Turning on monitors.. (hardwired switch to turn on both, power strip, etc?)

[stratmaster713]

I have a pair of HS80M's and i figure studios dont go to every pair of monitors and turn them on.. So how do you, or "they" turn on their monitor amps all at once?

What I did for about ~$15 is go to lowes and bought a 16/3 extension cord, 2 slim metal single gang boxes, a switch metal plate cover, an outlet metal plate cover, a white single pole switch, a white outlet, and 2 romex connectors and wired it to plug into an outlet and then the switch runs away from the wired outlet handy box ~5 feet and sits on my desk. I flick the switch, and it controls the handy box outlet that's on the floor in which both monitors are plugged into...

I figured there would be a product out there that does this but I could not find one other than cheap crap for 2 conductor lamp cord.

 

[Bryan316]

Woodworking tool shops have footwitches for controlling power tools. You can get them either as momentary NO switches, or On/Off toggle switches. The end of the cable has a male and female plug back-to-back, to use as an interrupt between the wall outlet and the appliance's power cable.

I have two, for my band saw with shopvac, and for my belt sander with shopvac. I see no reason why they couldn't work for turning on audio equipment. Hide the pedals under your workstation, at the back wall. Just reach deep, kick em on or off, no clutter.


Or a simple power strip with a master switch.

 

[Massive Master]

I have (four?) of these red-switched beauties in the racks --

About $30, 8 switches, wonderful to have around. Not that the OP's switch is a bad idea by any means -- Just another option if (A) you need something to fit into a rack or (B) you don't trust your electrical skills.

 

[miroslav]

Hey John...what brand/model are those switch boxes?

<EDIT>
I think I found it...is this what you have:
http://www.eliminatorlightingdirect.com/8_Switch_Power_Center_p/e-107.htm
<EDIT>

I don't really need one for my monitor amps, but I do have some rack gear that (A) has no power switch, just the wall-wart or (B) has a power switch on the BACK of the unit. Right now I have most of those units in one section of one rack, and they are plugged into a power strip so I can just flip on the strip, but the strip is still tucked behind the rack and I have to reach back there to do it.
Having one of those 8-switch units in the front of the rack would be great!

AFA as my monitor power amps...I two amps, and my main monitors are active, so they have the power switch right on the front...I just reach up to the meter bridge and turn them on. I rarely have all three of my monitors pairs on at the same time. I usually just use my primary pair most of the time and leave the others off until I need them.

 

[Massive Master]

Yep - Eliminator, American DJ, Chauvet -- They all seem to be the same. Saw one on Amazon with thinner switches that were blue... Oh yeah... Another ten bucks, but I loves me some pretty blue lights...

 

[GazEcc]

I just use an extension cord with 6 plugs and a switch, but at work theres a switch on the wall for studio gear electric and normal electric is a seperate circuit, so i can have a cup of coffee before i even turn on the monitors

 

[miroslav]

Yep - Eliminator, American DJ, Chauvet -- They all seem to be the same. Saw one on Amazon with thinner switches that were blue... Oh yeah... Another ten bucks, but I loves me some pretty blue lights...

That's funny...I've been on a blue light craze for awhile now. I've changed all the jewel pilot lights on my guitar amps to blue and I have quite a few rack pieces with blue power lights.

I just saw the blue light power strip you are talking about...mmmmm...$35...but you get 9 instead of 8 outlets.
However, I already order two of the Eliminator boxes from Amazon earlier today for $20 each, which was a great deal.
Not sure if I would have dropped an additional $30 for two boxes just for blue lights...but yeah, it must look real cool in blue...too late though, my order was already processed.

 

[Massive Master]

And with those other switches -- I mean, they might suck. But they're pretty... If I ever need more, I might have to go blue.

 

[miroslav]

And with those other switches -- I mean, they might suck. But they're pretty....

No John...you suck for mentioning the damn blue light switches!

I ended up canceling my original Amazon order of two 8-switch boxes... and getting just one of these (for the same damn price I might add! )....but I couldn't resist the lure of "the blue lights".

I only really needed one box, I was just getting two of the other ones because they were cheap, and I figured it might come in handy some day, but this single with 9 outlets will be enough to cover all my non-power button gear, I just have to move one piece into the same rack where the others are.

They are LED lights...so I'm hoping they will last for a very long time, and I figured how hard can it be to make a simple switch box, I mean, even if it's from China (probably) there's not much technology there to screw up or for it to go bad over time, but we'll see.
If they don't last...I'm blaming you!

 

[Bryan316]

Must.....








...have....









....blue....









....pretty.........

 

[Hakea]

Hi,

I use what they call "powerboards" here. Just a row of Australian type sockets. You can get them either with or without individual switches but obviously having one with all the switches makes it easy to turn all the gear on and off in the recommended order.

Nothing fancy, just a hardware store item. But they're not in the league of those racks with the coloured lights and switches. Hmmmm shiny... that would be nice to have...