What a properly cooled amplifier could look like:
It's a tube amp.
Unless you need to direct airflow over a particular component, at the flow rate and velocity you're dealing with, it won't matter whether the air is "pushed" into or "pulled" out of the box.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
not all. some of my company's computers intake in a vertical vent running the length of the right side front, and exhaust out the back in a vertical vent thnning the length of the left side rear..
Having read all the responses so far, and applying some basic common sense (I hope I have some anyhow), here is what I would do.
I would install the fan at the bottom of the cabinet pushing air into the unit and put a vent(s) or additional fans at the top for air flow and natural hot air flow to escape. Sans the additional fans, the vents should be large at the top but not so large as to allow cats or the stray Canada Goose from entering and causing havok.
With the "pushing" fan at the bottom, the wiring to the fan is theoretically going to be shorter and easier to hide / route / manage too.
I'd also put a mesh or foam filter (oversized so as to not restrict air flow) on the intake and exhaust area to keep dust out as much as possible. Make it removable so you can clean it.
That being said, I've only had one electronic device overheat from dust and that was in a shop environment and NOT pretty.
The steps above are probably overkill for most people's home entertainment systems, but if you really want to set it up to the max, this would at least be a good starting point that doesn't involve liquid nitrogen, etc.
(Trying to remember to keep the poster's info alive up there in case someone forgot who asked the original question - and needed to know for a very specific reason that I can't imagine at this moment...)
Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022
01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills:
Having the fan remove air is more effective than blowing air in.
Mark
Try to size the vents so that a cat's leg either can't get in, or if it gets in has plenty of clearance to come out. I know of a cat that got its leg broken from poking it down a vent that was a little bit tight and then managing to fall off the back of the enclosure.
In computer rooms, it's blow. That way you don't have to have a fan everywhere, just holes.
Most equipment cabinets have fan(s) that first draw the air through a filter and then through the fan pressurizing the cabinet. Doing so helps to minimize dust build up by pre filtering and maintaining a positive pressure in the cabinet.
Good point, I should of remembered that... For our karaoke gig, we've found that placing pen blanks on each side of the amp and mic receiver, as sort of foot risers, increases the air flow/cooling dramatically.. (the wireless receiver is stacked on the amp)
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
"mac davis" wrote
Pen blanks, eh??
Maybe you should write an article on other unexpected and original uses of pen blanks. ;)
I have some suggestions.....
Nah - go into business selling them to audiophiles. You can make big bucks on something like this; charge $100 ea. for 4 blanks and claim they increase the sound quality if inserted between the amp and cd player.
Use a tropical hardwood and claim special 'damping' due to the internal resonance of the wood fibers interacting with frequencies in a narrow inaudible band above 20khz.
The resulting sound will be cleaner, bass will be crisper and the high frequencies will shine.
scott (there's a sucker born every second)
Ahhh....., Monster Spacer Blocks!!
All the audiophile magazines will eat this stuff up!
You joke, but......
..and most of them watch cable tv. ("But wait! There's more") nb
For sensitive gear I prefer using a push fan coupled with a dust filter. Air flow generates a lot of dust bunnies and the more that you catch (using say, an electrostatic filter) the better. If you use suction then the dust has already passed over your expensive gear.
Unless you filter the inlet.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
Can you add a gap between the front doors and the bottom shelf?
It all depends on the type of amplifier circuit and power supply. Many new amps use class D circuits, which are much more efficient (though often less accurate) than the old class AB designs, and so put out less heat. Generally you can tell by the weight/size of the amp...class D ones are usually lighter and shorter, while class AB amps are generally taller/heavier due to the large transformer(s) in them.
Chris
Nothing that wouldn't look out of place. One thing I might consider in the future is fan assisted air input up through the bottom shelf with fan output somewhere near the top back of the unit. That type of air flow wouldn't have any effect on the aesthetics of the entertainment centre.
Going solely on that basis, it's an AB amp weighing in at close to 50 lbs. At least that's what it felt like when I was struggling to lift it in place. For now, I'm not going to worry about it. The entire back of the entertainment unit is open. If and when I get around to closing it in, I'll measure the temperature difference and decide then if I need to run some type of additional cooling assistance.
Two things:
First (on topic, at least to OP): I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before, but why not get a thermostat controlled fan? You can get fans that only turn on if the temperature is higher that a threshold. So, what I would recomend:
Install a thermostat controlled fan, near the top back of the cabinet, blowing air outwards. Install a hole near the bottom of the cabinet (slightly bigger than the hole for the fan), with a dust filter on it (don't forget to clean it every few months). This will keep dust out of the system, noise down when your not overheating, and the temperature down when you are.
Second thing, off topic, but a personal crusade of mine: buy HDMI cables on-line. Having worked the past few years in the industry (specifically I wrote the HDMI firmware for high end TV's), I can tell you that in all normal cirucmstances (less than 20' cables, HDMI 1.3 certified cables for HDMI 1.3, etc), the picture/sound you get with monster cables is EXACTLY the same as the picture/sound your recieve for a $10 cable you buy on-line. Monster (and other brands) of cables give the retail stores really high margins, so they don't bother selling reasonable priced cables. I'm not sure if I'm more peeved by the fact that the retail stores think that I should be stupid enough to buy thier cables, or that there are enough people buying these cables at the outrageous prices to allow the retail stores to sell nothing but. Anyway, just had to get that out... phew... feel better now.
John
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