Millenium SR-2018

After quite a bit of online research I decided on buying the Millennium SR-2018 as my first foray in to a studio rack, and would highly recommend it. For the relatively low price it's excellent value, a sturdy build and good quality. Although there were no build instructions it was very straight forward, and there's plenty of guidance on the internet if you need help on how to install racks, shelves etc. It comes with both castors and feet as options, and with it fully loaded up the castors work really well even on carpet - it's very easy to move, which is essential for accessing cables from the back. The height is perfect to use the top for additional laydown space for a mixer or similar. It wasn't that clear to me from the description but it does come with rack nuts and screws for fixing any equipment. The only issue I had was with the centre rail (for the brackets), whilst a very useful feature if you have heavy things to put on shelves, are a bit fiddly to assemble. Finally, for anyone buying this from the UK, I was a bit worried about how much I might be charged for 'importing" but actually the process was straight forward, the UPS shipping charge was reasonable (as per their website) and then just VAT added on top - so don't forget to add VAT but don't be put off buying from Thomann!

Firstly, this thing a not a toy. For safety sake, only 2 people should lift the unopened package.

I was very surprised when it arrived. Plusses and minuses. The instructions had no words, just 2 diagrams. I would have preferred a step by step sequencing of optimal assembly.

The materials are very firm, and there really is quite a lot of them for the money. The casters work quite freely, and have brakes on them. The ventilation up the sides are very adequate for full utilization of the rack spaces.

The unit is best assembled without casters first, by laying it on it's back, fixing top to a side, then the other side, then bottom, and only then fixing the casters. The surfaces are held together with allen-bolts, a little fiddly though not impossible. I noticed that the casters had sharp edges on the top of them, which should have been rounded off before dispatch. So if you've a baby in the studio, careful with the fingers.

There are both stands and casters supplied with the package, and as written above, the casters have brakes on them. The casters move quite freely, so when you've a rack full of equipment you won't need a team of people to be leveraging the rack around the place.

When first assembled, the unit may sway some, like a parallelogram, however when you start putting some rack units in, it soon firms up considerably.

One of the amazing generosities of the designers was the inclusion of rack-fixing nuts and bolts... lots of them, with rubber washers. So the rack was filled some with units soon after assembly which took about 2 hours.

There are rack-unit-bolt-sockets on both the front and back of the unit so, actually, the rack has twice the accommodation space as advertised on the web page. so you can have the back of the rack filled with units also, either passive units not requiring interfacting to, or if they've got inputs or controls, you could just roll the unit out, make adjustments, then roll it back in. The top and base are quite firm, I have a printer on the top, and since I've units in the rack there is no sway out of it as the print-head is travelling back and fore.

I don't know what the quality of similar units is, but this one has worked for me, does so every day, and delivers a very high level of utility for the money paid for it.

This thing is heavy, and robust once assembled. Reasonably easy to put together (beware of sharp edges and corners) and very solid once there are a few bits and pieces racked in it. No instructions but it's not rocket science - as other reviewers have said it's probably best to start by attaching the sides to the top whilst the unit is on it's back, then put the base and wheels on. The wheels and brakes are good quality - I have it in a space where I quite often need to wheel it out to get access and they work well.

During construction, the bolts that attach the top and and bottom are a little fiddly to locate but no more so, just a little heavier, than your standard Scandinavian flat pack bookcase.

You're probably looking at this rack series because they look like good value, which they are. I opted for the 18U one because at least in the photos it has lockable hard rubber casters instead of hard plastic ones. Not only does the rubber make them lockable but also won't damage floors as easily. Comes with nuts, screws, feet (in case you don't want to use the casters), brackets for supporting the mid section of gear (one pair for each of 18 units) and an Allen key.

The rack isn't 100% sturdy but you're going to fill it up with gear anyway so not a big problem. The packaging left a lot to be desired. The pieces were in separate plastic bags and there was only one layer of cardboard (a box). The big pieces had extra cardboard corners but that didn't help much. My unit arrived with a hole in the box where something had rubbed/scratched and the four steel sides were grinding into each other in transit. Luckily none of that minor damage showed when assembled.