anyone using a receiver / amplifier cooler?

sponger

My avr has a tendency to get warm after awhile. It's not out in the open, but neither is it cramped into a tight space. I'd say it's got more than a few inches above and around it. There are "amp coolers" on ebay, but they look like nothing more than modified computer fans. I'm not sure if that's all that's really needed.

Anyone using something similar or better? Any suggestions? Thanks.

Syndil

Amps are designed to be run without coolers. They get warm; no big deal.

EndersShadow

Syndil wrote: »

Amps are designed to be run without coolers. They get warm; no big deal.

Provided they have enough room to breath, which in the OP's case he seems to think he has enough space all around it. If its too cramped it can blow channels. This just happened to my dad this weekend I believe. His V567 Yamaha had very little room to breathe and as a result the left front channel went out. Thankfully by turning on the bi-amp feature he can still get audio from that left channel, but needs to get it repaired.

To the OP, most of the fans you will see are simply modded computer fans, mostly 120mm as thats the most common fan size. Antec made a cooler that looked really cool, but according to reviews didnt dissipate enough heat. If your worried I would get one of those fans and put it right above your HDMI board. Should fix the problem.

With that said I havent ever felt the need to do so on my Integra DTR 5.9.

jbooker82

I just use a $16 dollar AC current cooling fan. I plug the power cord in to a switched outlet so it comes on when I switch on my Onkyo reciever. Just make sure you get a ball bearing one not one that only has bushings.
http://stores.ebay.com/AC-Infinity-Inc?_trksid=p4340.l2563

mhardy6647

No, but I do use some pretty cool amplifiers if I do say so myself ;-)

In all seriousness... at least in the olden days, components - even vacuum tube components that generate tremendous amounts of heat - were carefully designed for adequate (if perhaps not ideal) passive, convective cooling, and provided with very specific instructions on installation clearance (front, back, bottom and top) to exploit the design. In some cases, then as now, "muffin" fans were added to force cool.

HH Scott, for example, proudly touted their all aluminum chassis (fairly unique in the industry in the 1960s) as part of their passive cooling scheme for their vacuum tube and their early solid state components.

With all of this said, adding some active cooling generally is a "do no harm" intervention. A classic trick is to use a "muffin" (aka "boxer") type fan at half of its rated voltage (e.g., a 220VAC fan at 120VAC, or a 12V fan at 6V). This will produce a gentle but steady zephyr of cooling airflow with nearly silent operation.

Finally, and in all seriousness, remember... hot air rises, cool air falls :-) This is key to effective cooling, whether active or passive. Science. It works, b!#ches!




http://xkcd.com/54/ (and only slightly out of context - as the topic is energy-related, in both cases!)

sponger

The receiver went into overheating protection mode after about 5 hours of use a couple of days ago. It has 3 to 4 inches above and around it, and the receiver before it in that same spot never overheated. So I was somewhat surprised. With a large fan blowing directly onto it, it hardly gets warm at all, but I'd like to avoid having to do that. The manual recommends 12 inches above it, but it seems like most people are able to run their receivers with just a few inches of space around them. Should I consider another receiver? Find a better spot for it? Buy an amp cooler?

Thanks.

PolkieMan

Mine sits on a open stand in the house . Out in the hot garage I have one also and I have a 120mm computer cooling fan with a 9v power brick just sitting on top blowing up they are on a power strip

zane77

I use a couple of these just above my HDMI boards on a switched outlet on a Onkyo Pre-Pro and receiver. These are in fairly tight spaces and I was worried about heating problems that I had read about. These are smaller than a 120mm fan and they also have speed controls built in, you can adjust the speed so you get ptetty good air movement and near silent operation. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00080G0BK/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M2C_ST1_dp_1

teekay0007

Syndil wrote: »

Amps are designed to be run without coolers. They get warm; no big deal.

When they get HOT, it's a HUGE deal! Heat is death to electronics. Even if it doesn't make the AVR/amp malfunction today, it will over time, likely reduce the usefull life of your device by years if it's allowed to get hot then cool repeatedly with each use.

I have an Onkyo receiver that's in a cabinet that's closed on the front and is only partially opened on the back and it gets HOT - like fry-an-egg hot - when used continuously for more than an hour or two. So, I tried one of these cooling fans ($21 shipped) from buyextras.com: http://www.buyextras.com/cocofanki14q.html and it works like a charm. I just put the fan over the vents of the toastiest spot on the AVR case and let it do its thing. It comes with an AC adapter that I plugged into my switched outlet on the back of the AVR so it's on when the receiver power goes on. It also comes with rubber feet so it won't scratch up the top of your AVR/amp and runs super quiet. With it in use, even after four or five hours of continuous use, the AVR is hardly even warm to the touch.

When I first got this thing I wanted to see how noisy it was so I set it on top of my bedroom dresser and plugged it in. Thought I'd let it run for a few minutes to see how distracting it was.....well, about 16 hours later, I saw it sitting there and (OMG!) realized it was still running from the day before! :redface: So, no, the noise won't bother you. :cheesygrin:

heiney9

teekay0007 wrote: »

When they get HOT, it's a HUGE deal! Heat is death to electronics. Even if it doesn't make the AVR/amp malfunction today, it will over time, likely reduce the usefull life of your device by years if it's allowed to get hot then cool repeatedly with each use

Unless it's designed that way. For instance pure single ended class A amps run very hot. My Aleph 30 runs so hot I can't touch the cooling fins for more than 7-10 seconds and I can raise the room temp a couple 3 degrees after a couple hours of use.

Yet the output devices are run at 30% of their maximum safe operating temp and will last 20-30 years of constant use. So you can't make a blanket statement about heat being a huge deal in every instance. In an inferior design with marginal parts and lots of cost cutting, yes, it will be detrimental. If one is tripping a thermal breaker, then yes it's an issue in THAT case.

My point is there are lots of higher end designs that run hot and are intended exactly to do that.

H9

mhardy6647

heiney9 wrote: »

Unless it's designed that way. For instance pure single ended class A amps run very hot. My Aleph 30 runs so hot I can't touch the cooling fins for more than 7-10 seconds and I can raise the room temp a couple 3 degrees after a couple hours of use.

Yet the output devices are run at 30% of their maximum safe operating temp and will last 20-30 years of constant use. So you can't make a blanket statement about heat being a huge deal in every instance. In an inferior design with marginal parts and lots of cost cutting, yes, it will be detrimental. If one is tripping a thermal breaker, then yes it's an issue in THAT case.

My point is there are lots of higher end designs that run hot and are intended exactly to do that.

H9

Exactly so.

mhardy6647 wrote: »

... at least in the olden days, components - even vacuum tube components that generate tremendous amounts of heat - were carefully designed for adequate (if perhaps not ideal) passive, convective cooling, and provided with very specific instructions on installation clearance (front, back, bottom and top) to exploit the design. In some cases, then as now, "muffin" fans were added to force cool.

HH Scott, for example, proudly touted their all aluminum chassis (fairly unique in the industry in the 1960s) as part of their passive cooling scheme for their vacuum tube and their early solid state components.
...

Polkersince85

mhardy6647
Finally, and in all seriousness, remember... hot air rises, cool air falls :-) This is key to effective cooling, whether active or passive. Science. It works, b!#ches!

Math is fun. Give it some room to breathe.

mhardy6647

:-)

Apropos of nothing - my son's working on his PhD in mathematics (when he's not taking photographs)...
http://icouldbeahero.blogspot.com

niente

My gear is in a wall unit and having concerns about heat i installed a paired fan unit with themostat

google coolerguys

i purchased a kit from them and it's been great for 3 years so far
runs very quiet
good luck

oldmodman

When I spotted a guy with a box of German made 6" whisper fans I bought the lot.
They run absolutely silent and vibration free. Since they were designed to run on 220v they turn much slower on 110v, perfect for cooling my electronics. I have them set up to draw air through a carbon filter to eliminate dust being blown into the electronics.
Everything stays nice and cool, never getting over 90 degrees. And as an added feature no dust gets drawn into any of the gear.

MADGSF

I second the cooler guys recommendation. I also run my system in an enclosed cabinet and use active cooling to keep temps reasonable.

http://www.coolerguys.com/

sponger

I wasn't expecting so many responses. Thanks for the helpful insight. It seems like the coolerguys win by a landslide.