Silence Cases

[Paul David]

Silence Cases

I just received my Silence Case and I wanted to let you guys know how it's working out. Here's a mini reveiw.

This item was packed very well. There was actually big pieces of plywood and packing paper forming a box within a box. Which explains why the friggin box was so HUGE!

Elias (of S.C.) custom builds each box to your specifications and he delivered exactly what I ordered: A 25" x 12" x 27" maple SC1. The maple finish looks great, and it's a very solid peice of kit.

After I ordered it I read some comments on G.S. about SC's not being completely silent and that scared me a little. My CPU is already very silent. I made it from scratch with the quietest power supply and fans that I could find. So I crossed my fingers and plugged it in. Then I went to see why it wasn't working. After getting inside the case to double check the fan connections I realized that it was working! This is a very silent case... And it moves a lot of air.

I set my CPU inside, made my connections, and got to mixing. It was GREAT to mix in silence. All of the low level detail just shines through. After 4 or 5 hours I decided to check my internal temerature and found that is was the same as the external temp, which is saying a lot because I'm using an over-clocked AMD xp2500 that moves a lot of hot air.

$480 well spent. This case is highly recomended.

Peace, Paul

[not_so_new]

Thanks for the review Paul. Nice to hear it from someone first hand. I have been looking forward to one of these, just can't find the cash.

Hey I think your link is broken???

Thanks again.

[Paul David]

Yeh, it looks like the site's down for the moment.

[Slider]

I've got to get one of these.

[carbon]

http://www.hushtechnologies.net/start.html

Hush Technologies makes silent PCs as well. They look beautiful. Anyone try them?

[Paul David]

Those do look cool. The silence cases are a different product though. Your whole computer fits inside. Kinda like this...

M-A rack

I was actually looking at the M-A stuff but I was having a hard time justifying $1300 for a silent rack. I went with the S.C.1 which just holds a computer (no racks) for $480 shipped. Now I kind of wish I went for the 12 space rack with fiberglass door "The Works" for $800.



Ya Slider, hook it up man. I'm very glad I got one.

[not_so_new]

Site is still down.. they are still in business I hope?? Looks like a great product.

[musictech]

I've got a Silence Case that Elias built for me about 2 years ago.

It does make a difference as my computers have always been noisey with multiple drives and removable drive bays and such.

However, the Silence Case is NOT totally silent by any means. The fan system that he used on my case makes a very noticeable noise, especially if you have the fan at any of the 3 highest speeds (which is pretty much necessary if you have a computer that runs hot).

The noise the Silence Case makes is certainly less distracting than the noise my computer makes, but it does not make my control room silent by any means.

I got a double wide case because at the time I had a dual processor computer in a wide case and wanted to make sure I had plenty of airflow. He made it so that computer just barely fit in the box depth wide, and after I upgraded to a better computer later on, I had to find another computer case that would fit in that limited depth. As it is, my power cables and video cables are bent to about a 90 degree angle right up against the vent box that is on the inside of the back door.

The seals he used for the doors was some simple foam rubber type stuff with an adheasive back and that's starting to come loose in a couple of spots, and the front door is already sagging on it's hinges a bit.

It has served its purpose, though, and does make the computer quieter (but not silent since the box adds its own noise), but I don't think it's as well built as some of the much more expensive boxes. For the price, though, it was a good buy and it does look very nice as well.

I just moved into a new place and will be remodeling soon and will be building an equipment closet that extends through a side wall into the adjacent garage and vents into the garage, which should get rid of pretty much all noise. At that point, maybe the silence box will be used for my noisey office computer (which is actually the computer that the box was originally built for).

Steve

[TER]

I have an IsoRaxx unit in my control room...I really love it. It is not totally silent, but is far better than the noise of the G4, RADAR and console PC that are inside it. Opening and closing the door (between powering the computers up and starting work) makes a HUGE difference in the room. It is so much easier to hear the mix, and mix quieter, with the computers boxed up. A very, very worthwhile purchase. It's been here for a year or so now and has been dependable so far.

-tom

[not_so_new]

IsoRaxx looks pretty cool Tom, how much was it??

[TER]

I got the ISR-20-30...the big one. 20 spaces...I am a re-seller so I get pretty good pricing, but shipping these things is costly. Don't want to engage in sales-type activity here...contact me directly if you need more info. Macmidimusic has the one I own for $989 as a reference point.

-tom

[Berolzheimer]

We had an isoraxx at Lingo, a room where I do a lot of work, and with the G4 & magma chassis in there it was still pretty noisy. I moved the computer etc into the storage room behind the control room and it made a huge difference.
Now we can track vox & acoustic guitar in there, that would have been terrible before.

[Paul David]

Hey Steve, It sounds like Elias has made some changes in the past few years. I don't have any speed control on my fans and they are very quiet panaflo's- With the case open they're quiet, with it closed they're almost inaudible. I also ordered it about 4" too long 2" too wide and 2" too tall so I'm not having any of the space problems you're having.


Hey Tom, Those IsoRaxx look cool. Seems like they might be close to the SC's if you've got better prices than macmidi. Wonder which one's quieter.

[neve1073]

I have a rackmount pc which I'd like to put in a silent case. It's actually too heavy to rack above ground level.

Is your $480 silent case designed for a tower-style computer or rack? If I can get my box in there, I'm sold. Too bad the site is down.

[TER]

The IsoRaxx is NOT silent. It is MUCH quieter than the machines would be sitting out in the open. If I had a way to make a machine room work, that would be the ideal situation, but I don't. All of the noise from the IsoRaxx comes from the back of the box, so I have mine near a corner with the fans firing into a small airspace that is surrounded with Sonex. The airspace is open at the top (ten feet up) and the air moves up behind the corner acoustic treatment. The IsoRaxx has variable speed fans, which I've never had to turn up very far to keep things cool. If you have to have the box sitting out in the open, you'll probably be annoyed by the fans. If you can baffle the baffle, it can certainly work. I have no experience with any of the other isolation boxes, but the IsoRaxx could hold everything I wanted to isolate (20 spaces of gear), so it seemed like a good choice. I'm always willing to make things work, so doing the additional work to get the thing even quieter was not a problem for me.

-tom

[Berolzheimer]

There is another isolation rack- unfortunately I don't remember the name of the company- that I saw at an AES show a couple of years ago that is actually sealed when closed, and uses heat pipes to transfer heat out of the box. Looked pretty cool ( pun intended).

Wish I could remember the company name.....

[Berolzheimer]

Aah, here it is, thanks to Google.

http://www.acoustilock.com/ACL-NC.html

http://www.norenproducts.com/acousti...iLockpage.html

[Paul David]

Originally posted by neve1073
I have a rackmount pc which I'd like to put in a silent case. It's actually too heavy to rack above ground level.

Is your $480 silent case designed for a tower-style computer or rack? If I can get my box in there, I'm sold. Too bad the site is down.

The site is back. The case I have is for a tower style computer. They have a special called "The Works" for $799 shipped which is a 12 space rack.

Looks like I got mine just before they did a $100 price increase on the SC-1.

[musictech]

Originally posted by Paul David
Hey Steve, It sounds like Elias has made some changes in the past few years. I don't have any speed control on my fans and they are very quiet panaflo's- With the case open they're quiet, with it closed they're almost inaudible. I also ordered it about 4" too long 2" too wide and 2" too tall so I'm not having any of the space problems you're having.

I sent him my comments after I got the case, so maybe he used my feedback and some others to improve it since then.

When he built mine he just asked for the dimensions of my computer. I guess I didn't think far enough ahead to ask him to build in some extra "breathing" room in there.

I'm not unhappy with it... it serves it's purpose and I really didn't expect it to be totally silent. My studio is otherwise dead quiet, so I notice any noise at all. From what others have said, even the more expensive Iso Racks make audible noise as well.

I'll have to check what kind of fans he put on mine... They don't have any speed controls on them directly, he just provided me with switchable power adapters, so I change the speed by changing the voltage supplied to the fans. Mine has two intake and two exhaust fans, plus another recirc fan inside the case that moves air from the back to the front of the case. That recirc fan is already getting old and making some loud clunky type noises that can be heard very well outside of the box... I'll have to look for a replacement for that soon. The other fans are kind of small, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to find a replacement that was more quiet and still moved enough air.

Steve

[neve1073]

Can you guys quantify (roughly) in db how much ambient noise the silent case makes?

My computer is very quiet, by computer standards. I'm thinking about getting a silent case but would hate to spend the money to find out that it makes as much noise as my computer.

Thanks.

[Paul David]

Originally posted by neve1073
Can you guys quantify (roughly) in db how much ambient noise the silent case makes?

My computer is very quiet, by computer standards. I'm thinking about getting a silent case but would hate to spend the money to find out that it makes as much noise as my computer.

Thanks.

yeh, roughly 7.32106 db... That's just what my ears tell me... My meters don't track down there.

I was worried about the same thing after reading Steve's comment's in another thread. I seriously doubt your CPU could be this quiet with any fans on it. Elias checked the site out the other day and sent me this:

And you are right about that guy steve on gearslutz. The design of the ventilation system has changed pretty significantly since he purchased his. I wish I could just send everyone the most recent designs, but I don't think that's a very profitable business model. In any event, the design you received is significantly quieter and better ventilated.

[musictech]

I pulled out the radio shack sound meter, and held it behind the case where the vents are, and it reads right around 60 dB on the slow response C weighted scale (I was sure to hold it out of the air stream so air blowing on it wasn't a factor).

If I set the meter on top of the CD player that's sitting on top of the case, it's around 54 to 56 dB.

Moving over to my mix position, I'm getting close to the lower limits of the SPL meter, but it's still moving a bit and it reads about 50 dB.

This was with the fans at the highest speed.

I'm glad he has redesigned the vent system since then. I'll have to ask if there is anyway I can retrofit mine, or if the holes in the back door are in too different of positions to make it work.

I'll probably end up building the gear closet at the new house here anyway since it will be a better solution and I can fit amps and other things in there as well and have everything vent into the garage.

Steve