It’s too loud!

Due to situations outside of my control, I’ve had to move my cabinet somewhere else in our home. The location is basically the room next to our living room, near the steps to the second story. It’s going to have to be there for about a year, and, well, you be the judge of that. These numbers below (and I used multiple debicle measurement apps, as one came in substantially lower. But this is standing in front of the cabinet, running average workloads.

And, imagine sitting in your living room, trying to watch something on TV and this is the background noise you are hearing:

Even upstairs in the bedrooms, we measure 45dB-50dB. That’s just too loud. Now, we know sound measurement is done logarithmically, so going from 78dB to 55dB is a big difference. But not enough. So I started looking into ways of soundproofing my cabinet. I currently have a APC Netshelter BLACK 25U AR2805BLK Cabinet. I thought about getting some soundproofing foam and line the walls on the inside. But the cabinet isn’t designed for that, and I would need to add extra cooling and ensure there’s enough air flow.

Then I thought about building my own. But I have no woodworking tools, and would have to depend on Lowe’s, Home Depot, or somewhere else to cut the wood into pieces I would need. Even without that, I would worry that I did not get something secured tight enough, not leveled correct, or one of another host of issues. So I decided to start looking at soundproof cabinets.

Part of my problem is the amount of space I need. I need at least 17U of space, which would allow me to rack everything with no room for growth (as if I need to grow anymore). But the first I came across was the Sysracks Soundproof Cabinets. They advertise up to a 37% reduction in sound. But the costs difference for local pickup versus shipping one, and this isn’t including the actual shipping charges. For example, through their eBay store (and Amazon prices are the same), you can get a 15U SOundproof Cabinet for $859 for an “Open Box”. They won’t ship the Open Box models. The 18U costs $1199 for local pickup. However, the 15U to ship is $1199 PLUS 299 delivery. I did find one 18U that was $1299 + 299 shipping, though it was in Canada. I’m better with charts and tables of information, so.

Not cheap really. I could technically get away with 15U — would have to leave my UPS out, but we would figure it out. But for the cost of an 18U, I started looking for something.. Better. That’s when I discovered the Tripp Lite Eaton SR24Q 24U Soundproof Cabinet that is supposed to lower sound by up to 28 decibels. Plus, it has internal fans and is designed for keeping things cool. I also found the APC NetShelter CX 24u Soundproof Cabinet. Both look great, have great cooling, and great reviews. StorageReview even did a review of the SRQ24U and showed how to replace the fans.

But the costs of these. Checking eBay and Amazon, the SR24Q costs between $2,700-$3600. Hell, I even saw a 12u that was $3900+721 delivery. Amazon lists the SRQ18U for $2,783 and the 24U for $3,100. So I started checking Reddit, Craigslist, Facebook, etc. I found one in Denver that had it listed for $1300. But I would have to arrange shipping — either via LTL or drive. After tons of research, found a company that does in fact do this, I reached out to the person selling. I made him an offer, that combined with how much it would cost for me to either fly out, pick it up and drive it back, or have it delivered. So this is what I did. So, I am now the proud owner of This SRQ24U. I have not gotten it yet, already had a hiccup with pickup and the seller is not available for about 2 weeks.

Regardless, I am happy, and my wife is happy. Everyone will be happy once I actually get it. Once I do receive it, I will be posting about my migration from my current cabinet to the SRQ24, show migration photos, and talk about the sound differential. So until then.

Until then… More posts coming soon.