Keeping It Cool-Heat Dissipation

highway_chile

I'm curious if anyone has done anything similar, or in any other pertinent discussion.
I recently put into action a Luxman M-02. I did read that it ran a little hot, unlike the M-2000 I'd been using. The M-2000 has heat sinks on the back of the unit, but the M-02 has top ventilation only. I definitely found that mine did run hot, and I set about finding a way to raise my CX-100 preamp up a bit to improve ventilation and also allow me to place 1 or 2 computer fans on top of the amp. I had a vision of a small metal rack of some sort and, with the help of my lovely wife, found exactly what I had in mind in the housewares section of a thrift store. It was likely some sort of hot dish carrier originally. It does the trick quite nicely and is somewhat discreet in appearance as well. I can also reach in to check temperature, situate fans, etc. Typically I'll run one fan when I'm doing any extended listening; 2 if I'm cranking it. This creates a space of just under 3 inches. Most importantly, the Luxman runs cool as cucumber.
One mod I may make is to add some textured tape to the top and bottom of the rack to prevent sliding when turning the preamp on and off.

EndersShadow

Looks good! Another suggestions is to buy a laptop cooler and do the same. The laptop coolers also tend to use much larger fans turning a lot slower so you can't hear them at all

highway_chile

Thanks, Enders. I bought both of these fans at garage sales, and #2 is quite noisy. It needs to go!

pitdogg2

Just make sure your pulling air out not in. IME it helps keep dust/dirt out and off the internals.

steveinaz

Search "Cool Components" for a more elegant solution; that Luxman gear deserves it.

highway_chile

EndersShadow wrote: »

Looks good! Another suggestions is to buy a laptop cooler and do the same. The laptop coolers also tend to use much larger fans turning a lot slower so you can't hear them at all

I did pick up a laptop fan. It also has an on/off switch, so that's an improvement.