50* (122*F) isn't that hot for electronics. It might seem hot to us, but from everything I've seen, that's pretty normal.
Think of the Class-A offerings from something like Krell. Those units can get to 180*+ and still keep chugging along just fine.
How hot is too hot?
I am running a Gryphon Diablo 300 to drive a pair of Magico A3. My room size is around 3m*4.5M. I usually listen at around the 80db level, mainly to jazz and classical music.
My room temperature is almost always kept at 26 degrees Celsius in the summer. After operating after an hour or so, the heat sinks of the 300 often gets up to 50 degrees with the top cover at 38 degrees. My dealer told me these temperatures are normal but I feel this is hot (too hot?).
I should also add that the amp is placed on the top of a flat open shelf so there is no question on ventilation.
Any experience by other Diablo 300 users to share?
TIA!
38 responses Add your response
AC Infinity You could try a version of this, I use one with each of my tube amps. They are very quiet and work very well to draw hot air away from the amp. AC Infinity makes many different kinds of fans to help keep electronics cool, perform their best and last longer. Just a thought.... |
I just checked the CPU temp of my Raspberry Pi music server. It’s at 58 C. My Dell laptop, which I’m using to type this response, is running at 52 C. For computer electronics you typically don’t have anything to worry about until the temp goes over 85 C, and even then there is some headroom left. That should also apply to other solid state electronics. (Tubes are a different story...) |
Anything you do to reduce the temperature inside a power amplifier will extend the lifetime of some components, most notably electrolytic capacitors. This becomes important sooner or later. FWIW, the interior temp I measure on my big Krells hovers in the 130s F. The temperatures inside digital processor chips may not have so much to do with power amplifier temperatures. As far as what to do, first, my larger amplifiers are all basically at floor level -- where the air is cooler. Being something of a "swap-a-holic", I've built dollies for my amps, with large openings on the bottoms. The bottoms of the dollies are essentially rectangular frames, and are three or four inches above the carpet, to allow air to flow in unobstructed. I would not want to introduce any fans for concern of acoustic or electrical noise. Cheers. |
The efficiency of a heat sink can be greatly improved by disturbing the boundary layer that forms at the heatsink/air interface. It's like wind chill. This doesn't take much. Measure the temperature of the heatsink and then gently move the air around it with a folded paper fan and measure the temperature again. You should see the temperature go down substantially. It will give you an idea of how little air movement is needed and a full fan, like those in a PC, is not needed as you do not have an enclosure that would trap the heat. |
@2psyop ....and one can diy the relative same by shopping ’raw’ computer fans. Been fanning since Houston, so been cool for decades now. Have considered fanning voice coils, since I ’push’ some things harder than usual. |
@paradisecom
My ’little’ class A 80-Watt per channel Krell KSA-80 has to convect / radiate close to 700-Watts of power into the room whenever it is running. It is too hot for the cat to sleep on - a very good thing - because cats and ventilated electronics otherwise seem made for each other |
My Benchmark AHB2 with DAC3 HGC on the top doesn't get hot, but I placed the fan (on tiny feet) on the top, puling air up, anyway. Noctua NF-A14 ULN fan is very quiet (12dBa) - non-audible in my room. Any forced air, even smallest, is way better than natural convection (open shelf). This fan, draws very little current from 12V remote ON/OFF 1/8" socket on the AHB2 without affecting its operation. That way fan stops when amp is switched off. The effect of the fan is strong - case is cold and heatsinks are lukewarm even at the loud listening sessions. |
@mylogic Imho if you can fry eggs on your amp you're into or just about needing to replace it....unless you're into runny. |
Frying eggs I was just trying to add a little ironic humour to some of the posts. They reminded me of the lyrics to a song…”The heat is on” The nearest l have been to a Krell was when watching “The Forbidden Planet” l thought it quite funny people talking about how hot the surface of their amps ran up to. If they are that hot outside, what the ‘hell’ (literally) are the circuits heating up to inside? l can only say as an observer, the Krell amps may look ‘cool’ from the outside, but……..The big but is, heat may be good for a car engine but essentially and ultimately the biggest potential killer for delicate electronics. The same is true for any piece of electronics. Reference the film, the advanced civilisation….the ‘Krell’ effectively blew their own brains out. Same scenario? |
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I measured ~64 C at the top of my Preamp, directly above a 6550. I call the manufacturer, who confessed that they did not track operating temps. A few months later the temp lowered to ~52 C. After rolling tubes, my other 6550s are operating around ~52 +/- In the summer here in the S.E., the preamp is hot enough to jump-start the house AC. |
@mylogic *L* I took it for the ancient 'hot enough to...' aside, and anyway I wouldn't treat a Krell like that...heard one, checked the tag$ and stayed in warp after an impulse turn.... "Just wasn't in my universe then, nor later." Ought to be a visual Snickers.....the Id Beast with sota graphics ought to make the front rows worry about blood stains... The guys always seemed to want the single-malt whiskies....women generally more creative in a request... *G* I'm not paranoid much.....but have enough for now...thanx....😒 |
@mylogic *L* Not familiar with the show, but know that Brits like to tease Aussie's a lot...and the only monkeys that might boil it's butt are those that hang our in hot springs in Japans' winter... (In the background a pained *screech* erupts) Yeah, it ought to be a hoot.....in the original, the crew shooting little white hyphens at an electric beast was the lamest effect of the movie.... ForbidPlanet was very loosely based on The Tempest by WS....Walt P, acting like a stage show trooper gave his death 'Shakespearian weight'....which felt 'dialed in'.... The planet, in retrospect, looked like Palm Springs.... Cheery-Oh, J |
@cycles2 Thank you for your feedbacks. That is comforting to know. And I love this Audiogon brotherhood -- over 20 responses in a few days. My same question to the Gryphon HQ is still unanswered after over a month! |
I am the original OP and I would like to thank you all for your comments and suggestions. They are all very helpful. I just want to say that I live in Taiwan. We have very pleasant winters but the hot summers can roast you at 38 degrees Celsius. The government has regulated no public indoor temperature can be set at lower than 26 degrees and that should answer some of your queries why I keep such a relatively high temp at home. One thing however I notice is that the Diablo's temperature depends more on the loads than the ambient temp. It used to be around 46 degrees with my old B&W 702S2 speakers and now at 50 with my Magico A3. It stays around the same levels even when indoor temp is around 18 in the winters. Isn't that a bit strange? |
I don’t think it’s strange. Amplifiers don’t just supply power to any speaker you connect to it. Each type of speakers demands a particular load of current. Obviously this has much to do with the music or musical passage. If you think of an action movie in home theatre, some passages with dialogue are very easy on an amplifier but when helicopters fly and explosions are going off everywhere…the speaker is requiring more juice from the amp to replicate these sounds. It would be interesting to know what ohm rating the Magicos are and how that may fluctuate with demand. Also the sensitivity rating. I would imagine this would be different than you previous speakers. |
@ghdprentice “recognise climate change” @gano “We need to adapt and fix it…” @waytoomuchstuff “Cook eggs on your amp?”
l seam to have started this with my joke about Krell amps running hot and frying eggs on the top. The subject has morphed with comments about global warming. The whole world is heating up with everything we do…..even recharging our phones (billions every day) produces heat that adds CO2. Yes we will all slowly turn orange if we follow the leader of the free World who is in denial. Oh, l see he’s already turned orange! lt is quite ironic that in the UK we install double glazing to keep our houses warm, but in Asia (l was talking to a Kuwaiti window manufacturer) they install double glazing to keep the heat out. gano and ❤️ ghdprentice…..don’t get too close and lovey or you will both add to the global warming pot. Just joking, l hope you understand.
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"Early experiments in 'double glazing' of windows revealed a drawback when the sun was low enough to make the test units act like large magnifying glasses, scorching paint on walls and igniting furniture." Todays' rampant rumour..... ;) Another being the death of Google, or at least a dearth of if....leaving us to find another verb for 'search' or 'to seek'..... Hey, @mylogic ...When is Lotus going to roll out a new 'lectric version of the 7? Time for our Brit bros to come up with some good clean fun....👍✨🎶👏😆 Been a fan of the marque ever since I saw an Elan suck the doors off a Corvette at an intersect....back when I was young and depressionable...*L*
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Replaced my windows when I bought this house a few years ago with mostly triple glazed glass (some fancy windows required double glaze for some reason), and my amps are Class A tubed and SS. I keep 'em reasonably vented and no problemo...the SS amp is a Pass XA-25 that has to warm up for an hour it hit its stride, the tube pre and power seem to sound fine immediately. |
"We’re all Devo Grandpa."
Devo, the New Wave band, based their work on the theory of "de-evolution," which posits that humanity is not evolving forward, but rather regressing or devolving, particularly due to the negative influence of consumer culture and corporate control. The band’s name itself, short for "de-evolution," reflects this core concept. They used music, visual imagery, and performance to satirize and criticize what they saw as societal decay. |
@cdc “De-evolution” All the past great civilisations eventually imploded. Often due to their own making.
What we may have now with globalisation, global warming and mass migration (due to the first two) is the more than possible collapse of the whole human race |
