There is no such thing as a “sealed” amp. At best, a top panel might have a bit of foam to damp it a tad from vibration. Otherwise, any moisture will be present. It certainly isn’t necessary to open anything up, and I highly doubt the conversion of moisture would result in a dripping amp. But as mentioned, it’s just a smart thing to do to wait. This is assuming the amp was below say 40° or so. Much warmer and it is doubtful it would be an issue. Sub freezing? Without doubt let it warm up for a couple of hours. No worries.
starting equiment that ic cold from being shipped
Is it a real thing that you court problems if you turn on an ice cold amplifier or pre-amp without waiting 24 hours for temperature to rise. I have long awaited Krell FPB and KCT shipping tomorrow, It's single digits in the Midwet. Should I wait a full 24 hours for the equipment to warm inside before introducing any electricity into the components?
- ...
- 47 posts total
@feldmen4 Thanks for the gentlemanly apology Matt, but I took no (zero) offence.
I was thinking condensation, so it is either auto-correct…
|
@bossa Early in my career I did thermal analysis - modeling problems just like this. I can tell you that it depends on the thermal properties of the materials the amp is made of. More or less the denser the longer it will take to come to equilibrium (room temperature). My 24 hour comment was flippant and was just reflecting your initial post. OMG that’s an awesome pair of components- just looked them up. The FPB is massive - and as you say “ long awaited”. I would suggest 3-4 days but that is purely a conservative SWAG (scientific wild ass guess). I think this situation calls for being conservative - what is 4 more days after all the time you’ve waited just to get it right? Regarding open box or not. All air contains water vapor. How much water vapor is in interior air depends on ambient conditions (outdoor temperature and humidity) unless the air is conditioned or humidified. For where @bossa lives humidifying air is common in the winter which would provide more available water vapor in the interior air. Even if they don’t humidify there will be much more water vapor in the air in the room than in the box. That means much more H2O that could wind up as condensation on the various cold surfaces of your components than is in the box. I have never received even a cheap electronic component that isn’t factory packed in a plastic bag with some sort of desiccant packed inside the plastic bag. That plastic bag + desiccant will keep your component nice and dry as long as the bag is sealed. Once you open it the desiccant cannot work quickly enough to protect your components and condensation will likely form. As I mentioned in my first post if water vapor inside the box was an issue the condensation would have already formed during shipping as your components cooled. I guarantee you do not want to open the box during the warm up period. @agentwja - what you experience with double pain windows does not mean the water vapor in the house has been reduced. Rather that water vapor can no longer reach the cold inside surface of the glass windows here it would condense (just like on the cold surfaces of @bossa components). The cold inside surface is only exposed to a sealed area that is filled typically with argon gas to reduce re-radiation but it is also dry so there is no moisture ( water vapor) to condense on that surface (the inside surface of the outer pane of glass). The inside surface of the second pain which is exposed to the water vapor in the room is not cold enough for condensation to form - rather it is close to room temperature because of the excellent engineering of these windows. |
@feldmen4 Wow, thanks so much for this detailed analysis. My balloon just popped however. I've been awake for hours thinking that today is the day! I have kept both boxes sealed as I completely agree that keeping things wrapped will hinder condensation. I must tell you that the amp has been shipped to Krell 7 times between 2015 and 2021 for repair/recappping/etc. It has been an audio nightmare, but I so love the combo of the KCT and the FPB 300CX that I have refused to wave the white flag. I'm pretty sure they don't pack it back with desiccant after repair. |
- 47 posts total