XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

The Sonic Core XITE hardware platform for Scope

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t_tangent
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XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

Does anyone here have their XITE-1 racked? I have always had my XITE sitting on top of my Quiklok rack stand so it never needed rack ears. But having recently moved I am setting up the studio again and wanted to put the XITE in a rack space in my (ex BBC) desk I just bought since my Quiklok rack stand is now further away. I couldn't find my original rack ears as I must have removed them from the XITE years ago, so I purchased a new pair of ears from SC. However with the rack ears now attached the XITE will not fit in any of the desk's 4 rack spaces. To make sure it wasn't the desk spaces that were the issue I then tried fitting the XITE into my Quiklok rack stand but had the same problem, it just won't fit with the rack ears and is too wide by about 1-2mm.

I emailed SC but I guess there is not much they can do other than take note for future design. But it seems strange that the rack ears make the XITE the only piece of gear I have that doesn't fit the desk rack or the Quiklok rack, out of almost 30 other rackable pieces of gear, every single other piece fits both racks. Using calipers I measured the thickness of the rack ear alloy and it is approx 3.78mm, so a pair adds 7.56mm to the width of the XITE for racking purposes, whereas without the ears the XITE fits in a rack space with plenty of room to spare on each side.

So I just wanted to find out how many others here have their XITE racked, or do you have it free standing.
Xite-1 won't fit in desk rack.jpg
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Bud Weiser
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by Bud Weiser »

hello !

that´s weird !!!
My XITE-1 is racked all the time and it visited several racks meanwhile.
I never got a problem, even when I bought a black Mic/DI frontpanel which came w/ one additional black rackear and screws, replacing one of the originals.

:)

Bud
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by garyb »

wow.
nebelfuerst
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by nebelfuerst »

My Xite is racked without problems.
My rack ears are black and seem to be less thick.
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by spacef »

I have it in a Samson rack and there is no issue.

The only difference I see with your pics, is that - on y model - the black ear is near the power button (on the right), and the golden ear is on the left, near the headphone plug.


Could your rack-ear be reversed ? would it change something if you mount them the other way around ?

pic of my own rack to check ear colors... I hope it helps (even though I am not sure that the color scheme is on all xite... at least, try reversing them.
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t_tangent
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

Interesting. Thanks for the info. Yes when I emailed Holger asking if he had any rack ears for sale he asked if the silver ones would be ok, so I just purchased them as I wasn't that bothered about the colour and just assumed all the XITE rack ears would have the same measurements and would enable me to rack my unit. But I will have to email Holger again and ask him if the black rack ears are made from a thinner metal and if so see if I can replace these for a black pair.

Cheers


Edit: SpaceF, sadly reversing them won't make any difference here as my new replacement ears are both silver and are made from the same thickness metal. But seeing your photo makes me think that maybe the black rack ear is slightly slimmer than the silver one. If so that could explain why a pair with one silver and one black would fit ok, but with the 2 silver ones it makes the unit just too wide to fit. Could you possibly check the thickness of the metal on your silver and black ears and confirm if they are the same thickness or not. Thanks.
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by spacef »

they look the same on my unit (if different, that would not be enough). I hoped that reversing would make it thinner, not for the rack ears thickness, but for placement of screws or inlets etc that could change something sometimes
on my unit, space is tight too, there is probably only 1mm or 2 left, it is larger than other rack units such as behringer, but looks similar to my A16 ultra width.

The only other thing I can think of is to check the rack if it is too tight or find a way to gain that 1 extra mm? I do not know that rack brand so can't really tell.
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t_tangent
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

Thanks Mehdi, yes reversing the ears was worth a try but unfortunately it didnt make a difference.

I was however able to JUST fit the XITE-1 in a space at the top of my Quiklok rack, so I guess the opening width of the bottom of the rack is slightly narrower. Unfortunately this still doesnt help as I would still need to buy a longer set of cables for the XITE to reach across to where my other gear is and sadly reversing the ears still didn't help make the XITE-1 fit in the desk rack. But I guess I will have to live with it for now or rethink my set up. But it's still strange how every other piece of gear fits the desk rack apart from the XITE, and this is entirely due to the thickness of the metal used for the rack ears. Anyway as I said I will drop Holger an email to ask if there were more recent ears made from a thinner metal which nebelfuerst thinks may be the case. We'll see. :) And thanks again for the replies everyone.
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

Interestingly, with the rack ears attached the XITE-1 does just conform to the standards guidelines by 1-2mm.

For example, see https://www.canford.co.uk/TechZone/Arti ... Dimensions


19" rack equipment dimensional data

As specified by BS5954 (1980) and IEC 297 (1975).
* Rack opening width: 450mm
Between fixing centre: 465mm
Between rack outer edge faces: 486mm
Recommended equipment front panel width: 483mm (19 inches)
* Recommended equipment body width: 449mm (maximum)
1U incremental height: 44.45mm (1.75 inches)

N.B. relevent dimensions are noted with an asterisk *

So perhaps its just one of these things. Anyway, its not the end of the world I guess. :)
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valis
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by valis »

My rack has this issue with several pieces of gear, but in a different way. The rack pieces themselves don't have the clearance on the *internal* side to allow all of my gear to be front mounted (as is normal) so for some manufacturers I can only mount the units on the INSIDE. The issue for me wasn't the ear/hole spacing but rather the width of the units not fitting between the metal rails.
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

valis wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:42 am My rack has this issue with several pieces of gear, but in a different way. The rack pieces themselves don't have the clearance on the *internal* side to allow all of my gear to be front mounted (as is normal) so for some manufacturers I can only mount the units on the INSIDE. The issue for me wasn't the ear/hole spacing but rather the width of the units not fitting between the metal rails.

Correct me if I have misunderstood, but yes that is the issue I have, the Xite itself will fit internally if the rack ears are not attached. But once the ears are attached the extra width due to the thickness of the metal alloy which the ears are made from means the Xite only fits as far as where they are attached to each side of the Xite. The front rack ear holes where they would screw into the rack are the correct width apart as are the ends of the rack ears where they would sort of slot into the rack's side edge. But your idea to mount it from the other side is interesting and might possibly work if I can figure out a way to get that done, so thanks for that. :)
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by valis »

I flipped the screws around, the downside is the pokey part sticks out so I bought some rubber end covers for screws and held them on with some rubbery grommets to aid in increasing screw diameter.
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

Aha, I get what you mean. A nice idea so will give that a try on the desk rack. Cheers :)
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

While I think of it, a quick update.

After rethinking my studio layout a couple of weeks ago I decided to swap some rack gear around which meant I was in fact able to place the XITE-1 near the top of my Quiklok rack and it just fitted in there with a couple of mm to spare. :)

So my apologies to all for the confusion.
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by valis »

Happy ending!
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

valis wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:32 amHappy ending!
Just the way I like them :)

And thanks again for all the advice previously
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by valis »

Me? I don't do nuthin here, just quack like a duck.
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Re: XITE-1 won't fit rack as rack ears are too thick

Post by t_tangent »

:)
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