Hi Peter,
Thanks for the good wishes – same to you and your family, and to everyone else’s family on this forum.
And thanks for the photos! The Argosy does look quite nice and makes the wiring look much neater by hiding it, though your wiring looks neat even when exposed.
As you mentioned, we did speak of quite a while ago on this topic in another thread, and the fact that we both have the same Furman conditioner, and now I learn we also have the same UPS for our studios – coincidence? Nahhh. It just shows that you, too, have incredibly fine tastes!
Well, perhaps explaining my setup could give you some ideas to consider. I’ll explain what I did in stages so you can decide which parts you might want to do and what you might want to skip. However, I do want to make some distinctions about terms. The terms console and desk are often used interchangeably to refer to an audio mixer, such as our DMs. In my studio, I’ve used some interconnected tables originally designed to create a computer workstation. Following Argosy’s lead, I’m going to refer to this technical furniture workstation setup as the console to differentiate it from my DM mixer for clarity. So, when I mention to my console, I’m instead referring to the connected table arrangement upon which my mixer, synth, and other equipment sit in my studio. The console is the center of my studio on which all my work is performed.
For starters, I ran a dedicated power line from the main power panel of my home to two strategically located receptacles in my studio. They are a special type known as an "isolated ground" receptacle, and they help eliminate ground loops. By "strategic", I mean one is on a wall on each side of my console so I can feed power to the entire audio system from either one of these two receptacles. I only use one, but having a receptacle on the walls of each side allow me flexibility to re-arrange my studio in different ways. That said, I’m still using my original arrangement, so, go figure.
Into the isolated ground receptacle that I choose, I plug my Smart-Ups 1500 UPS. Into the UPS,
I plug the cable that feeds my entire console. That cable terminates at a GFI receptacle mounted at the back of the console, and into that I plug my Furman power conditioner which primarily adds additional transient suppression to spikes that might have gotten through the UPS. Now, I started without the UPS, so the Furman’s purpose was to clean up the power. But I later realized that a good UPS would provide the same function plus provide temporary power if main power was lost. My thinking at the time was that, in the event of a power failure, this approach would allow me to finish recording a track and then shut down all the equipment gracefully. In reality, I found that the surprise of losing power has interrupted my recording and the primary benefit of the UPS has turned out to be the ability to shut down the equipment gracefully rather than just crashing. Plus, it’s a better transient filter than any lone, spike suppressor.
So, power from the panel feeds to an isolated ground receptacle to reduce the chance of ground loops, to the UPS to provide clean power and provide 20 – 30 minutes of uninterrupted power if the mains fail, through a GFI to protect me from a ground fault caused electric shock, and into the Furman conditioner. Now, if I hadn’t already bought the Furman, I wouldn’t get one because the UPS is a better transient filter. That said, I bought that Furman unit and I’m going use it rather than place it on a shelf.
Into the Furman, I plugged a 15 amp, 8 switch, power distribution panel. It’s just a box with 8 switches on the front, each controlling a receptacle on the back of this panel. This allows me to turn on just the equipment that I need. For example, if I’m working in the studio, but not on a music project, I may want to play music, but not boot my computer and DAW. This way, I can play a CD without powering the computer, so I turn on just the amp and the CD player. But more importantly, even when I’m going to record and mix, it allows me to sequentially turn on each system without them all coming on at the same time causing a power surge.
Into the 8 receptacles on the distribution panel, I plug cables that feed receptacle box clusters around my recording console upon which my audio monitors, video monitors, DM, main synth, etc., are placed. Take a look at the photo at the link below. You’ll see these receptacle boxes of 4 or 6 receptacles in a box and they’re numbered. These correspond to the switch numbers on my distribution panel.
https://www.tascamforums.com/attachments/power2-jpg.1313/
For example, switch 1 controls the amplifying equipment. So into that circuit, I plug the stereo amplifier feeding my main monitors, the subwoofer, and the signal crossover. The crossover sends all frequencies over 80Hz to the main monitors and everything below 80Hz to my Velodyne subwoofer. The crossover does not use brick-wall filters, the signals actually overlap some; but the crossover maintains even amplitude levels across the crossover range. For example, the highs are being reduced as the lows are increasing on the signals going to the subwoofer and the opposite is true on the signals going to the main monitors. I don’t remember exactly, but I think the filters were 12dB per octave. Here’s more about the aforementioned receptacle boxes.
These receptacle boxes and cables are cheap to make yourself. I have multiple boxes with the same number around the studio console - each piece of equipment plugs into the proper circuit box to which it is closest. So, there might be two boxes numbered 1 and they’re controlled by the same switch and I put related equipment on a circuit.
Switch 2 feeds power to the computer, upon which the DAW runs and its two video monitors.
Switch 3 feeds the DM4800 mixer, external mic preamps, headphone amp, etc.
Switch 4 feeds my primary synth, drum machine, Line 6 Pod Pro for guitar amp and speaker emulations, etc.
I also have a lighting switch controlling the circuit that feeds the under shelf lighting around the console that lights the mixer, synth, equipment rack, etc. However you decide to do this, you get the idea. It’s important to note that every foot of wire and every switch and receptacle device from the main power panel through to the receptacle boxes are rated for 15 amps each – this is more than enough energy to power all of my electronic equipment in the studio.
Below is a link to a photo of my studio. You can see the console tables, equipment racks, a Hammond organ, etc. The Furman and the power distribution box are at the top of the equipment rack on the right of the console:
https://www.tascamforums.com/attachments/dm4800-pt-jpg.1304/
As you can see, this is a fairly simple arrangement in a simple studio, but it provides a lot of control and flexibility as well as being a clean setup and being easily understood. One minor additional thing I wish I had done was place a label on the near the plug end of each audio equipment power cord describing what the plug feeds, such as labeling the DM plug with a label saying “Mixer”, one on the amplifier cord saying “Amp”, etc. I’m going to do that soon because it certainly beats unplugging each cord to see what goes off when I need to power down just one piece of equipment if there’s a problem. Worse, I once accidently pulled the wrong plug and crashed my computer. Now, I’m afraid to pull any plug when in the middle of a project. Proper labeling would make that action safe and easy.
Sorry for this long post, but I hope it helps and feel free to ask any questions. I’m likely too close to this and don’t know what important parts I should have additionally explained.
Jerry
