Tubes and heat...


I currently live in Northern California which has a fairly moderate climate. It is not too hot or too cold; however it does get hot enough in the summer where the heat of tubes will make you want to run outside. The other day I sat in my listening room relaxing to some tunes and fell asleep. I woke up about an hour later soaking wet from sweat. To make things worse, I may be moving to an area like Arizona which makes me squirm at the thought of having my tube amp on in the summer.

I have a Decware TORII that I really love. My setup currently has around 12 tubes heating up a small listening room. I could turn up the AC, but get this, it is noisey. Yes, it makes enough noise that it is a bother during quiet passages. Is there a way that I could direct the tube heat out the door without having to physically changing the structure of the room?

What to do?
matchstikman
I live in Tucson, AZ, so I know what you mean about heat! I'm using monoblock Atma-sphere M-60 Mk 2.2's, with 16- 6AS7 triodes running in class A bias! And I also listen nearfield, which means that the amps are about 10 feet away from me.

Daytimes, I run my A/C. But for serious listening at night, I shut off the A/C. I can listen for about 1 to 2 hours at a time, and then I have to run the A/C for about 15 minutes to cool things off. Then, back to the music.

One of the nice things about the desert is that the ultra low humidity makes it feel cooler than it really is; the heat index is LOWER than the actual temp. [Right now, 11:30 AM, the temp is 88, but the heat index is 82.] And the amps make dandy space heaters in the winter, as outlying areas of Tucson can drop into the mid 20's at night [we're at 2500 to 3000+ feet of elevation].

Temps in Arizona can vary wildly depending upon elevation. Flagstaff [6000 feet] has snow and cold temps in the winter. Northern AZ is pretty much high elevation with REALLY low population. Phoenix regularly hits 112 to 117 in the summer, Lake Havasu, Bullhead City, and Yuma can top 120 in the summer, but Tucson ranges from 102 to 108 in the summer, and rarely tops 110. Hey, I can handle this heat much better than the mid 90's in Miami [used to live there] with it's 90+ humidity and stronger subtropical sun [lower latitude than Tucson].
Fatparrot: It's great to get a Tucson report as I lived there during the 80s and loved it. Now up here in MN the tube gear is even more beneficial as space heaters. But it does not take long to heat the basement to the point that I need to leave my basement to cool off; usually people leave their basement to warm up. 8-)

Newbee has a great idea for finding a "summer" amp. With all the tubes in my system, I might have to switch over to a different amp than the CATs during the hottest days. I have found the Counterpoint NPS400 with just 4 input-stage tubes to work very well for this application.

I have every intent to return to Tucson but already I am thinking about the heat issue. Maybe a separate smaller AC unit for the dedicated listening room might be the ticket down there.
I have been shopping for a SS amp to use durning summer and use it as a backup for winter. Tube preamp does not generate much heat therefore I can live with it for all season.
Jafox, basements are actually pretty well insulated by the surrounding earth; maybe that's why you're listening area heats up so quickly.

Forget about Tucson! You wouldn't recognize it now. It's now filled with W.M.D.'s...Wanton Mass Developments! When the real estate bubble bursts [1-2 years], it will be another Western "boomtown" story for Pima county!
I live in sunny California---in the worst part of the SF Valley.(Chatsworth) I do have my summer-amp.--That be the Belles 150a---Barely warm after many hrs.of use. My #1 amp-s- the CJ 8xses.--(These are also suitable for indoor BBQ-ing,or just making toast.)