BMU considerations

[Quarknosis]

Doc, I'm considering buying a BMU but I am having a problem finding somewhere practical to place it. It might have to go onto the same rack as the rest of my equipment but I don't want it to cause anything else to hum if the transformer is too close. Is there a minimum distance that it needs to be from the rest of the system and is it better below or to the side.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It should not go in a rack and is probably too heavy. It should be on the floor well away from other gear.

[Fretless]

Is it possible to run a mains block on an extension lead from a BMU ? Or would that defeat the purpose ?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I do it, and I think most users do it. No problem.

[_D_S_J_R_]

I do both with mine. It's in a cupboard at my workstation (posh word for converted computer desk) and sits on its side within, out of the way. The important bits are plugged directly into it and one of the sockets feeds a distribution block...

I really don't believe in blocks and plugs costing hundreds of quid unless you have a silly-money system and need the cachet of such devices to complete the status symbol of this kind of stereo set - hell I reckon most of them make everything so much larger than life they're not really High Fidelity systems... The sound I'm getting from my workroom system is stunningly involving to me - and I'm doing almost everything wrong!!!

I'm a bit angry today, so apologies for venting...

[Quarknosis]

It should not go in a rack and is probably too heavy. It should be on the floor well away from other gear.

Wow, what does it weigh? I would have hoped my rack made from 1.5 inch walnut might hold it.

Dave's suggestion of standing it on its side might be a possibility if I move the rack away from the side wall a little bit 300 x 350 x130 mm dimensions from my research so I reckon about 180mm space needed to allow for the possibility of un/plugging.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Twenty odd kilos, it is also too big for most racks, and for hum fields it is the LAST place you should put it.

I HATE RACKS

[Quarknosis]

It's not a rack in the traditional hi-fi, steel tubing, sense, I just find it easier to call it a rack. It is a modified TV stand with very little metal in it at all, just the shelf supports. It's about 90 cm wide internally and about 50cm tall. That would mean the BMU would still only be about a foot away even if it could go on the bottom shelf so probably still no good.

The only other option would be to place the BMU in the hallway and pass the cables through the wall but I don't think I'd be able to get away with that and be able to maintain domestic harmony, especially after the face I got when telling my wife what the windfall that I got at the weekend was going to be spent on

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Why not put it on the floor next to the wall and the mains socket.

[Quarknosis]

Why not put it on the floor next to the wall and the mains socket.

Because the mains socket sits is behind the rack.

Unfortunately the room layout means that there isn't enough floorspace at any point along that wall to place anything else. The wall beside the system might be a possibility but I would need to allow space for the drawers containing CDs to open and also be able to have something in place to stop the door banging into the BMU when opened, a small table standing over it might be suitable. Either that or I get something new to stand the system on. The longish, narrow rooms in this house have has always been a problem to arrange furniture in, we have even had to make some rooms smaller in order to make them less like corridors.

Anyway, at least I've got a new option to consider