HK AVR 7200: New Owner Question

DanielCSCS

Gentlemen, this is my first quality receiver. My 7200 was barely delivered yesterday. I am still a bit overwhelmed by the size and depth of the AVR 7200. It absolutely dwarfs my previous Sony entry level unit and can easily bully my buddies 43-tx.

Anyway, this receiver is sitting at the base of my entertainment center with approximately 8 inches of overhead clearence to spare. House above the receiver is my polk cs400i so as a result the doors of my entertainment center have to remain open during operation. That said, I have no reason to belive that an insuffiency of air space is available to facilitate cooling of this unit. That said, is it normal for this sucker to HEAT UP as much as it does?

It's not to the point where I could fry an egg on it, nor is it uncomfortable to touch, but I had it going last night for the better part of an hour and a half playing in stereo and that sucker GOT HOT as hell! Also it emitted that "new electronic" smell only it was "hot new electronic smell".

Can this sucker be a fire hazzard? If it got hot on stereo material what's it going to feel like during a 4 hour lord of the rings marathon? I am driving relativly high efficiency 8 ohm POLK RTI model speakers.

faster100

My Integra receiver gets somewhat hot to the touch during movies and loud music, its normal to a point.. I have a audio rack with a glass door.. i actually placed my receiver on the top outside which of course gives it maximum cooling.. If its not hot to burn you i would say its ok, make sure you have enough space above it though.. and if the back is sealed except the hole for the wires it may need a larger hole or fans.. which starts to get extreme... Its sorta of like a computer , if it were to hot it wouldnt play for the most part.. and the new smell is also normal.. everytime i get a new computer monitor.. (i have 3) i always get freaked out by the electrical smell, but it go's away...

steveinaz

You might look into buying a "Cool-It" by Active Thermal. Search it in Yahoo. Very neat cooling fan unit that runs nearly silent. You can get them from $99-$139 bucks. I use it on my Parasound HCA-1500A, as YOU CAN fry eggs on it.

Cool-It link ($79 on Sale): http://www.smarthome.com/8734c.html

For a cheaper solution, buy a "Vantech" Stealth PC cooling fan and simply place it on top. The Stealth is a very quiet fan (about 21dB) at about 28cfm. If you find it causes your receiver to vibrate, buy the 99cent stick-on rubber feet at Radio Shack.

faster100

No offence but thats a rip off, its standard cooling fans like a pc has with a cheap looking box/holder for 100 bucks.. I'm sure the receiver is fine, Its amps.. its gonna get hot.. to a point.

Make one yourself, either 12 volt, or 110 versions and plug em in.. for that kind of money i will make them and start selling them, LOL

Ceruleance

If its not uncomfortable to touch, there is no problem.

Don't put anything on top of it.

Fans are noisey and distracting, and if the 7200 really needed them, H/K would have put one in, like on the less expensive 525.

If it starts shutting off and going into thermal protect mode, then you may need to do some rearranging, like putting it on the top of the entertainment center rather than in the cabinet (thats how I have my 525 set up, so it never turns on the fan)

steveinaz

Originally posted by faster100
No offence but thats a rip off, its standard cooling fans like a pc has with a cheap looking box/holder for 100 bucks.. I'm sure the receiver is fine, Its amps.. its gonna get hot.. to a point.

Make one yourself, either 12 volt, or 110 versions and plug em in.. for that kind of money i will make them and start selling them, LOL

I agree it's pricey, but realizing not everyone is electrically inclined, it's another avenue to cooling without looking "homemade." I'm in the process of making a "cooling shelf" for my Parasound that will cool from the bottom--and I'm simply going to use 4 vantech stealths (running 1/2 speed) mounted to the underside of the amps' shelf. Cost, about $24.

faster100

you want cool colored fans and grills and such, check these guys out.. just got my shipment today of some fans and cold cathode light..

http://www.bestbyte.net/

awsome company, fast, cheap shipping and lots of accessories... have been buying from them for a few years now

bigsexy1

That reciever, while having no internal fan, does have MASSIVE heat sinks. You should be all right, just so long as you make sure it has plenty of free flowing air around it to breath. HKs tend to run hot anyways. It still wouldn't hurt anything to put a small fan blowing on it though.

Fireman99

I am currently running the AVR8000 and it is normal for it to pump out the heat like that no troubles If possable I would consider putting the 7200 so that nothing is above it. As someone else said ofcourse dont put anything on it while in operation.
Dan

DanielCSCS

Awesome in depth answers. I really appriciate the time you all took. One thing I am going to do is take a Jig Saw to my entertainment center and carve out a larger wire window. My current setup is a corner unit that isnt deep enough to house the 7200 with the equipped Monster z1 wire. I think ill remedy that this weekend with the saw so that the entire rear end of this beasty is exposed to fresh air. Currently those wires are all mashed up against the back of the entertainment center and that's annoying me.



One more thing. I picked up some rti38's from crutchfield along with Sanus 36" stands. Uhh, I don't know what the rest of the world thinks, but these flimsy sansu stands arn't going to cut the mustard with these 38'S. Especially not on burbor carpet, and forget about the carpet spikes. Im not gonna perforate my carpet with those badboys. So i have some 28's coming out my way from Crutchfield that will hopefully suffice as stand occupied surrounds.


We shall seee.

Daniel

Airplay355

hmm i thought ud wanna change the stands before u changed the speakers lol

dorokusai

Daniel - The spikes shouldn't harm your carpet, even Berber. Just don't drag the speaker stands, other than that its fine to use them.

VR3

I would say my receiver runs at about 80 degrees at -80! But ice cold due to the bult in fan past -40...

Anything between -94 and -40 it runs HOT.

Dosn't bother me.....

However it makes no sense, maybe someone can explain why it would run THAT hot when the only thing hooked up to it is, Pre Outs, CD Player IN????

eclypse

Yes your on the right track.. Cut a large hole in the back of the entertainment stand to allow air to flow in.. Ofcourse you'll need air to enter the front so it will go out the back. Having just a large hole in the back is like trying to blow air into a staw with your finger over the other end.. no air will enter. So do what you can and just try to make it look like it was supposed to look that way wtih the cut.

Just remember guys.. if you care about your sound or your hardware, use proper ventilation! That heat on that hardware will lower the life expectancy! Yes the receiver has massive heatsinks inside.. but they wont beable to cool that great if the surrounding air around the unit is just as hot!.. Your cooking that thing. Putting a receiver into a cabnit with a glass door is like puttin it in a microwave..

if you can take the door off the entertainment stand and cut a nice size hole in the back that will allow air to pass threw.

DanielCSCS

Well keep in mind too, that the door serves a cosmetic and protective purpous. I really dont like having the avr 7200 with the cs400i exposed given the aptitiude my cat has for love making on various odd inanimate househould items.
Whats more having those doors open looks like **** on its own. I rather just sport them open when movie watching.


What do you fellas think about the use of 28's for surrounds in a 5.1 setting? Were talking a 15x30 room where rt55 serve as mains and cs400i center.

Ohh, I pitted the 38's against the rt55's in a side by side blowout a/b style for the better part of 2 hours last night. I used the evvanessence album along with various eighties music. The 55 was the clear winner. What a fabulous speaker, to bad their as physically as awkward as they are! There is no Sanus stand in the world that good do them justice.

steveinaz

I was in a similar situation, as my rack had glass in the doors. I removed the glass and added spaced 2.5" Oak slats instead. Being that it was an oak "Spanish Style" entertainment center, it worked out really well, and the wife liked the look as well. Now I have unobstructed airflow from the front and in the rear.

The stuff we do to keep the chicks happy. LOL

AfroGT

However it makes no sense, maybe someone can explain why it would run THAT hot when the only thing hooked up to it is, Pre Outs, CD Player IN????

I found this on another forum regarding the HK running hot....

Bias is a critcal electrical setting of the amplifier's output devices, Harman/Kardon in their amplifier design parameters specify that the bias should be set so that output devices are slightly turned ON and conducting. This causes the AVR to draw a little higher current, even at idle. Their reason for doing this is that it greatly reduces the THD at low levels and permits the amplifier to sound better as when the volume gain is increased and the amplifier begins to raise its output power it more linear and smoother. Note that this is NOT done by the competition as it requires significantly more adjustments on the production line. Think about it as custom calibrating and optimizing the actual amplifier key components of each channel for best sonic performance.

The whole thread can be found
here

jdavy

I have the AVR7000 and run it all day entertaining my dog while I am at work. It gets warm but the key is to have a lot of air around it. Since the unit is huge and deeper than the cabinet, I have mine on the top of the cabinet. Just remember the avr has a lot of vents on the top to breath. Keep them exposed and open so it can.

shack

Originally posted by DanielCSCS
The 55 was the clear winner. What a fabulous speaker, to bad their as physically as awkward as they are! There is no Sanus stand in the world that good do them justice.

I disagree! My RT55is have been on Sanus New Foundation stands for 2 years now on carpet, with spikes (ever looked at the bottom of a piece of carpet - it is very course woven material - spikes will not hurt it), cat, dog, kids with NO problems at all...very solid and very stable. I think they look good too.

HBombToo

Originally posted by shack
I disagree! My RT55is have been on Sanus New Foundation stands for 2 years now on carpet, with spikes (ever looked at the bottom of a piece of carpet - it is very course woven material - spikes will not hurt it), cat, dog, kids with NO problems at all...very solid and very stable. I think they look good too.

the 55i is an AWSOME speaker!

1/4 Twin