Physically awkward components...


I have a Bel Canto DAC and even though I really like it, its design is somewhat of a pain for me. I wish all connectors were on the same side of the unit, but they are not. Getting all the cables together is such a pain in the rear.

Anyone else have similar problems with other components?
matchstikman
Ive had plenty of problems with that in the past myself.

seems like alot of cd players and dvd players will have the power cord on the left, with the signal outputs on the right. Then you have a pre-amp that is opposite, with an amplifier that has the cord in the middle with the inputs above that.

It sure would be nice to have somee sort of a standard established, that way you can keel all your signal cables on the left and all the power cables on the right.
Those Pass Aleph 3 amps looked like a challenge to handle! My Mcintosh amp weighs 95 lbs.! It takes two to move the damn thing.
You are right about the Pass Aleph amps. Nelson Pass is sadistic, that't the only possible explanation.
Well my amps are in that weight class but not as cumbersome as the CAT pre, with the power supply.
Yeah, like top loading CD players/transports when you have no other choice (usually due to WAF) but to stack components in a cabinet.

Enjoy,
Bob
Full-range speakers & Class A ss must be the worst of the lot; one of my amps weighs ~150lbs and it's physically large. A tube pre is composed of two heavy parts -- that's cumbersome but manageable.

The pre's cd input is on the far side away from the cdp. If I exchange TT and cdp placement, then the TT input is on the far side of the pre. If I move pre, TT, cdp so the inputs are more or less manageable, the amps are too far away...
Can't win.
Wait until you attach some stiff cables to the Bel Canto DAC! I had one, and thick, stiff cables made that little, black, brick float in the air!

I agree with the Marquis de Aleph statements as well. I loved the way those hot, spiney heat sinks left red, hot indentations on my forearms. Everytime I needed to access the power switch, I was reliving the beginning of each Kung Fu episode when Kwai Chang Caine picked up the molten urn with his forearms and they left brands of the tiger and the dragon.

And, since I'm made of green clay, you can imagine the damage they inflicted on me.
Cogan-Hall cables. I borrowed some to try. Never could bend, fit, manipulate them into place. I spent hours trying to no avail. Never did hear them.
My favorite is the Nagra PL-L preamp with all the inputs on the left and all the outputs on the right. Of course, all my sources are on the right and all my amps are on the left and, because it is a tube preamp, I could not really invert it!

Best solution: Face it away from the front of the rack with a mirror behind it! ;-)
You crack me up green man!! I always had the Kwai Chang Caine thing in the back of my head too! "...snatch the Shakti Stones from my hand young Gunbei and it will be time for you to leave...."

I've got this isolation platform in my work system. It is a laboratory grade isolation platform from a physics lab made from steel and lead which fortunately comes in two separate parts. It has four small shock absorbers as legs. It holds my preamp and my CD player. It weighs in at over 300 lbs!!! It is affectionately known by my friends who've helped me move it at one time or another as "The Widow-Maker".

Marco
Hey Marco, what about them Gigantor sized bolts you were using on top of your gear at one point? It must have been a dicey maneuver to place them on your transport without scratching or denting the tops of the case.

I think that squirrrel-eyed Master Pooh could really see and he was checking out those young boys all the time. Mad Magazine did a funny spoof on Kung Fu, called Kung Phool. Kwai Chang sat around reading "Prayboy" magazine and beat the living crap out of Master Khan when he told him to...

"As quickly as you can. Snatch the pebble from my hand." KERPOWWW!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't Caine have the most contented look on his face every time his forearms made contact with that boiling urn? It must have been a Class A Plinius SA250 or something.
I find drawers that are off center irritating. Many shelves have side posts that wrap towards the front of the shelf and manage to obstruct off center drawers from opening.
Gumby dammit - I still have the bolts, and I was never so daft as to actually place them on the top of the bare neked component.....well, that is after the first time! They have both taken up prop duty and have been recently replaced by other unusual heavy metal objects I have hanging around the studio. Gotta circulate the fun! The weight leaves a nice indentation in the top cover where other heavy objects can sit without fear of an earthquake (here in Seattle) shaking them loose.

I don't think the expression on David Carradine's face ever changed much at all as I recall, no matter what he was doing. Kind'a made you wanna' slap the dude sometimes. I think he was in a perpetual opium coma..that's the only way he could get a grip on that Plinius like that!

Marco
HOw about the arrangement of the IEC, input RCAs and binding posts all on one side of the Berning ZH-270, with the IEC in the middle, separated by about 12" from the RCA on one side, and the binding post on the other? Have not yet figured out how to get speaker cables with spades hooked up on the right channel, w/o the positive passing above the IEC and the negative below. Talk about a conflict! And the little sucker weighs only 15 lbs- easy to pick it straight up w/ any heavy gauge cord. But it sounds terrific, so I guess all is forgiven.
Actaully, jsut was hooking it up, and the binding posts are in the middle. With heavy gauge speaker cables w/spades, the RCAs are in the way of the right channel speaker cable and the AC cord is in the way of the left.
Something else: Naim equipment. Doesn't ring a bell? They do things their own way, which is amdirable, but this DIN-connections.....