Radial Powerhouse Powered 10-Slot 500-Series Module Rack (19-inch, 3RU)

Radial Powerhouse: Ten Slots of Clean, High-Current 500-Series Power

The Radial Powerhouse is a powered ten-slot 500-series rack, a 19-inch, 3RU chassis that houses up to ten 500-series modules and feeds them clean, high-current power with no audio circuitry of its own. Because there is no shared signal path inside the frame, nothing colors or degrades what your preamps, EQs, and compressors do - the Powerhouse simply gives them the strong, quiet power they were designed to run on. For an engineer building a modular front end, it is the dependable backbone the whole rack leans on.

What the 500-Series Format Actually Is

The 500-series is an open modular standard for studio processing. Instead of buying a full-chassis preamp or compressor, you buy just the module - the audio card - and slot it into a powered rack that supplies its voltage and connections. That lets you mix and match a preamp from one maker, an EQ from another, and a compressor from a third in one enclosure, and reconfigure the whole chain whenever your work changes. The rack is the host; the Powerhouse is one of the most robust hosts you can give those modules.

Why High Shared Current Matters

Not all 500-series racks can feed every module. Many high-end designs, especially discrete and tube modules, draw serious current, and an underpowered rack starves them into distortion or noise. The Powerhouse answers with 1600 mA of clean current shared across its ten slots, roughly 160 mA per slot on average, with headroom to concentrate that draw where hungry modules need it. It also supplies 48V phantom power for modules that pass microphones, and a per-slot auto-resetting fuse protects the rack and the module if anything faults.

Feed and Stereo Link: Chaining Without Cables

Wiring modules together usually means a nest of patch cables across the back of a rack. The Powerhouse removes them with two features. The Feed function internally routes one module's output to the input of the next slot, so you can build a serial chain - a preamp into an EQ into a compressor - with no external cabling at all. A Stereo Link switch ties adjacent channels together so a pair of mono modules tracks as a matched stereo bus. The result is a cleaner rack and faster signal routing.

Full I/O and Premium Connectors on Every Slot

Connectivity is generous and built to last. Every one of the ten slots offers both XLR and 1/4-inch TRS input and output - ten of each on the rear panel - so you can wire the rack to any console, patchbay, or interface. Omniport is supported for modules that use it to add extra ins, outs, or sidechain access. The connections run through gold 15-pin EDAC and Neutrik connectors chosen for reliability, and the whole assembly is folded from 14-gauge steel to survive rack life on the road or in the studio.

Power and Grounding Done Properly

The Powerhouse runs on an external universal power supply that accepts 100 to 240V AC, so it works anywhere in the world and keeps the transformer and its hum field outside the audio chassis. That supply connects through a locking 5-pin XLR so it cannot pull loose mid-session. Inside, separate chassis and earth grounds help keep the rack quiet and give you control over ground loops. The chassis and its 13.5-pound heft speak to a unit built to be installed once and trusted for years.

Where the Powerhouse Fits Your Studio or Rig

The most common home for a Powerhouse is a studio side-car loaded with preamps, EQs, and compressors that follow you from project to project. Live engineers fill it with a preamp per source for clean multitrack capture, while others use the Feed and Link features to build a dedicated stereo channel strip from individual modules. Because of its high shared current, it is also the rack of choice when your collection includes power-hungry tube 500-series modules that lesser frames cannot properly feed.

Who the Powerhouse Is For

The Powerhouse is for the studio owner assembling a modular front end who refuses to let the rack be the weak link; for the live engineer who wants clean, high-current power and cable-free chaining in a tour-ready chassis; and for anyone running demanding discrete or tube 500-series modules that need real current to sound their best. Load ten modules, power them cleanly, and let the rack disappear behind the sound.