Receiver and Ventilation

skronk

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Hi all,

Mainly just 2 questions.

Question 1 (which may negate the requirement for an answer to question 2 !)

I have not yet decided on a receiver yet though I have concerns over ventilation.
I would have approx. 75mm at each side and 250mm above when fitted in open unit with solid back. Is this sufficient ?
There is just me and the wife and volumes are rarely megal loud. Room is 4m x4m with 2.4m ceiling. Between TV, Pod and radio, unit will be on 8 - 10 hrs per day

Question 2

Receiver wise I intended to spend about £250 but my wife really likes SonySTRDH820. I really have no preference. Toys like airplay etc. are not really necessary though Ipod play is a must, preferably without a dock. 4 HDMI in. Buying used is difficult as I live on a Scottish island which makes shipping a dead weight like a boxed receiver unviable, so the receiver must be bought on a visit to Glasgow.....Richer or Sevenoaks. The usual suspects are under investigation Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer etc.

The receiver will be used with KEF Eggs 2005.2 and, eventually sub.

Any info regarding ventilation and choice of receiver gratefully received.
 
For ventilation i use a laptop cooler which sits on top of my receiver fan side down to blow air to the inside of receiver,its powered by the usb port on my lg tv i have had the receiver on for many hours and it never gets that hot only warm.
 
Firstly that's not ideal but should be ok, maybe try it and if your not happy with the heat fit a couple fans on top drawing hot air away from the unit. 2nd if you can listen to the Sony also listen to the denon 1912 which is i little more but is in the next level up.
 
Even a small fan makes a big difference as it keeps air moving.
I have a low noise 120mm fan on rubber feet lying on top of mine, run at 5V instead of 12V and it is inaudible even up close. The temperature reduction is as Steve describes.
 
On my onkyo 875 which is renowned for its heat i have two ultra quiet 6" fans on top of mind drawing heat out set on about 6 volt and the temperature of mine stays at about 45 and it makes a world of difference bed if i use it really hard then i can turn the fans up. I have mine drawing air out as i believe that is better for letting the components heat evenly and draws excess heat away, where as blowing air direct on can stop them heating evenly and also stop them from working efficiently.
 
Thanks to the above for quick and precise answers. Do these units get really hot?

How are these fans controlled. eg are they on all the time where does the power come from if not in the case of the TV ?

Also Richer or Sevenoaks don't offer a listening service so I would have to buy the amp "cold" from recommendations. |Hence posting the speakers it will be used with.

Thanks again
 
I have a similar space around my receiver (Arcam 350), and in fact have less at the sides, with closed back and open front. I have no issues with heat build up and have no fans etc. I believe you will be fine without the use of fans although you could always add some later if you felt you needed too.
I would also second the Denon 1912 suggestion although if it is going to be a little while before you get to buy it then you may find the likes of the Onkyo 609 and Yamaha 671 for similar money as they get reduced when the new models for this year are released.
 
I would also second the Denon 1912 suggestion although if it is going to be a little while before you get to buy it then you may find the likes of the Onkyo 609 and Yamaha 671 for similar money as they get reduced when the new models for this year are released.

I felt that the Denon may sound warm and the Kefs may be warm too.

The Sony seems to be quoted as bright.

Therefore I thought the Sony and the Kefs would work OK together.

The other 2 bonuses are the wife likes it and I can buy it in Glasgow !!!

:lease:
 
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Some amps run hotter than others just depends on what components they use. I have an onkyo 606 which runs hot and have hdmi board problems with it and read alot of times this is due to heat issue which i can believe. And that people recommend replacing the capacitors that go wrong with the higher temp ones. My 875 has fans in it already but they don't come on to 60 which i believe is to high for case temp as you can probably bed another 10 for the components. And the top you could not keep your hand on but now with the fans wolf can touch the top and its cold but still runs at 45ish inside and stays at that if i run it hard. And if its not running so hard it goes down to about 38 and that's with the fans running half speed. I use a speed controller to control mine. But have seen people use a multi adaptor and use that.
 
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Some amps run hotter than others just depends on what components they use. I have an onkyo 606 which runs hot and have hdmi board problems with it and half read alot of times this is due to heat issue. And that people recommend replacing the capacitors that go wrong with the higher temp ones. My 875 has fans in it already but they don't come on to 60 which i believe is to high for case temp as you can probably bed another 10 for the components. And the top you could not keep your hand on but now with the fans wolf can touch the top and its cold but still runs at 45ish inside and stays at that if i run it hard. And if its not running so hard it goes down to about 38 and that's with the fans running half speed. I use a speed controller to control mine. But have seen people use a multi adaptor and use that.

I think I may be concerned with the Onkyo heat issues and may discount this brand for that reason.

Thanks again.
 
Its not only just onkyo that have there issues. Some amps are just made like it to get the performance. The thing with my 875 is the fans are at the front so if they did come on they have a big heat sink all the way across and from the bottom to about 10mm of the top which doesn't help with cooling the back components down. So that's why i fitted the fans at the back and the hdmi board stays cool.
 
I felt that the Denon may sound warm and the Kefs may be warm too.

The Sony seems to be quoted as bright.

Therefore I thought the Sony and the Kefs would work OK together.

The other 2 bonuses are the wife likes it and I can buy it in Glasgow !!!

:lease:
Kefs are considered to sound neutral so should work well with either receiver.
 
75mm (3") on the side and 250mm (10") above should not be a problem as most of the heat vents out the top.

Is the back of the cabinet sealed, or merely closed? What I'm asking is, are there any holes in the back for cables or what ever. Is it absolutely sealed in back?

Next the budget, £250 is not going to buy much of an AV Receiver in new equipment, though frequently £500 AV amps go on sale for £300, and something like that would be your best choice in a new amp.

As an example, PeterTyson.co.uk stilll has the Denon 1912 on close-out for about £300 -

Denon AVR1912

Though other similar deals should be available.

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bluewizard
 
Even a small fan makes a big difference as it keeps air moving.
I have a low noise 120mm fan on rubber feet lying on top of mine, run at 5V instead of 12V and it is inaudible even up close. The temperature reduction is as Steve describes.


Hi,
whereabouts do you power these fans from, the amp itself or somewhere else?
 
In my previous setup, I connected two very thin 12v computer fans to the Amp. My particular amp had a Switched Electrical Outlet on the back which came on when the amp came on.

Still the on-board Switched Outlet is not a necessity. A simple switch to turn the fans on as needed would be fine; maybe a small cheap switched power strip would get the job done.

I used an adjustable voltage universal power supply and ran the 12v fans at 9v for quieter operation.

yamamp-fan1.jpg


Notice I have about 2 inches of clearance above the amp, which is why I used the very thin 11mm computer fans.

The power supply was something long this line -

Google-UK - Shopping Search - Universal Power Supply

The fans only draw about 0.1 amp of current, so it doesn't take much of a power supply to run them.

Steve/bluewizard
 
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As said some computer fans universal adapter some have 4 steps some 6, and some blue tac and fans placed on top drawing air out of machine. Here's whats in my machine and the original fans at front are blocked from drawing air from the back components by the heat sink(fans are at front left and right under metal plates).
20120222_163020.jpg
and here's it with 2 fans fitted on top.
20120221_200851.jpg
 
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Echoing what ScottTheHat has said, I too have the fans drawing air out. In my case, rather than left to right, I have two heat sinks that run front to back, and my fans are directly over those heat sinks.

You can see from my photo that I have a fair amount of room on the sides, but only 2" above. With the fans running at 9 volts, the amp was plenty cool and never gave me a problem. The amps is a 100w/ch Yamaha RX-797 stereo receiver, so it does have the potential to kick out some heat, especially during long loud movies. But just that extra bit of air flow was enough to keep it cool.

I saw someone else in the forum who has used Squirrel Cage fans. These are thin fans that suck air in the broad side, and blow it out the very narrow edge. This fit perfectly on top of his amp and could blow the exhaust air forward or backward. I think he had the air blowing forward. There was a nice picture, but I can't remember where in the forum I saw it.

Another had put a couple of USB powered fans into a small box, and set that on top of his amp. For the record, his amp had a USB connection. Though external USB power supplies are pretty common today.

But as I said earlier, with 10" of space above the amp and 3 inches on each side, you really should have no cooling problems. I now have an open shelf stand with 4" of clearance above the amp and open front, back, and sides. The amp stays completely cool, and I never have a problem with it.

Still, it is nice when the discussion does come up that we investigate some of the many ways individuals have coped with the need for additional cooling. I just wish I had saved the links to the other discussion, so people could see the innovative ways people have come up with to solve cooling problems.

Steve/bluewizard
 
The problem with the onkyo 875 is it is renowned for its heat and as the heat sink obstruct the two fans drawing air from the back components and also behind the heat sink is more heat sinks and copper busbars which produce alot of heat. The internal fans don't come in to 60 which i think is to hot with my fans added normal temp is about 38 stable compared to about 48 and running the amp hard about 45 and stays stable instead of going up past 60 and higher. I placed my fans above the components like the hdmi board as they are well known problems with onkyo amps and this is caused from over heating like on my 606. I have nothing on top of the amp and one side nothing and the other has side about ten inches so plenty of room but it still got hot and fans make a world of difference.
 
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