There are a bunch of rackmount power units out there, which generally have 8 (or sometimes more) outlets. I have a couple, which I chose with the simple old-fashioned "the cheapest one that looks okay" method. Unless the "stuff on trays" includes some hairdriers or baseboard heaters, the load of the stuff you're hooking up should be easily handled by any unit that's not defective.
You might want to pay more than the minimum for (i) individual switches for each outlet, though as you describe what you're hooking up that doesn't sound very useful (one of mine has these, and I don't know that I really paid much more for that feature), (ii) a slide-out light, if that's something that would be useful to you, (iii) a voltage meter, if you're worried about confirming you're getting the right voltage out or you just like lights or (iv) more elaborate assurances that the unit will deliver precisely the correct voltage, if that makes you happy.
As for patch-bays, a few things to think about is how much you value:
- Cost (for the unit, and for patch-cables).
- Having balanced connections (i.e. three-connector jacks, rather than just 2).
- Ease of connecting equipment and moving around what's connected to what patch-point.
- Flexibility and ease of changing normalling.
- Sturdiness.
- Having lots of points in one bay.
- Looking really "pro."
These considerations, of course, fight with one another.
Just two examples:
The Behringer 24-point TS bay
- is really cheap itself, and you can use it with ordinary 1/4" TS phone cables that are available everywhere and you probably already have.
- does not have balanced jacks, so anything you run through it that would otherwise be balanced won't be anymore.
- is very easy to set up and change around, as it has ordinary 1/4" TS jacks in back, as well as the front.
- is very flexible in terms of normalling, with multiple settings that can be changed point-by-point with slider switches (if the points are on printed circuit boards, this can only be done with unbalanced connections).
- isn't very sturdy.
- has enough points for a small set-up, but someone with a lot of equipment will wind up needing several of them.
- is sneer-worthy in terms of "pro-ness" (just for the Behringer logo alone)
A real pro unit with longframe telephone jacks or TT jacks:
- might cost 10 or 20 times as much as the Behringer, and requires special patchcords that aren't super-available and tend to be pricy.
- will keep all your balanced lines balanced.
- to set-up or change, requires some actual work (if it's soldered in back) or some fooling around with a special tool (if it has punchdowns in back).
- might or might not be flexibile in terms of normalling, depending on the design (expensive ones may be pretty flexible, though not that easy to change).
- is super-sturdy.
- has tons of points if it uses TTs.
- will immediately make it look like you know what you're doing, enabling you to charge $200/hour to use your studio.
There are various variations in between, e.g. the relatively cheap units with flippable cards that have balanced connections, but aren't that flexible in terms of normalling, and are probably less sturdy than the Behringer.
