Urgent: Anyone with H/K AVR230

[bluesfan]

Anyone with avr230 can tell me what the electricity wattage is (of course, nothing to do with output). I can't believe it is 890watts as stated in the user manual on the website as that's the same as the 330 which has 7 channels. Can anyone have a look on the back or check their UK manual please.

I want to know how much power it uses and hence how hot it might get. I know the 4550 and above runs hot and needs a fan.

 

[hornydragon]

I doubt anyone has had one for more than a day or so yet as they have only just been launched and started shipping. Why cant you belive the wattage? Yes it will get warm but its cooling is organised buy HK if you are putting it in a small closed cabinet no amp will like much.

 

[bluesfan]

Because the US picture of the back says 310watts!!! The documentation is clearly wrong. The higher the rating the hotter the av gets and I don't want an av the runs as much as a 1 kilowatt fan heater. It's rubbish that a 7 channel av consumes the same amount of elec as and 5 channel av.

 

[hornydragon]

ERM you are getting very mixed up here!
A HEATER IS designed to HEAT! AN Amp to AMPLIFY, SO the wattage goes to the speakers not heater elements!
Also US use different voltages so power consumed is different!
HK deal with the cooling and while it will get warm it will not produce the same heat as a heater of the same wattage as for a start the input is a variable signal and different on each channel to even run it anywhere near that high you would need Full frequency WHITE NOISE on all channels and its bit pointless listening to that!

 

[bluesfan]

Okay how warm is warm. Can I put my hand on 4550 after 3 hours. Can I hear the fan when there is silence from 3 feet? I am tempted to go for the 3550 or 4550 but these things concern me.

 

[BiggieBig]

bluesfan,

Well ours gets so hot that we have to turn the heating off and open the windows. Then to make matters worse the fan kicks in and then we have to turn the volume up……

Seriously though


As hornydragon says make sure you have a well ventilated cabinet.

Mine gets a little hot but it's in a smallish cabinet with a DVD player on top, I took the back panel off on my cabinet so that air can circulate around it properly.

HK have designed the amps with this in mind (they’re quite clever) when they get hot the fan switches on replacing hot air with the cool just need to make sure adequate ventilation.

Any high current amp is subject to getting hot.... That's just one of the signs of a descent amp. As long as the Manufactures have provided adequate cooling they'll be fine.

How many threads do you see saying "Help Amp Blown Due to OverHeating"

I think mine consumes about 70watts when it's idle..
hence a big lecture for my missus if she leaves it on unused. I'm not sure how much it consumes when in action but i'm sure it's no where near the maximum value.

If your worried about power consumption I suggest you buy some energy saving lights bulbs in addition to your HK...

 

[bluesfan]

What the hell is it doing when idle!!! The 4550 says 118 watts. Compare this to the AX3 that consumes 0.9watts. H/K are trying to do something about this as the new range doesn't use as much but it looks so ugly.
To me, anything that gets very hot is a fire hazard and I still don't like the idea of fans. The high Marantz 8300/9300 seem to get away without them somehow unless they keep blowing up!

The heat issue is the one thing that puts me off them despite the rave reviews on sound quality. Still might get one though.

 

[hornydragon]

The less efficient an amplifer the better the sound! PURE CLASS A amps run flat out all the time... Hence why a 15w PURE Class A Will go much louder than a 100w normal amp Class H Amp WE have a 4500 in a stands unique AV10 glass cabinet With a DVD 25 on top of it and a SKY+ box thats always on and some other kit and i have never heard the fan once!