Setting Up Audio Racks

Audio racks are just that: racks designed to hold your audio equipment during either usage or storage. Coming in many different styles, racks allow you to have easy access to your audio equipment while keeping it well organized.

Balance

Balance your rack by mounting heavier gear toward the bottom of the rack and lighter items at the top. This will help keep the rack balanced wherever it might be sitting, keep it from falling over as it's transported, and make it easier to carry and lift.

Rack Cooling

Electronic audio and music equipment can produce quite a bit of heat, which is sure to shorten your gear's lifespan is to allow all that heat to build up. If a piece of gear gets really hot - any kind of amplifier, or anything with tubes, for example - leave at least one empty space above it in the rack to allow for airflow. Remember heat flows upward, so arrange the gear in your rack so that heat-producers aren't affecting each other. In some cases a rack-mountable fan like the Middle Atlantic Products QFP-1 may be necessary to keep things cool.

Portable Racks

When you transport your sound system to and from the gig the issues of rack mounting and protection come up. The importance of protecting your gear cannot be understated. However, you can scale your protection to the types of travel and hazards you are likely to face.
If you are moving a small system from your house to the coffee house once a week, then soft racks may be sufficient. Soft racks provide compact, lightweight protection from dust and minor scrapes, while hard cases are designed to protect your gear from the hazards of frequent loading and unloading: the bumps, collisions with other gear and scratches, as well as dust and dirt. Some hard cases include shock mounts and some are ATA-rated for airline travel.

The most important thing is to take care when choosing an audio rack, as like any piece of furniture it should last you for some time. If the cost seems high on a rack you want, make sure it’s worth it. The improvement they can add to your sound is worth the effort.

 

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