Question that came up at my shop today from one of my customers:
There are sets of modular racking for professional audio hardware
There are sets of modular racking for computer hardware (like in server rooms)
Are these two compatible at all?
Having zero experience with the audio side, I submit this to the teeming millions for wisdom.
There are some different rack standards, but the most common by far is the 19 inch rack. This is used by industrial equipment, computers, audio and video equipment, telecommunications equipment, and all kinds of stuff.
Things are measured in “rack units” which are basically 1.75 inches tall. So if you see a piece of equipment that says it is 3U, that means it is three rack units tall (1.75 x 3 inches).
The standard was first developed for telephone use, and the “standard rack” uses the same standard that the phone company developed way back in the 30s or 40s or somewhere thereabouts. That said, I put the words “standard rack” in quotes because there are some variations with screw hole placements and thread sizes and such.
ETA: Just to be clear, the 19 inches refers to the width of the rack (including the rails).
TYVM
I am familiar with the computer side and related nomenclature, just was not sure if there was significant differences or was it usually compatible with some variations as you implied.
Customer was asking if there were computers to fit the racking his DJ equipment is mounted in. So sounds like as long as I measure it to make sure it fits (I have a couple rack mount computer items I could test with) it should line up fine.
Server rack hardware should usually have vibration reduction stuff to not shorten the life of the hard drives inside of it too much. This would probably be good if whoever wants to put dj equipment on it
A couple of the rack mount array options use 2.5" drives. I was already thinking SSD’s to combat that very problem.
Link? I’ve been around a number of enterprise data centers and been responsible for a couple and have never seen any vibration reduction in a rack. Nor have I seen the need; never had a problem with shortened life drives.
But then, server racks generally don’t move except during an earthquake. DJ gear tends to get banged around a bit.
One thing to watch for is that rack mount servers can be really deep, so they may not fit a portable rack.
This is no doubt not relevant to the OP, but I came across an interesting home rack mount option yesterday: LackRack.
Turns out there’s some cheap IKEA tables that are standard width that people have been turning into home computer/audio storage systems. Lots of colors and no doubt easy to assemble.
A few of my clients run large conferences and need to take servers and networking gear with them. I always recommend dj travel racks. They’re about a 1/3 of the height of a standard rack and come with wheels and detachable front and rear panels. Lots of them have vibration proofing inside as well. Plus you can pretend you’re a roadie for a band rather than just an IT geek when you pass through customs.