|
Post by srhamlin on Nov 8, 2010 10:30:41 GMT -5
I just went ahead and ordered the MA rack shelf for the UPA-5 on Friday, hopefully Emotiva gets around to making something for those who already purchased their rack ears.
|
|
|
Post by roflcatdown on Nov 8, 2010 12:02:17 GMT -5
I just went ahead and ordered the MA rack shelf for the UPA-5 on Friday, hopefully Emotiva gets around to making something for those who already purchased their rack ears. How much did it set you back?
|
|
|
Post by srhamlin on Nov 8, 2010 16:14:56 GMT -5
Any custom MA 2RU-5RU rack shelf is 101$ at performanceaudio, with free shipping.
|
|
shag
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 7
|
Post by shag on Nov 8, 2010 17:42:44 GMT -5
But like I said, I will look into what would be needed to make some trim pieces. I'm sure you're swamped and all, but could I make a suggestion here? There is really no point in advertising a 4RU unit if it can't be used in a 4RU space safely. So, here's my idea: For the 4U amps build a rack faceplate that will bolt-on in place of the existing aluminum trim. The trim will be tall enough to fill standard 5U space. The area between the aluminum trim pieces, where there is only space, will be covered with a perforated blanking piece. Perhaps something like this... (Sorry, crude example done in Visio) One problem with your design - you'd still be exposing bare rack rail between the rack ears. Either the ears themselves, or the trim pieces should be extended out to cover the rail, to ensure uniformity throughout the rack...
|
|
shag
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 7
|
Post by shag on Nov 8, 2010 17:43:17 GMT -5
I just went ahead and ordered the MA rack shelf for the UPA-5 on Friday, hopefully Emotiva gets around to making something for those who already purchased their rack ears. I'm probably going to do the same, and I'm bummed that I have to. The rack ears would be a much more elegant, simple solution...
|
|
|
Post by roflcatdown on Nov 8, 2010 22:08:53 GMT -5
One problem with your design - you'd still be exposing bare rack rail between the rack ears. Either the ears themselves, or the trim pieces should be extended out to cover the rail, to ensure uniformity throughout the rack... I'm well aware of the fact that it doesn't cover the screws on the mounting brackets. Shall I list the reasons why? 1) My design suggestion was put forth to correct a deficient (if deliberate and informed) design choice for ensuring proper ventilation of passively cooled equipment. 2) Mounting screws can vary in diameter, threading, and head size. 3) Building a faceplate that covers screw holes to ensure uniform look would provide an un-uniform look for non-emotiva gear. Like, say, your Blu-Ray player, PS3, Cable Box, DVR, etc. 4) Companies already make snap-in trim strips that will addresses this uniformly the entire rack. 5) Bolt-on facades that require people to repeatedly remove (and potentially damage/strip) the mounting hardware of their faceplate to unrack hardware (UMC-1 firmware upgrades?) is poor user design. 6) It maintains the 17" component width standard 7) People wanting to stack amps could potentially safely do so with these trim plates and still get the "one large amp" look they're going for. So far I'm really impressed with the build quality of the Emotiva gear. I'm impressed with the price. I'm impressed that the user community and company actively speak to each other. Most of the people who own the hardware are very happy with it. That says a lot. I did some reading, I had some concerns, I had some questions, and I signed up on the forums and posted some pointed questions about the UMC-1 firmware issues, and pretty much I'm convinced to buy their hardware. I even noted where people mention rack ears are available, and I've dreamed of owning a clean AV rack for a while. Sold! I go rack shopping, I look at Middle-Atlantic's solutions (50% more expensive), and I don't see the ears listed on the website. "OK, maybe I have to call them. I'll take care of that when I order." Then I go looking for examples of Emotiva gear racked, and Emotiva even advertises the larger amps as being 4RU sized...I see Lonnie's thread from late March of 2010 about the ears being available, and I see about a week later where someone posts that they don't fit their rack. They call Emotiva, they e-mail them, they e-mail some more, eventually they call again some 20 days after the first post about them not fitting properly and the only thing they're told is, "You can return them if you don't like them." Nowhere in that thread is there ANY explanation from anyone Emotiva or otherwise why their advertised 4U device doesn't fit in 4U of rack space. Unless the feet are 3/4" tall or taller, and you can remove them (which Emotiva tells you not to do) it (XPA ANYTHING at 7.75" high) won't fit a 4RU (7") opening. Now, 6 months later on a completely different thread Lonnie says it was done on purpose to ensure proper ventilation of passively cooled hardware. That they (Emotiva) have uninformed customers who keep trying to remove the feet on their gear and stack it vertically to look like one big amp. Again, believable. Companies like Rockford Fosgate used sell trim plates to make multiple amps look like one large one. So, the questions remain. Why wasn't this mentioned when the ears were debuted as being available, and why did it take 6 months to get an answer? Did they goof the design? Did they do it on purpose? Honestly I don't really care about the truth. I just want to be able to rack my Emotiva gear cleanly once and be done with it. As someone who racks network hardware for a living I perfectly understand spacing to accommodate ventilation requirements of passively cooled equipment. Your choices before were $50 rack ears from Emotiva and a $13 perforated vent grill. $63 per unit total. Or $101 from Middle Atlantic. Both take up 5U of space. At least if you eventually replaced your "4U" amp you could still use the shelf and just order a new faceplate I guess. The Middle Atlantic rack isn't a great solution either. You're still using a 5U rack space for an item that Emotiva still markets as 4U to this day, and it has no ventilation in its faceplate. Which increases heat build-up in your rack. In order to get optimal cooling of either solution piece of gear you'd need fans. Those 2U fan panels run about $100 for Middle Atlantic's quiet series. Suddenly your 4U hardware is taking up 7U instead. I suppose could get a couple of those 1U Antec AV coolers that would draw air up through the unit and vent it out the back, but drawing air in a semi-enclosed space tends to create negative pressure areas which hinders airflow through the rack in general. Holy crap am I frustrated. Buying rack-mountable audio hardware shouldn't be this painful.
|
|
shag
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 7
|
Post by shag on Nov 8, 2010 23:44:31 GMT -5
One problem with your design - you'd still be exposing bare rack rail between the rack ears. Either the ears themselves, or the trim pieces should be extended out to cover the rail, to ensure uniformity throughout the rack... I'm well aware of the fact that it doesn't cover the screws on the mounting brackets. Shall I list the reasons why? 1) My design suggestion was put forth to correct a deficient (if deliberate and informed) design choice for ensuring proper ventilation of passively cooled equipment. 2) Mounting screws can vary in diameter, threading, and head size. 3) Building a faceplate that covers screw holes to ensure uniform look would provide an un-uniform look for non-emotiva gear. Like, say, your Blu-Ray player, PS3, Cable Box, DVR, etc. 4) Companies already make snap-in trim strips that will addresses this uniformly the entire rack. 5) Bolt-on facades that require people to repeatedly remove (and potentially damage/strip) the mounting hardware of their faceplate to unrack hardware (UMC-1 firmware upgrades?) is poor user design. 6) It maintains the 17" component width standard 7) People wanting to stack amps could potentially safely do so with these trim plates and still get the "one large amp" look they're going for. You misunderstood what I meant - I'm not concerned about covering the screws. In your design, the rack ears stop at a point even with the top/bottom of the amp, even though the additional trim/vents extend beyond that point vertically. So, the ears themselves are shorter than the height of the amp+trim. Along the rack rail itself, you'll have a gap between the top/bottom of an Emotiva rack ear and the next piece of equipment - exactly like it is today, except the gap now only exists over the rail. I share your frustration on the rack ears, though. A poor solution for the problem they were trying to solve, IMHO.
|
|
|
Post by roflcatdown on Nov 8, 2010 23:58:36 GMT -5
You misunderstood what I meant - I'm not concerned about covering the screws. In your design, the rack ears stop at a point even with the top/bottom of the amp, even though the additional trim/vents extend beyond that point vertically. So, the ears themselves are shorter than the height of the amp+trim. Along the rack rail itself, you'll have a gap between the top/bottom of an Emotiva rack ear and the next piece of equipment - exactly like it is today, except the gap now only exists over the rail. I share your frustration on the rack ears, though. A poor solution for the problem they were trying to solve, IMHO. You could build bigger rack ears, but then this wouldn't retrofit existing customers with rack mounts. The space between brackets doesn't really bother me personally. Just the space between equipment that I can't even fill with a vented blank plate.
|
|
|
Post by srhamlin on Nov 9, 2010 10:18:44 GMT -5
But you have to leave space above and below this type of component either way, so even if the Emo was racked properly as a 4RU piece you still would have to leave 1RU above and below it AT LEAST, so that's a 6RU space. You understand that heat needs to be addressed and they can't be directly stacked on top of each other but then say you're upset the MA solution makes you use 5 RU spaces? Having ventilation holes in the faceplate could ruin the air flow path of a rack system already setup with proper fan ventilation pulling air from the base of the racking through a vent panel and out the top via fans. Air would be sucked through the ventilation holes and would cause any components mounted below it in the rack to heat up.
From my experience with the UPA-5 a fan setup is not even needed. My fans are on an 87degree thermo switch and the amp has never gotten close to warm enough to even kick them on, and it sits in a shelf with 1.5" of room above it and the thermo switch right on top to test until the rack gets here. A 1RU space above the amp should be more than sufficient for breathing room for the amp....Of course I have no experience with the XPA line or higher so maybe they run hotter than mine.
Lonnie's explanation of them making the ears the way they did to avoid people removing feet and stacking components DOES make sense, but it wasn't told up front (or even in a timely manner) which was not acceptable.
The MA rack actually looks better IMO, price was my only concern, I already have the MA racks for my Onkyo, PF60, S470 and PS3, I really was also just trying to save the extra 50$ and go with Emo's ears. Although now I am actually glad I went MA as the Emo ears are much thicker than the regular faceplate racking of everything else I have so it would have broken up the uniformity of it all. Not to mention I plan on adding the rack screw trim that covers all mounting hardware on my rails, which would not fit with the Emotiva rack mount.
I still hope Emo comes up with something for those who already own their rack ears though.
|
|
|
Post by roflcatdown on Nov 9, 2010 13:14:19 GMT -5
But you have to leave space above and below this type of component either way, so even if the Emo was racked properly as a 4RU piece you still would have to leave 1RU above and below it AT LEAST, so that's a 6RU space. Actually, not really. The RSH rack itself is perforated for airflow, and the solution retains the Amp's feet. Assuming that your amp is at the bottom of your rack, there's typically 1/2" to 3/4" between the bottom of the rack and the bottom of the rail. This should give you 3/4" clearance beneath the amp, and roughly 1/2 (minimum) between it and the next device. The more idea solution (To me anyway) would be if MA offered a custom perforated faceplate as an option to the solid one. Actually that solution is sub-optimal. Airflow through the rack is impeded by the racks (perforated or not) and you end up with high-speed eddies that trap warm air. Opening up the back of the rack and blowing air across the top of the device allows you to immediately exhaust the air from high-temp devices (amps) and allow you to simply passively cool the remaining hardware. The video I linked shows thermal properties for rack cooling. To help further assist cooling you could block the vents in the shelf of the first component above the fans. A fan probably isn't really necessary for your average AC cooled home. Most homes here do not have AC because you'd use it maybe 1 month out of a year. I don't know I'd go that far, but it is disappointing and unfortunate at least. Yeah, I hope they do too.
|
|
|
Post by roflcatdown on Nov 9, 2010 13:32:17 GMT -5
OK, enough grousing. I'm just going to go w/ the MA solution for now. If Emotiva does change up the faceplate situation I'll take a look at then.
Since the UMC-1 and the UPA-1 are the same width would the UPA-1 faceplate for the UMC-1?
|
|
|
Post by srhamlin on Nov 9, 2010 15:02:57 GMT -5
A fan probably isn't really necessary for your average AC cooled home. Most homes here do not have AC because you'd use it maybe 1 month out of a year. What's AC??? (says the guy from Maine... )
|
|
|
Post by srhamlin on Nov 9, 2010 15:07:36 GMT -5
Since the UMC-1 and the UPA-1 are the same width would the UPA-1 faceplate for the UMC-1? Guess it depends on whether they use the same feet that position them at the same height (assuming the faceplates are milled out of the same dimensional piece of aluminum....) If you have the component already you just have to fill out the spreadsheet with the measurements and they will make it for you, doesn't take any longer than ordering a piece they already have on their list. (which you may already know)
|
|
|
Post by roflcatdown on Nov 9, 2010 16:49:46 GMT -5
Since the UMC-1 and the UPA-1 are the same width would the UPA-1 faceplate for the UMC-1? Guess it depends on whether they use the same feet that position them at the same height (assuming the faceplates are milled out of the same dimensional piece of aluminum....) If you have the component already you just have to fill out the spreadsheet with the measurements and they will make it for you, doesn't take any longer than ordering a piece they already have on their list. (which you may already know) Maine? That's like Vermont right? 10 months of winter and 2 months of poor sledding? Yeah, I just kind of wanted to order it all at the same time. I didn't know if someone had already tried this or not, or if the feet were the same size... Etc really. I do know that the units do not match in physical depth. I don't have the component yet. I've been kicking my feet, and shuffling them a little, and figuring out what AV hardware it could fit into without angering my wife's decorating sensibilities etc...and since my speakers are still in my Storage unit no point in having gear sitting around I can't use in case I do decide I want to return it. (I very much doubt I will.) I will most likely order by the end of the week at the very latest.
|
|
|
Post by srhamlin on Nov 15, 2010 10:15:41 GMT -5
Mounted the Amp in the MA rack shelf this weekend upstairs in my Salamander stand for now, crappy cell pic:
|
|
|
Post by roflcatdown on Nov 16, 2010 0:01:32 GMT -5
Mounted the Amp in the MA rack shelf this weekend upstairs in my Salamander stand for now, crappy cell pic: Very nice! Thank you for sharing. That looks a lot cleaner than I expected for some reason.
|
|
|
Post by srhamlin on Nov 16, 2010 11:05:01 GMT -5
Yeah I am glad I ended up going with the MA over waiting the EMO ears now. Also, removing the silver plates made it look 100 times better IMO
|
|