The other day I ordered a few AB168 Rackkits to mount a couple of AB168 stageboxes in 4U racks, because in the past I’ve seen stageboxes get damaged when they’re used on stage without the protection of a rack.
Shortly after installing them, I found it to be a hassle having to locate the Ethercon ports on the side of the stagebox every time, especially with only a few centimetres of space between the stagebox and the rack wall. On top of that, once you’ve found one of the two Ethercon ports, you still have to determine which one is the dSnake port and which one is the expander port.
To solve this problem and speed up the workflow, I drilled cutouts for Neutrik D Series connectors into the AB168 Rackkits and installed two Ethercon feedthrough sockets on the front. It took longer than expected because I didn’t have a drill bit large enough for the D Series panel cutouts, but the result turned out fine. In fact, you could even fit more than two D Series connectors on the Rackkit if you wanted additional connections on the front and save space in your touring racks.
Over the following weeks, several colleagues commented positively on the racks with the front mounted Ethercon ports, and we all wondered why this isn’t already available as an official product.
On another note, if anyone is planning to modify their AB168 Rackkit: the REAN RRE8F-Z-001-1 and Neutrik NE8FDPS-TOP are both nice options. They include a protective cover to help keep dust and water out of the connector when they are not in use.
Also the all black finish on the previous mentioned connectors looks nice with the Rackkit. 