Rackmount Adapters (metal "ears")

Has anyone thought of offering rackmount adapter brackets and associated hardware for the 950 and (hint, hint) the 7100? I will be building an equipment "cabinet" out of the modular shelving products from InterMetro Industries (www.metro.com) and will be using
their vertical rackmount accessory rails to
mount the equipment I have that is typically
mounted in EIA standard 19-inch racks. If Outlaw seriously considers offering such accessories, please let me know. I'll certainly have some suggestions.

Outlaw recommends a mounting solution made by Middle Atlantic Products to mount the 950 in a 19" rack. I use a standard 19" rack shelf for this purpose and it works well.

A word of warning. By racking consumer gear, it is possible that you'll set yourself up for grounding problems. Since consumer gear, by convention, grounds through the preamp, tying multiple chassis together via rack ears screwed into metal rack rails can close a loop leading to hum in the system. Setting components (with feet attached) on rack shelves shouldn't pose a problem. If you must rack, fittings are available (although I can't think of the source right now) that insulate the component from the rails or, worst case, you can mess around with telescoping interconnect grounds (but nobody wants to have to do that). Hope this helps.

You are right: Middle Atlantic makes #10 shoulder washers made out of plastic that you can use, one on each side of the rack ear, to isolate the component when using rack ears.

Soundhound,

I'm having trouble seeing how that works. Can you explain a little more, or point me to a website with pictures?

Thanks,

Jeff

The shoulder washers have a ridge that extends through the rack mount flange screw hole a little bit, insulating the screw from the metal rack ear. You put one of these under the screw head, and one behind the rack ear, on all screws. The rack ear is effectively lifted from contact with the metal rack.

Oh great, more things to spend money on!

Still, it sounds like a good idea. I don't have much ground loop hum in my system, but there's a very, very faint one that I'd like to do away with if the opportunity arose, which it looks like it has!

Thanks for the tip!

Jeff

Shoulder washers will help if you end up with ground loop problems, or you can get a Hum Eliminator. Shoulder washers are about $7.20 for 100 of them. You can get them at www.datarax.com or your favorite local pro audio shop. As for a Hum Eliminator they are a bit more, about $59.00 for a two channel and about $199.00 for an eight channel. You can get them at www.interstatemusic.com or your local pro audio / recording shop. I’d try the washers first if you have a ground loop problem.