I built my own for the very same reason. I wanted it to look good and be very sturdy and be expandable (just in case I bought more albums--which I did but I store the overflow in another room). I used 3/4" stock aluminum bolted together and then used poplar as the shelving. If I were doing it again I would use a more exotic shelving like natural mahogany or cherry. As long as it's a good hardwood it should hold up fine. If you go to my website I added some pictures so you can see how it is constructed. This one holds about 1000 albums, but it's completely modular and can be expanded just by adding more units (the picture should help make that understandable).
http://home.mindspring.com/~rrbird/_wsn/page2.html |
before we get into the topic at hand, how does your wife feel about the massive holes youve cut into her walls for your gear?? if she hasn't beated you with a bat yet she's a keeper.
ok, to the rack. AMAZING. you did a great job and if you have any plans available in word format (or any format)please send them over if you have a momement. there are only two problems this system doesn't address and i guess it's just something we're gonig to have to live with. first of all, if you have a section too long then there are too many lps to move over to get to the one you want. secondly, the whole reading the sides issue still exits. so far i've just kept my lps against the wall with the cover facing me(old hippie style) so that i can thumb thru them easily. this, of course, causes you to run out of space against the bottom of the wall pretty fast since you can only stack about 20 this way tops and is a bit unsightly (not like your massive beautiful setup).
anyway, any more thoughts?
but i gotta tell you, job well done. i dont understand why someone would spend well over a grand on a billy bags rack for RECORDS! am i missing something? if billy was goign to sit by my rack and pull them for me and stick them on my table as i called them out then ok, maybe it would be worth it. (he doesn't do this does he?). otherwise youve done the right thing and it looks great.
thanks! |
Thanks for the kind words. I haven't lived in California--but if your near an epicenter, maybe the Billy Bags is the right thing. As to the length of the sections that's pretty arbitrary, you can just pick whatever length of wood you want. As you can probably tell--I do a lot of reading sideways. I never really put any plans together, I just had the stock aluminum cut with spacing for 14" height between the shelves and the cross braces are 16". The wood is 10" wide. I'll see if I can come up with a rough sketch and scan it into word and send it to you--might take a couple of days before I can get to it. |
As for the wife--she is a keeper. We agreed on a dedicated audio room and I can pretty much do whatever I see fit for that room. She of course has the rest of the house. |
an old cedar hope chest makes a real nice record cabinet, just unhinge the top and set it on its side atop anything suitable...then ask the wife to find a new place for that cake-stained wedding dress and all those quilts hehe |
A couple of homes, and wives ago, I built a 3/4" plywood box 15"highX12"deepXthe entire 15 foot length of the wall behind the speakers at eye level. 3/4" back bolted to the studs and a divider every 24" kept it from sagging. Very convenient with the floor space under and I think maybe it helped with standing waves or nodes or whatever. Didn't look bad either, kind of floating there. |
Kublakhan: If you have a sizeable closet in or near the listening room, it can be made into a vinyl library with the addition of shelves and some decent lighting. I have done this in two apartments that I have lived in and just kept a small bin of records in the listening room which were to be either played or refiled. This gave the room a nice clean appearance. I like the look of lots of books in a room but the skinny spines on album covers never did it for me. I used stackable cubes from the Akron or some place like that in one setup and the cost was nil. |
see dekay, NOW you're using your brains. i guess the next part of my evening is throwing out most of my clothes to make way for the lps.
good one |
I say get one of the racks like the record stores used to have. The ones I'm talking about are tiered, and have like three different levels, maybe four feet tall. That way the records face you, and you can flip through them easily.
I don't have vinyl, so don't share this problem, but I was impressed some way when I saw one in a friends house. Your makin a statement with one of these, I think, that the records are more than just left overs from the 70's (my usual reaction). Lately I've noticed there is one (but never more than one) like I am talking about in every small antique shop, or small resale shop. Try one out, you'll see. |
Kubla: The electronics in our living room system are displacing my clothes closet (in the hallway as my wife "owns" all of the other ones). I have not figured out what to do with my clothing yet, but it is not a priority. My leisure suits and polyester shirts are wrinkle free anyway (just need to keep the white belts and shoes away from dirt and grime). |
You have the red sports coat and the white pants, Dave? I think that's called a "full Cleveland". |
I just received this email from Gene Rubin (a local high end dealer) and hope he does not mind that I am posting it here. I wanted to give him credit as well. Here's the info:
Dear LP record owners,
those of us with lots of LP records all know how difficult it is to
find a shelf unit with just the right dimensions at any reasonable
price. Many of you have to go the very expensive custom route. I am
sending you this email to let you know about a very attractive, simple
unit that holds 600 to 700 LP's available at your local Target Store. I
happened into it a day before I was to order a custom $700 unit. This
shelf unit was exactly what I needed at only $129! All the dimensions
are perfect, it is very strong, the look is contemporary. I searched the
web for a picture of it to email you but, alas, there was none to be
found. You'll just have to go to Target to check it out for yourself. It
is in the furniture department, Furio model #40054.
Hope this helps some of you out,
Gene Rubin
http://www.generubinaudio.com/ |
I recommend modular wire rack systems. They're made by various manufacturers and are available at Target, Container Store, Home Depot and others. The racks come in chrome, black or white and you can put them on optional casters. The spacing between shelves is adjustable in 1 inch increments. I use the 72 inch post with four 48 wide shelves. Each unit will hold approximately 800 records. Style wise, they're more functional than attractive. Prices ranges from $80 to $120 per unit. |
Kublakhan asked me to put together some instructions for the units I built. I've done so in Word format, but it has pictures so I can't (another computer guru might be able to) post it here. However, I will e-mail the instructions to anyone that wants them. Just e-mail me and ask for the LP storage instructions. The file is about 500k. |
ewe may wanna check out this site: dunno about their costs; i haven't thoroughly been thr the site, but the design/style looks interesting, & someone handy could build their own: http://storadisc.com/custom.htm hope this helps, doug s. |
I bought a three drawer MEDICAL file cabinet. It cost me $100.00 (used) and has room for hundreds of LPs. The drawers are wide enough to hold LPs and to have CDs on the side of the LPs. I can flip through LPs or CDs and see the front of each album. |
When I was in college, I bought bunch of these plastic crates that are stackable for my books. They were great, because when you move, you just detach the crates and move them. They were inexpensive solutions for my book storage needs, and now I use them to store my LPs! |
