What should I do? Think about a small home studio. Should I get one of thos live audio snakes with 16 ins and 4 outs or should I build my snake/wallbox myself? How can I make a wallbox? Any ideas? Parts... etc?
Thanks
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I agree with the snake suggestion.
If you want to get fancy, give Middle Atlantic http://middleatlant… a try. I know they make modular wall mountable stuff that looks good and works well. (Good luck finding it on their website... not very user friendly.)
Hope that helps.
Of course you could do it the "hard way" and have exactly what you want.
I've built wall box snakes and stage boxes many times. It is very therapeutic in addition to giving you exactly the features and style that you want. "Looks" can be very important for other residents of your home studio as well as clients.
In the old days I went so far as to measure out XX runs of balanced line, number both ends, and commence stripping and soldering. Now I buy snake cable by Mogami or Belden, and avoid the whole numbering ordeal.
To match the rest of my facility, I made natural oak wall boxes, with engraved brushed aluminum plates. If you are not equipped to do woodwork, metalwork, or engraving you should be able to job that out for not too much money.
To fit boxes into odd places I have made wall boxes in many different shapes, rectangular horizontal, rectangular vertical, and square.
If your needs are very traditional for connectors, shape, and style, you should probably follow Harvey's advice (the audio world is a better place because Harvey shares his knowlege). If not, building your own is much easier that you might think.
If you decide to roll your own, you may wish to use some of the Neutrik receptacles that accept XLR AND 1/4" TRS.
Full Compass in Madison WI is a good source for parts. If any RO members are in the parts biz they should let it be known because it would be a beautiful thing to support each other.
Jeff Roberts
In Sunny Minnesota
FYI: a few years ago I just put together a small box on one end and a fan tail on the other of a ProCo 8-channel snake that got permanently built into a few of my walls. I ended up choosing a pre-built whirlwind box and filled it with those Neutrik jacks that take either XLR or TRS (very handy). When I was looking for parts, Redco audio seemed to have decent prices. See for yourself at http://www.redco.com/neutrik.html, though you might find better elsewhere. I think RedCo will also built custom stuff for you at very little extra cost above the parts themselves. Or am I thinking of someone else? :)
The model name of the Neutrik XLR combo jack is: NCJ5FI-H (mono). Go to http:// for information on all 4 configurations. And, as I am also about to buy a whole gob of connectors, I must agree with the aforementioned that, as of now, for orders of >10 units, Full Compass has the lowest prices on Neutrik stuff I've been able to find. Now, if someone knows where I can find the best price on Mogami 2549. . .
On my room I bought a used Rapco 100' 16 channel snake which I will be cutting down significantly to reduce the length. It's so much easier to run and it doesn't involve cuttin up any of the wall. It's nice to have something portable in the room too.
Then, I'm making my own patch panel from control room to band room with 2 XLR and 4 1/4" connectors so someone can play outside the room with an amp inside. Check out http://www.cameltraders.com for really cool advice and great prices on cable and connectors.
We did it the easy way - we bought 2 used 16x4 snakes on ebay, and built them into the wall, box and all. Works great.