How to keep ic's and power cords from touching

Kite String, velcro, zip ties.

I like the pipe coverings idea and the CC foam for lifting cables from the floor. Now that one I'll try despite the fact the wires will bitch about laying on a lumpy surface rather than a smooth one.

I've seen velcro strips online with adjustable rings thru which one can trace cables up.

Usually though, I resort to string or zip ties on my six shelf rack. On the cheaper Wally world rack I just use tape and self adhesive conduit I cut to fit. That one holds all the cheap stuff though escept for a couple items.

True too... there is only so much you can do when a big rack is filled up. you can't put just anything anywhere on mine either. I ran out of room real fast.

Addi in the fact not all the power inlets on components are on the same side and likewise the signal connections, and it can be a mess back there. Especially if you run SE vs. XLR.

More importantly I'm now run out of dedicated ckt/outlets. Amazing.

Pipe insulation. Hmmm. Good.

Thanks everyone for sharing their tips and experince... This has been most helpful. I plan on purchasing some pipe foam insulation today and giving that a try.

One more thing to add, I also have most of my components on one large rack/stand/thing. The back of the rack/stand/thing has a purposefully cluster#$@% arrangement of both interconnects and power cables. Every interconnect is zip tied to a power cord running alongside. Why you may ask? Well, as you may have heard (mainly from my big mouth), I make interconnects. This is how I test for interference rejection. And honestly, don’t let anyone fool you by stating that its easy to have pollution from power cords, inferior IC shielding and the like. You would have to have a completely unusual/unrealistic scenario to be effected in this way. Most hum/buzz issues arise from almost every other issue than pollution through cords. My phono cable from tonearm to phono pre is completely surrounded by 3 power cords feeding my amps. Zyx .24mv cartridge, ~65db MC output from phono pres. DEAD SILENT. Cheers.

Plastic spark plug seperators. You can get them at most auto stores.

Aptquark's post immediately above makes a very good point, as confirmed by this excellent paper written by a noted authority:

http://www.jensen-transformers.com/an/an004.pdf

Regards,
-- Al