Cable management

A new rack with cable management features. Don't put the power cords and the interconnects through the same holes, though...RFI interference.

What racks out there come with cable management? Thedautch, any ideas?

Tie wraps and little nails or those eye-hooks. Cheap and dirty.

"Hanging all over the place" is probably better, from an electrical point of view, than neatly bundled together. Just keep signal wires away from power. If neatness is the prime requirement, use plastic wire ties (at Radio Shack or the local hardware store).

Wire ties...various sizes available at hardware, electronics, and auto supply stores. As Thedautch said, keep power cords separate from speaker cables and I.C.'s!

Lots of racks have cable management systems. Some great looking ones are form Bell'o and bdiusa.com. Great selections and great designs.

One other comment. If you have to have power cords near ICs then make sure they cross at right angles or as close as possible to this. Having the cords at right angles (perpendicular) to each other reduces, if not elimimates EMF (electromagnetic force).

You could always buy some flex tubing (home depot). My management system is a mix of my racks management, aalong with TieWraps, and flex tubing.

Here in a couple months im going to beuild myself a new audio rack, ive got a wire management system fogured out where the IC's and power never cross paths.

Cable management is a pain in the butt, its almost enough to make me go with a straight 2channel system. Almost..

I went to Radio Shack and bought some of their Velcro strips that are made for tieing cables together. It is Velcro hook on one side and loop on the other so you can wrap it on to it's self. You can cut it to any length you need. Also use the hooks to tie it to or what I did was mount a shelf bracket strip vertically on each side of my cabinet with spacers behind so I could loop the velcro around the strip and wires to secure it. By using both sides of the cabinet you can run signal on one side and power on the other.

I agree with Theo, velcro is easy, neat and very reusable. McMaster-Carr carries rolls of every width and length at good prices (1/2" x 75' $15.50). Use foam pipe insulation to space cables away from each other, both power and signal...
http://www.mcmaster.com

Lots of possible and good looking solutions here:

www.mockett.com

I personally use the velcro tubes.

-j

i checked out the mockett page...interesting, but a bit too much 'Sharper Image' for me. if you waant wire isolation, go to your local hardware store and buy yourself some tubes of foam insulllation used for water pipes. Run your wires through these. It costs only pennies/ foot. Great isolation.