Cost Effective Component Cooling
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Heat can be the number one enemy of components especially for receivers and amps. I am sure everyone has had an amp or receiver go into protect mode from inadequate ventilation and or driving the unit very hard and over heating the unit. Most receivers need 6″ to 9″ of top clearance for proper ventilation. In some cases this may not be possible. Beings these units are convection cooled they sometimes could use a little help.
Rack mount cooling kits can run as much as $400. Although they look nice, they are more money than most people want to shell out to cool there gear. We have been using computer style cooling fans for some time now. These are not expensive, don’t look as pretty if you cant hide them well, but are a very cost effective way keep things running cool. We just did a home audio install in Tacoma where the guy had his equipment in an enclosed rack and the room itself had no ventilation. Everything was getting hot and the separate amp would shut down after running at high volumes for a period of time. We dropped in two of the variable speed fans, problem solved.
I currently use two in my demo system, though one is probably more than enough. The two versions we have tested and use are the top motor thermal control fan and the Scythe S-Flex fan.
Scythe S-Flex (SFF21D) fan:
800 RPM 8.7 DBA
top motor thermal control fan:
Variable speed from 1100 RPM up to 2200 RPM
With the top motor version at its highest speed there was no irritating fan noise to deal with. You would have to be very close to the fan to hear it running full tilt. This is the one I prefer for any application.
Below are some shots of the fans sitting on top of the Marantz, shot from the top through a glass shelf. These shots are followed by pictures using a candle to demonstrate the effectiveness of these fans, give you an idea of how much air flow they create with the 800 RPM version only. We could not keep the candle lit with the top motor running at 2200 RPM so scrapped the picture idea with that one. The top motor version moves enough air to cool the most demanding heat generating unit. Again don’t worry about the noise generated. From fan to seated position there is none, even in a dead quiet, acoustically treated room.
For purchases and or home audio installations in the seattle area, please contact James Vaughan.
Sound Waves Hifi.
425-637-1729
Services we offer:
-In-wall wiring and on-wall mounting
-Plasma, projector,and screen installation
-Multi -zone audio configuration
-Networking and media streaming
-Complete system calibration (audio/video)
Equipment we specialize in:
-In-room and on In-wall speaker systems
-Subwoofers
-Source components
-Amplification
-Surge protection and line filtering
-Projector, Plasmas, and other displays
-Media furniture, stands, and mounts
And much more!
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