cooling fan

michael_w

Hey I was just curious what is the best way to hook up one of those little fans to an avr to keep it nice and cool?

amulford

What kind of fan, do you have enough room, what kind of receiver...

lots of info left out...

michael_w

Sorry about the left out info....

fan is a 3" radioshack 120 vac cooling fan that claims to circulate 32 cubic feet / minute. receiver is a crappy panasonic one (sahe75 lol).

Thanks for any ideas.

amulford

I wouldn't use a direct shot. Personally I'd use it to exhaust the heat buildup. Set it up to draw from the space. Remember this is going to also draw airborne dust, so you'll have to do some extra cleaning..

Why is your receiver heating up to the point where you think you need a fan? That would be a warning that you have underlying problems. Is the space large enough? Maybe you need to clean it out. Start looking for this stuff, you might only be prolonging a shutdown.

scottnbnj

i don't know much about fans, just that i'd rather not introduce a new noise or motor on the circuit if i don't have to. but, you'll just have to see how much that effects you when you get it running.

also, depending on your cabinet and your ability with a drill, maybe strategically placed wholes in shelves would help.

you've probably done this, but, i'll say it anyway, receiver on its own shelf and if you can adjust the shelves to get more airspace around it, that might help too.

also, cabinets with plywood backs, if it can not be seen from the front, you could cut or drill wholes in the backing in the receiver area. don't remove the entire back though, it probably holds the cabinet together. if you're worried about dust, a little speaker grill cover cloth over the new opening.

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Willow

as stated earlier drop the fan . Make sure the receiver has enough air/space around it to "breath". Usually about 4-6 inches on top.The designers of the receiver put those gaps in the unit for a reason, just be sure they have room to get air in and out...then you don't have to spend money on a fan

michael_w

Remember this is going to also draw airborne dust, so you'll have to do some extra cleaning..

Never thought about that and since my dad is a cabnet maker I probably accumilate a lot more dust on my equipment than most people.

I thought of the idea of a fan since I just got a pair of lsi7s and it makes my avr a bit hotter than usual.... Just didn't want to be pushing them hard or running them for a while and have it shutdown. Maybe I'll just get rid of the fan and see how hot it will get if I run it for a while. I'm just kinda anxious to get everything running nice and sweet with my new speakers .

Thanks for all your imput,
Michael

steveinaz

A company called "Active Thermal" makes VERY quiet fan kits in various configurations for HT and stereo equip.

http://www.activethermal.com

I had the "Cool-It" unit, very nice and can be switched on by thermistor if you want. Most of these units (if not all) run on an AC/DC walwart at 1/2 voltage to reduce fan noise. I found that I had to be within 10" of my amp to hear mine, then only slightly audible. As a test to ensure it wasn't introducing any noise into my system, I turned up my pre all the way on an unused input and heard no artifacts/noise from the fans' operation.

scottnbnj

Originally posted by steveinaz
http://www.activethermal.com

thanks much.

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Airplay355

the reason the receiver is getting hotter then usual is because its working harder to power the lsi7's 4 ohm load. if your receiver has pre-outs you might want to consider an external power amp to power them instead of frying your avr. are you sure that your receiver is safe with powering a 4 ohm load?

michael_w

Steveinaz,
Thanks for the link but I don't think I need something that spify. I'll keep them in mind though.

Ariplay,
It has no preouts and is only rated for 6-8 ohms. Its not like its getting super hot... just warmer than usual. I only suggested the fan thing because I was wanting to keep it as cool as possible while running lsi7s since it will be getting hotter cause they are 4 ohms and making the avr work harder. I'm saving my cash for seperates or possibly a good avr (more than likely seperates) but I don't see myself buying those for a few months (simply not enough money).

A question about seperates.... I listen to music about 95% of the time but I also like movies in my room... Say I got a pre and a 2 ch amp for my music needs. Does this mean that I have to get a preamp that can seperate the signal into 5.1 (or better) and then send the remaining signal into my avr so that I can get the rest of the sound (instead of the 2 ch the amp will be powering) ? I've heard of seperate decoders but I'm not qute sure how they all work with each other. One last question about seperates... How does a sub come into this? Does a preamp have outputs like the equavalent to the lfe on an avr? lsi7s don't really have the bass I need by themselves (although do sound nice they lack in the low end). The way I am running my subs is using the lfe out on my receiver so running them in line isn't really an option until I get a different sub.

Thanks for all you imput and helping me with my many questions.

Michael

steveinaz

Originally posted by michael_w
Steveinaz,
Thanks for the link but I don't think I need something that spify. I'll keep them in mind though.

No problem bud.