Your amp needs some air flow & I'm guessing from your description that the back of the shelf is up against a wall? If not, I would remove the back of whatever you're using to get some flow thru. I would think the easiest thing to do would be move the rack away from the wall. If it is against the wall, then some holes in the shelf itself would be beneficial, provided you don't compromise the strength & integrity of the shelf. Also consider holes in the sides of the rack.
I keep my amp on the top shelf of my rack so it is completely exposed to air on all sides & it sits on isolation devices so there's some air flow underneath too. I have an old wooden rack that has been beefed up to support 500 lbs. of gear. I've had a Pass 350 & Threshold S300 up there at the same time.
One more thing you might want to consider is a low speed fan that operates on batteries. You may be able to position it behind the amp w/o drilling any holes just to get some air moving. The same holds true for an electrical fan like something out of a computer but noise may be a factor. There are some fans designed for low speed/low noise that may work ok. |
Since heat rises and the bottom of the amp is probably closed I don't think it would help much. I would investigate good quality cooling fans: otherwise I would put it on the top shelf. I know that this is inconvenient to a degree as you have more trouble loading recordings but you don't appear to have enough space for the amp to cool as it is now. |
What kind of amp?First things first.I hate generalyzing[sp] unnecessaryly,thanks,Bob |
USblues is right... more detail would be helpful.
Anyway, I have a couple of extra whisper quiet fans... if your intersted shoot me an email.
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Hi
Just drill some holes as long are not visible. It will not hurt anything and if the bottom of your amp has vents this will help cooling down things. Don`t drill to little, go about 3/4" in a nice pattern. |
There are several low-noise DC fans which are even quieter when run on less voltage, at the expense of less airflow.
I've experimented with an old CPU fan running off and 9v battery and it works. Don't know for how long, but it spins it fine and produces a very quiet airflow. |
Thanks for the responses, everyone. The amp is an early 90's Sony TA-N80ES. It is open underneath the heat sink. If you want to see a picture of it's insides go to: http://www.thevintageknob.org/SONY/sonyes/TAN80ES/TAN80ES-MK1.htmlI have a picture of my setup on my system page if you want to see it. It is a simple rack that is open on all sides and the back. I like the idea of a fan but I am not sure where I would put it. There isn't much room on top of the amp or under it. How deep are these fans? Mark |
Looking at the picture of your rack, I'm doubting drilling holes below would make a significant difference. As has been noted, heat rises, and you've already got a lot of breathing room around the amp. Do you have reason to think it is running *too* warm, as opposed to just warm? John |
John-
You make a good point. I haven't really cranked the amp yet so I don't know how hot it could get, but for average listening volumes it is only slightly warmer than my surround reciever.
I am probably being a little paranoid. Its just that I have read that these amps do sometimes overheat and I want it to last a long time.
Mark |
I replaced my solid wood back panel with an open plastic mesh screen. Even "cool running" stuff builds up heat in the summer. |
Your amp is junk buy a new one |
Hello, just sell your power amp and PRE amp to me!
I'll fix this problem! |
Raising the amp up with bigger feet,or something under the feet may help the air flow through the bottom air intakes.♫ |
You really don't have an issue with heat. The Sony will run warm, even a little hot, but that's the way it's designed. |
Mark:
I don't know the amp, but you might read around on that piece specifically; as Obhwy61 said, it could easily be designed to run quite warm. As the poster on your system thread said, a bit more breathing room to the rear might be good. (IMO, that poster may very well be right about your speakers; if the domestic economy permits, try pulling them out into the room a bit -- you may be quite pleased.)
John |
I spent $62.00 for 2 cooling fans 120mm which are extremely quite. Put these 2 fans on top of my Onkyo 876 and no more worry abt heat issue. BTW, I use the Sanus audio rack and I have only abt 1.5" clearance on top of the Onkyo.
Look up "the coolerguys.com" for different type of cooling fans that fit youe need. |
I'm certainly no master of hifi, but after looking at the pictures, I'd be more concerned about where your speakers are located than how much heat your amp is putting off.
I would slide those book shelves towards each other so they meet up with the hearth. Put the speakers out into the room in front of the bookshelves. Now you can pull your hifi rack away from the wall farther without it hindering access to the bookshelves. Books are excellent bass traps. |
Hifitime, I like those musical notes. How did you do that? |
Cdc
Open windows start.Type in Character map.Scroll down to Meiryo
in font.Its right before the Oriental items start.Pick your item,left click on it to high-lite it,then select,copy,and move your pointer to where you want it. Then use CTRL and V to paste it where you want it.I'm not very computer savvy,but that's the best description I could give.Its in the character map on Windows,but I don't know about the others.That's where I get my 2¢ emblem from also.All kinds of little things in there.This one comes in the computer.I never tried the ones from the net.This should describe it better.Regards♫[http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/charmap.html] |
Cdc,
I email myself to try the new stuff out.That way nobody else could see all of my trial and error goof ups that I'm good at doing.♫ |
Thanks for the responses.
I originally had it set up as suggested with the bookshelves behind the speakers and I think it did sound better but for domestic reasons I had to change it to the current configuration.
It's going to have to stay the way it is thru the holidays but when the tree comes down I will see about putting it back to the way it was.
Mark |
Hifitime. Got it, thanks.
☻ |
Thought I would post an update if anyone is interested- I decided not to do any drilling. Instead I changed the shelf spacing to give about 3 1/2 inches more space above the amp.
The rack I use isn't really designed to allow for changing shelf spacing but it wasn't too hard to do. The shelf spacing is controlled by the aluminum tubes at the corners. I ordered an aluminum tube from McMaster and cut it as needed. As long as you keep the total length the same you can change spacing however you want by replacing the stock tubes.
Anyway now it runs much cooler. The stand seems a little less rigid, probably due to the taller shelf spacing, but I am willing to live with that.
Mark |
