‘Half rack’ compatible equipment

Standards

Just to begin, I’m sure most people looking at this post will be familiar with the 19″ rack standard, it’s a very common way of mounting professional audio and computer equipment. ‘Half rack’ is effectively mounting equipment which is half the width of that (or is it?).

Basically half rack isn’t a real standard, it’s what happens when you get equipment where 2 units are designed to fit in one 19″ unit side by side, however it just so happens that you put rack ears on one of them, they seem to be the right size and a few manufacturers have made racks for this equipment.

19 divided by 2 is…

So, how wide is this equipment then? The original 19″ rack width includes the rack ears. Here, the rack ears are the same width, so it’s going to end up being slightly wider than 9.5″- in fact 10.5″ seems to be a standard.

What fits?

As it’s not a proper standard, I thought I’d start compiling a list on here. Please feel free to add stuff if you find it. Also as it’s not a proper standard, they may be some specific combinations which don’t work (especially if there are holes for screws rather than cage nuts)

* items I’ve not personally tried, however the measurements look correct

Racks

Soundcart Production Sound Cart and MiniCart
Swan Flight 10.5″ Half Rack Cases
Odyssey 2U Half Rack Case*
Thomann Flyht Pro 9.5″ Racks*
Gator G-Tour Half rack cases*

Rack Parts

Allmetalparts 10.5″ AV Rack components
Odyssey Half Rack Mountable 3U Drawer*
Thomann Flyht Pro 9.5″ accessories*

Equipment

Sennheiser Evolution half rack transmitters and receivers with GA3 kit
RME half rack units do fit, although I had to ask Synthax about specific rack ears
MOTU half rack units in an ‘ultralite‘ style box. Rack ears come supplied

Quite a lot of items will also screw into 10.5″ rack trays, including Sound Devices 970/270i rack recorders

2 Replies to “‘Half rack’ compatible equipment”

  1. Thank you for this information Richard.

    Looking at the items listed with and without an asterix, do you know if a RME half rack (e.g Fireface 400) and MOT Ultralite are the 9.5 inch or 10.5 inch rack type? I wanted to get an Allmetalparts 9.5″ or 10.5? AV rack to house these but did not know which one would fit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *