Amp Cooling

cwsmith68
cwsmith68 Posts: 434
edited June 2012 in 2 Channel Audio
I hope I am in the correct forum for this but I have a question.
I have a 2 channel system running a Hafler DH - 101 and a pair of Hafler DH-200'S. Saturday night I had a few people over and we all took turns going through some old vinyl and after a few drinks it kept getting louder, if ya know what I mean. Anyways, after a few hours of this the amps got very warm and shut themselves down. I moved the party to the den where I have a Realistic STA - 2080 and some Infinity SM-155's and a long cord to plug into an mp3 player/phone.
Anyway. I was wanting to get some feedback on what you guys use, if anything for keeping your system cool.

Thanks
Main system:
Denon PRA-1500, Denon POA-2400, Denon TU-660, Denon DCD-2560, Denon DVD-2910, Denon DRS-640, Denon DP-30L II w/DL-301 mc cart, BSR EQ-3000, DCM Timeframe 600's
Post edited by cwsmith68 on
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  • zingo
    zingo Posts: 11,258
    edited June 2012
    Bummer on the amp heating issues. If you get into real heating issues, you could put a block of dry ice on the amp, but you would probably go through dry ice pretty quick.

    Is the equipment stacked? Near a heat source? A fan blowing across the amp works, but it is a little noisy. You could add extra cooling fins out of copper stock.
    Jake
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  • Syndil
    Syndil Posts: 1,582
    edited June 2012
    I would think adequate ventilation and convection would take care of most amps, since that's what they are designed for. Got it crammed into a small space or something?

    RT-12, CS350-LS, PSW-300, Infinity Overture 1, Monoprice RC-65i
    Adcom GFA-545II, GFA-6000, Outlaw Audio 990, Netgear NeoTV
    Denon DCM-460, DMD-1000, Sony BDP-360, Bravia KDL-40Z4100/S
    Monster AVL-300, HTS-2500 MKII
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  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,901
    edited June 2012
    dh-200's run hot anyway, don't get drunk:razz:
    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2, Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2, Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Digital cables: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2 bnc, Tellurium Q aes, Silnote Audio Poseidon Signature 2 bnc
    Puritan PSM156
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  • fjross
    fjross Posts: 183
    edited June 2012
    Try coolerguys.com. They seem to have many different cooling fan options.
    Mcintosh MC-501 mono blocks
    Mcintosh C-45
    Mcintosh MVP-871
    PS AUDIO AV5000
    MIT 3.3 Shotgun biwire speaker interface
    MIT 3.3 Shotgun XLR interconnects
    Polk 2.3TL's Gimpod boards/F-1 modded crossovers/dynamat/JB weld/Larry's rings/Blackhole 5 strips
    Polk 3.1 TL's mint/stock (purchased new)
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  • cwsmith68
    cwsmith68 Posts: 434
    edited June 2012
    fjross wrote: »
    Try coolerguys.com. They seem to have many different cooling fan options.

    Thanks! I'll check em out!
    marvda1 wrote: »
    dh-200's run hot anyway, don't get drunk:razz:

    Haha! Had been by the pool all afternoon and was feelin pretty good!
    Main system:
    Denon PRA-1500, Denon POA-2400, Denon TU-660, Denon DCD-2560, Denon DVD-2910, Denon DRS-640, Denon DP-30L II w/DL-301 mc cart, BSR EQ-3000, DCM Timeframe 600's
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  • decal
    decal Posts: 3,205
    edited June 2012
    Syndil wrote: »
    I would think adequate ventilation and convection would take care of most amps, since that's what they are designed for. Got it crammed into a small space or something?

    I have to agree. If they have adequate ventilation are getting hot enough to shut themselves down, something is wrong.
    If you can't hear a difference, don't waste your money.
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  • lhester
    lhester Posts: 12
    edited June 2012
    I have a couple of old 200s driving a pair of subs. They are not in a cabinet. I have them sitting on the floor beside each other near the subs. I have not had any trouble with them over heating.

    Are yours bridged? If so, remember to halve the impedence of your speakers when calculating the load the amp sees. This might have something to do with it.

    I love old Hafler gear. I also have a 500 driving a pair of old Acoustat Spectra 11's. They love juice, but the 500 can dish it out.

    I just noticed you're in Tupelo. I live in Brandon. All my family is from the Lee/Pontotoc county area.
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  • cwsmith68
    cwsmith68 Posts: 434
    edited June 2012
    lhester wrote: »
    I have a couple of old 200s driving a pair of subs. They are not in a cabinet. I have them sitting on the floor beside each other near the subs. I have not had any trouble with them over heating.

    Are yours bridged? If so, remember to halve the impedence of your speakers when calculating the load the amp sees. This might have something to do with it.

    I love old Hafler gear. I also have a 500 driving a pair of old Acoustat Spectra 11's. They love juice, but the 500 can dish it out.

    I just noticed you're in Tupelo. I live in Brandon. All my family is from the Lee/Pontotoc county area.
    Hey cool! A fellow Mississippian and Polkie!

    Mine are not bridged. I have 1 amp driving a pair of RTA 12B's and the other driving a pair of Monitor 11's.
    I think they just need a little more space between the shelves. That was the first real workout they have had since being put into service in this system. Still thinking about adding some fans to the cabinet though.
    Main system:
    Denon PRA-1500, Denon POA-2400, Denon TU-660, Denon DCD-2560, Denon DVD-2910, Denon DRS-640, Denon DP-30L II w/DL-301 mc cart, BSR EQ-3000, DCM Timeframe 600's
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2012
    decal wrote: »
    I have to agree. If they have adequate ventilation are getting hot enough to shut themselves down, something is wrong.

    Or he's simply overdriving the amp causing thermal shutdown. MP3's through a cell phone create a lot of harmful distortion and it doesn't take much volume to stress components with that kind of crappy source signal.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • cwsmith68
    cwsmith68 Posts: 434
    edited June 2012
    heiney9 wrote: »
    Or he's simply overdriving the amp causing thermal shutdown. MP3's through a cell phone create a lot of harmful distortion and it doesn't take much volume to stress components with that kind of crappy source signal.

    H9
    cwsmith68 wrote: »
    I hope I am in the correct forum for this but I have a question.
    I have a 2 channel system running a Hafler DH - 101 and a pair of Hafler DH-200'S. Saturday night I had a few people over and we all took turns going through some old vinyl and after a few drinks it kept getting louder, if ya know what I mean. Anyways, after a few hours of this the amps got very warm and shut themselves down. I moved the party to the den where I have a Realistic STA - 2080 and some Infinity SM-155's and a long cord to plug into an mp3 player/phone.
    Anyway. I was wanting to get some feedback on what you guys use, if anything for keeping your system cool.

    Thanks

    There were no mp3's being played through the Hafler system. It was hours of high volume use while spinning vinyl.
    Main system:
    Denon PRA-1500, Denon POA-2400, Denon TU-660, Denon DCD-2560, Denon DVD-2910, Denon DRS-640, Denon DP-30L II w/DL-301 mc cart, BSR EQ-3000, DCM Timeframe 600's
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited June 2012
    while spinning vinyl.

    There's your problem.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • cwsmith68
    cwsmith68 Posts: 434
    edited June 2012
    F1nut wrote: »
    There's your problem.

    ???? No vinyl, no mp3? What should I listen to? 8 track tape?
    Main system:
    Denon PRA-1500, Denon POA-2400, Denon TU-660, Denon DCD-2560, Denon DVD-2910, Denon DRS-640, Denon DP-30L II w/DL-301 mc cart, BSR EQ-3000, DCM Timeframe 600's
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  • cwsmith68
    cwsmith68 Posts: 434
    edited June 2012
    Smallies wrote: »
    Sounds like the amps hung in there admirably for no fan.

    Oh yeah! We was rockn!
    Main system:
    Denon PRA-1500, Denon POA-2400, Denon TU-660, Denon DCD-2560, Denon DVD-2910, Denon DRS-640, Denon DP-30L II w/DL-301 mc cart, BSR EQ-3000, DCM Timeframe 600's
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  • leftwinger57
    leftwinger57 Posts: 2,917
    edited June 2012
    if indeed a fan is needed make sure you able to place it at any angle .I had the heat /clipping problem and did get a fan from the coolerguys as mentioned before. After a while I noticed a stain on the fan decal and thought it was some lubricating oil.Any way nothing leaked no harm no foul and I changed the configuration of my rack so it's all natural air flow now. Just something to be aware of.I just could of had a beat fan or did use it in the wrong way which was flat on top of the vents of the Yamaha rx-v665.
    2chl- Adcom GFA- 555-Onkyo P-3150v pre/amp- JVC-QL-A200 tt- Denon 1940 ci cdp- Adcom GFS-6 -Modded '87 SDA 2Bs - Dynamat Ext.- BH-5- X-Overs VR-3, RDO-194 tweeters, Larry's Rings, Speakon/Neutrik I/C- Cherry stain tops Advent Maestros,Ohm model E

    H/T- Toshiba au40" flat- Yamaha RX- V665 avr- YSD-11 Dock- I-Pod- Klipsch #400HD Speaker set-

    Bdrm- Nikko 6065 receiver- JBL -G-200s--Pioneer 305 headphones--Sony CE375-5 disc
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  • lhester
    lhester Posts: 12
    edited June 2012
    Hey cool! A fellow Mississippian and Polkie!

    Yeah cool. I have a pair of M10's that I bought new in the mid eighties. I sold them to my dad when I bought the Spectras. When he died I got them back. I pull them out and listen every once in a while. They still sound great. I may replace the tweeters with RDOs someday. Most of my friends just stare if I ask them if they have heard of Polk Audio.

    A cooling fan will probably do the trick. I had my two 200s and an NAD 2600a in one cabinet a long time ago. I bought a 120v fan from Radio Shack and installed an electrical plug. I cut a hole in the back of the cabinet and exhausted the air out the back. I plugged it in to the switched outlet on my pre amp so it came on when I turned the pre amp on. It was a bit loud, but I listened loud back then.
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