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Hi Farkas,

Ha, ha, thank you :-) Well... I wouldn't go as far as calling it a dissertation however... yes indeed besides (in my other life) my usual architect role in IT & telecommunication industry, usually large, solutions and setups, I am a technical document writer as well, hence that kind of setup of the review reports ;-)

What exactly would you like to know about the Doepfer monster cases? I mean, if I am going to write a review report about that you have to read another 20 pages ;-) Just kidding, I am not going to write a review report about cases... oh ooooh... having just said that... perhaps in the far future but not for now.

Roughly there are two types of Doepfer monster cases, the "cheap" series or "economy" monster cases, meaning the case has been made of simple but, at least that's how I experience it, still nice plywood or the "suitcase" style and better looking monster racks/cases.

The simple ones are the A-100 LMB(V) and A-100 LMS9(V) and the better looking ones (suitcase + cover) are the A-100 PMB, A-100PMS6, A-100PMS9 and A-100PMS12. I have myself a set of A-100 LMB and A-100 LMS9 whereby the LMS9 stands on top of the LMB and that's just a great set together. It's very economically as well, at least here in Europe, it's the most economical rack available, at least the LMS9 that is, the lowest price per HP.

The LMS9 has 3 rows of each 168 HP. The 9 stands for 9 U. The B stands for base; I guess but I might have read it somewhere as well. The V indicates a black painted plywood case (I have the non-V variant though, that's just plain and not painted plywood version). From a power supply point of view you have to be a little bit careful if you have power-hungry modules however if you have the combination of LMB (relatively more power per HP) and the LMS9 (relatively less power per HP) then you should be fine, you can then put the more power-hungry modules in the LMB rack and the less power consuming modules in the LMS9. In that way, I haven't faced any power consumption issue yet. Easy for me to say because...

For my own usage, I made a spreadsheet that contains a list of all the Euro rack modules I have with tons of information in it, power consumption on all power rails are parts of that. I then created names for the Euro racks I have and add a name of such rack behind the module I own. Then with some spreadsheet calculations it's easy to see your power consumption on a per PSU (Power Supply Unit) basis of each rack. So for example that LMS9 has two PSUs, so I call that rack LMS9-1 (for the left PSU in that LMS9 rack) and LMS9-2 (for the right PSU in that LMS9 rack) for example and the LMB-1 and LMB-2 in that way you can keep track of the power consumption of all PSUs (and of course in combination with the racks).

But I am drifting off the subject of Doepfer monster cases ;-) So back to that subject:

I also own one of those more fancy looking monster cases. If I have to be honest, they look great but I wouldn't easily use them as a way of transporting my modules to another location and have there a jam with it. These PMS cases weight a ton (almost) and since I am not a bodybuilder or otherwise strong person, I will face difficulties in carrying such a case around the globe for fun ;-) I still might do it after the Covid but that would be rather the exceptional case than a regular and default solution. Perhaps on the long term I might consider an Intellijel 7U case for visiting people to jam together.

Coming back to that power consumption topic. The bases (i.e. A-100PMB and A-100LMB) have each two PSUs and for just two rows per case, that's really sufficient. However if you take the LMS9 it has 3 rows (of 168 HP) with also just two PSUs and that can be in certain cases a bit limiting. But as I already mentioned, if you combine an LMS9 with an LMB, you really should be fine, in my opinion.

The A-100PMS6 also has 2 PSUs, so again one PSU per row, thus fine and the PMS12 even got 4 PSUs, again one PSU per row, so totally fine. It's just that LMS9 case where you have to keep an eye on the power consumption, hence the interesting price for such rack.

At the backside per monster case you just have one power cable connection, no matter if you have a case with 2 or 4 PSUs, so you only have one power cable. The rubber feet under those monster cases are seriously stable and of course you can cause the case to tumble backwards but with some respectful handling of the case it stands actually very stable on those rubber feet.

For this LMB and LMS9 set I also bought the A-100MVG set of very thick iron (I guess it is iron) black painted plates. These plates are actually meant for the PMB and PMS racks and though it doesn't fit perfectly it still can be used for the LMB & LMS9 combination as well; which is what I am doing. Doepfer didn't really perfectly designed the LMB and LMS9 (in context with the A-100MVG set and yes I know this set was meant to be used for PMS series but still), on each of the cases one small screw is going to be covered a bit by those plates making it not perfect but it suits its purpose to keep the racks bundled together :-)

For my LMB & LMS9 set, I use those A-100MVG plates at the back side of the cases and at the more towards the front of the sides of those cases I added myself on each side one smaller plate to keep there the cases together as well. It's plywood so it's easy to drill a few small holes in there and tighten those metal plates with a few screws and nuts and then you got a rock-solid set of LMB & LMS9 and then those rubber feet of the LMB are sufficient enough to keep that rack-set into place without worrying that it might tumble unless you put your entire body weight against it, of course then it will :-)

Anything else that comes to my mind...? Not for the moment, I am really happy with this LMB & LMS9 set, so giving me 5 rows of each 168 HP = 840 HP. Plenty of space!

If you don't live in a Hobbit house hence your ceiling is not too low ;-) You can add even one more LMS9 rack on top of that giving you 8 rows * 168 = 1344 HP, even more space ;-)

The "only problem" I have with this LMB & LMS9 set isn't really Doepfer's mistake, it's rather my own caused "problem". That problem is...

That set of LMB & LMS9 is already near fully packed with modules :-( and of course ;-) It's so nice to use this combination of LMB & LMS9 and you might think: "Oh plenty of space", indeed but even then, there comes a time that even those racks are going to be fully packed with modules...

But yes, I can, without any hesitation, recommend the Doepfer monster racks, I really like them, especially those LMB & LMS9 ones since they are more affordable than those expensive (but nice looking) PMB & PMS racks.

Not sure if I covered everything, otherwise just let me know what you would like to know.

Edit: Oh yes, I forgot, another huge benefit of Doepfer cases is... I really don't bother to check the depth of modules because most likely it's going to fit ;-) Well I actually do check it most of the times but what I am trying to say is... if it doesn't fit in a Doepfer case it most likely isn't going to fit in any other case either ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

EDITED Feb 27th 2021, 00:51