AV Receivers and ventilation (warning: longish post)

ahh

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I am assuming that AV Receivers, specially the big ones such as the Pioneer Ax5i, Denon 3803 and indeed the Harman AVR 7500, generate a reasonable amount of heat.

I am having custom made cabinets built to house my AV equipment and was wondering if anyone had some idea of what kind of space would be required within the cabinet to ventilate the amp.

Additionally, would it be wiser to build vents on the top of the cabinet, since the back of the cabinet would be fitted against a wall? This could potentially kill the aesthetics of the furniture.

There would be six low lying cabinets next to each other with proposed dimensions of each cabinet in mm: 350 (H) x 750 (W) x 550 (D)

Average(ish) receiver dimensions are in mm: 190 (H) x 440 (W) x 520 (D)

The above would allow sufficient room around the receiver, assuming that nothing is placed on top of the receiver in this particular cabinet.

Would this be sufficient operating space to dissipate the heat? Or perhaps additional ventialtion, i.e. vents on top of the cabinet, may be required?

Would appreciate your thoughts.
 
Yeah they can give off a lot of heat. I would leave at least 5cm all round for the amp slot and don't forget to leave plenty of room at the back so you do not have to bend speaker or interconnects in any way.

You could always have a couple of symetrical slots on either side of the top that wouldn't look to out of place.

I think if you leave a decent amount of space its more worth considering how close your setup will be to radiators/fireplaces and such like as they will have a greater effect if you have taken care of spacing.
 
I would always encourage an open backed cabinet as it won't hurt in a cooling and ventilation sense but also makes those trips down to the rear of the amp so much less painful- I'm constantly amazed at how much time I spend playing around with the connections of my system.
 
Thank you for your comments.

However, I am just trying to establish wether it would be necessary to create vents on top of the cabinet. Would the receiver generate that much heat? Although the cabinet would not have a back, it would still be against a wall.

A rough sketch of the proposed cabinet is attached.
 

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YOu need toi get the heat out of the cabinet, so if the back is closed where most amps vent from you either need vent in the top and sides or a costly active cooling system. vents dont have to huge, What are the fronts goings to be? solid or grilled? download some manuals as they sometimes contain minimum clearances for amps. i think you nee at least 10 cm at the back of the amp for cables, more if they are thick and have to bend more than right angles!
 
My amp is housed in a home made cabinet and it only has 15 to 20 mm around it but it has about 25cm behind it and then vents up to behind the TV.

cheers Dave.
PS my amp is a Yamaha A1 and is played loud with no problems.
 
I think that I have sorted out the problem. In this drawing, the top of the cabinet is untouched. The vents are on the inside to the adjacent cabinets, which do not generate the kind of heat a receiver might. The drawings below are to scale.
 

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I can always enlarge the vents and have the face open whilst the receiver is in use.

I have lost the battle of cutting a vent on top of the cabinet. However, will rethink the vents.

Thanks to all for your comments.
 
How about some form of active cooling 120cm fan controlled by a temperature sensor spinning at low revs. plenty of kit like that at maplins if you have one near to you, or they have an online site.
If you get the sensor set at the right point in the cabient it would only come on when the temp gets to high. :)
 
Is your cabinet going against an outside wall..? If so you could run a vent outside... I agree with hornydragon that your side vents may be inadequate... Don't underestimate the amount of heat that the amp will produce..!
 
SimonO: The cabinet will be against an outside wall, but I did not want to cut a hole in the wall. I doubt that I would be running the receiver at reference levels and I suppose I could leave the front of the cabinet open whilst the system is in use.

The idea of the cooling fan sounds good but at 120cm, it might be a tad too big. Perhaps a smaller fan extracting the heat out into the adjacent cabinet.
 
Fans are great, but even if you vent into an adjacent cabinet you'll still be just circulating hot air... Hope it works out okay...
 

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