Amp Rack Questions

[chrisk]

Hey all, I don't know much about this sort of stuff so I thought I'd start another thread on amp racks. I have a few basic questions about them.

Other than hiding wires and giving an organized appearance, do they serve a purpose? I'm guessing if they do it's to keep the amp cool, or to keep another surface from melting under the amp.. is this correct?

What do people usually make them out of? I know I've seen quite a few that are carpeted.. but then do people use spaces to lift the amp off the carpet?

Any other tips for an amp rack? This is something I'm considering doing because I just got a second amp in my boat and it's starting to clutter the storage compartment a bit. Thanks for the help.

[wotan2525]

Amp racks are mostly just for looks. They keep the wires hidden and tidy. If I wasn't utterly embarassed by my birds nest of amp wiring, I'd show you my setup. Carpeted amp racks have been on my to-do-list for 4 years now but since my "amp" area is under the glovebox, it would sort of be like building a ship in a bottle and that doesn't even include designing it so that the amps could be tuneable. Ughhh.... getting stressed just thinking about it.

[chrisk]

Haha, that's good to know that I don't really have to worry about performance or overheating or anything. I'm considering doing it for the same reason you are, just to get rid of the wiring mess.. however it will be an absolute chore to do so.

Do people just use plywood with carpet over it or what?

[dusty2221]

My racks are built from 3/4 Birch ply that I sprayed with Rubberized undercoating and then covered with Carpet. On the backside, all of the wires are secured and routed neatly. And yes, they are a pain to make, test fit, wire up etc, but totally worth it!

Here is how mine ended up, after revisions. My amps are mounted on studs and bolted to the rack, and also set off the rack by about 1/4 of an inch. You can see the cutout for the back sides of the amps that allows air to move on all sides and through.



and one with them mounted

[KG's Supra24]

Here are pics of the rack dusty came up with ... give you a real nice idea of the cleanliness that can be accomplished ... It just takes time and patience.

[chrisk]

Yeah I've been admiring that rack KG, I'm just trying to decide if it's worth it for me.. I don't have nice new, matching amps like that and it's a bit of a hodge-podge of wires. Maybe I'll get bored soon and tackle it, hard to get bored with temps in the 90's, sun all the time, and my boat sitting on a lift 100 ft from my house

[dusty2221]

Jsut cuz they don't match doesn't negate how nice and clean it makes it! Here was round one before I went all exile on mine.







and what you don't see

[chrisk]

You talked me into it Dusty, good work.

[dusty2221]

You wont regret it! I'm sure you will have a few choice words during designing and fitting it, but it's worth it!

[chrisk]

Finished my amp rack during the forum outage. Really happy with the results. It's nothing too fancy, but it keeps the amps cool, looking good, and out of the way. Here's a few pictures of the process.

Before project:


Took some rocket science to measure the board out:


Board cut, left holes for ventilation purposes and to run the wires:


Board carpeted, just used stainless staples and some gray marine carpet I had laying around from a previous project: