StudioRTA Producer Cart

The item came flat packed and was reasonable easy to put together. The first thing that struck me was the size. It's deeper than I expected. Of course I knew the measurements but still, it's considerable deeper than I had envisioned. Which turned out to be a good thing as it's only barely deep enough to have room for all the cables coming out from various gear.

The build quality feels solid. And the wheels are very nice and smoooth. It's easy to move around even when fully loaded and the wheels do not scratch or damage the floor in any way.

But there are a few negative points...

First the finish. The maple imitation boards that were used for top and bottom had slight blemishes in the corners. Seemed like the kind of swelling you get when MDF panels have been exposed to water. I was only VERY slight but still... The boards were also not completely straigh. They both seemed to have been under some kind of pressure and bended slighty downwards at the center. Not a big deal to me but I would have expected better from a brand new product.

Also the kind of rack rails used on this cart aren't very good to be honest. It's not the usual rack nut system that most 19 inch rack used. Instead it's just fixed holes that you screw directly into. I can imagine them getting worn out and useless over time and then the whole cart is garbage. And of course the holes are not precisely enough drilled so you end up with every rack unit being slightly "off centre". This is adding up as you mount more gear until it is no longer possible to hit the holes with screw. I had to leave 1u unused in the middle of the rack because of this. And even then I struggled to get my gear to fit. So although advertised as 14u you will get MAXIMUM 13u into this rack. Really dissappointing!!!

The system of using fixed holes in the rack rails also makes it difficult to mount the gear without help. When using rack nuts it's easy to finger tighter the screws enough to secure the gear. Not so here. You basically need a screwdriver from the first turn. So try juggling an LA-2A, a screwdriver and a screw... Needless to say I dropped some expensive gear while trying to mount it alone. I really don't understand why they didn't use the standard and far superior solution of rack nuts. Really, really stupid!!!

If I had purchased this item locally I would have returned it and demanded a refund. However, dismantling it, re-packaging, dragging it back to the post office, shipping back to Germany and having to apply for a VAT refund (as I'm outside the EU) just seemed too much of a hassle. And after everything was mounted it does work really nice. So I guess I'm reasonably happy with it, although FAR from a perfect product and not really as specified.

I've been looking for a furniture that can hold my rackable gear for a long time, but since i moved in with my girlfriend, beside value/price, design also became a factor. Most rack boxes protect your stuff, but don't look so good doing it, especially in a living room with furniture. I mean REAL furniture, nice stuff, next to which a bare metal skeleton holding a bunch of cold slabs of hardware with flickering lights and protruding knobs just looks, well, sh*t. Studio furniture that look good are usually expensive - like any other quality furniture and more. Our living room is really small, so besides looking nice, it had to be small, but roughly the same height as the IKEA table it would stand next to.
The StudioRTA Producer Cart fit the requirements the best. Assembly wasn't difficult at all, but the package is heavy, so handle it with care! One small criticism: the black panels on the side are FIXED to the columns. This should not be a problem, but occasionally you do have to reach inside to the rear of the instruments, amps etc. to pull out a cable or whatever. If it were not fixed, i wouldn't have installed it, at least not on both sides. But otherwise, i highly recommend this to anyone with the same needs as myself.