What about a fan blowing over McIntosh 7205 AMP?


Seems like my Amp was getting pretty warm so I put a small fan to blow over the top of it which seemed to cool it down. Talked to a Mgr at a stereo store and he said not a good idea. Seems to me they put fans in computers to keep them cool, but he was pretty sure I could do more harm than good. What is anyone else's opinion???? just thought I would see if anyone wanted to put in some feedback..
128x128ballsteve
I have built many of Nelson Pass's Aleph Class A Amplifiers as a member of DIYAudio.com. Amplifiers biased as class A have a maximum theoretical efficency of 50%. In the real world they are more like 15% to 20%. That means of all the power the amplifier can deliver, 80% to 85% of it is dissipated as heat, with maximum heat dissipation at idle. These amplifiers become giant space heaters. Such is the price we pay for no crossover distortion. Not having the proper heat sinks available when I need them has made me pull out the trusty fan to cool these bad boys down on more than one occasion. Other than the fan's audible background noise, it has produced no ill effects on the amplifier itself.
If you're worried about dust getting into, use a fan dust filter. Can be found for cheap.
I have used those ultra quiet 120 mm PC fans to cool a number of power amps I own. I have cooled Parasound JC-1s and A21s by mounting the fan under the top cover plate, blowing out. These fans are so quiet you cannot hear them with your head right next to the amp. Took about 25C off the internal temp by doing this. They can be powered using the 12V turn on voltage supplied externally by the amps.

I don't care what anyone says, heat is the mortal enemy to long life of any electronic component. Particularly the electrolytic caps and solid state devices, whose lifetimes drop (and failure rate rises) exponentially with increases in temperature.
Authorized McIntosh Service Tech here, and I seem to recall that the MC7505 runs very cool like most recent McIntosh Solid State amps.
In my opinion your bias settings need to be looked at and I'd be willing to bet they are higher than the 13mV-15mV Factory setting. If I am right, you can then nix the fan once adjusted.

(I always reduce the bias by a schoshe [20%] to decrease heat/prolong component life).

Steve
Not sure about Macs, but Parasound amps always sound better with higher bias. Makes them Class A to a bit higher power level. Heating is a necessary evil, but high temps are not if you add external cooling.