an inclosed rack cabinet style.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=371286