A question regarding ventilation

[LDTM]

Hello forumites, if I may, I am looking for advice regarding ventilation.

I may have to change hifi racks in the near future and I had a mind to place the power amp on the bottom shelf. It's height is 18cm and the most spacious heights I have seen on the bottom shelves float around 23 - 24cm. The manual suggests about 30cm of clearance on top (not an issue at the moment). This isn`t going to work is it...?

Sides and rear are open.

Thanks in advance,

LDTM

 

[SteveR750]

Personally I think it would be OK, unless you're going to listen to high volume constantly. A 5cm clearance for a transistor amp should be fine, I've used less in the past without any problems. You could always fit one of those little battery powered fans to the rear.

 

[Covenanter]

30 cm (about 12") is astonishing IMO. How much heat does this thing generate? But that is what the manual says (I'm sorry I did check) so unless they are being ultra ultra cautious you should take care.

However, the manual also says that the power consumption is 280W (although it is unclear how that is being measured). That won't generate much heat!

Personally I wouldn't worry about it as long as your rack is open at front and back. However I'm not advising you to do that! A quiet fan is a good idea.

Chris

 

[Gazzip]

I wouldn't worry too much about it if it was me. The back sides and front are all clear so any heat will rise roll along the underside of the shelf above, and then disipate up when it gets to the edges. I would have thought that the 30cm guidance is for an enclosed unit, no?

 

[LDTM]

Thanks guys,

The amp does get warm to the touch but nothing more than what I would call tepid. It is sitting on top right now so there's a mile (figuratively) of space above it. We have a Yamaha AV amp in the lounge in a cabinet and that one gets hotter than the Onkyo, I keep a wee thermometer in there (promotional freebie from BMW and I had no other use for it) and ambient tempurature doesn't exceed 35 degrees with the door closed.

As it happens, Mrs LDTM saw the racks I had in mind...sufficed to say that boat is no longer sailing so I think we needn`t worry and further. Unless you happen to spot a racky thingy in an antique/classical style.

Thanks for your help guys.

LDTM

 

[RobinKidderminster]

QuietPC - great service - offer a choice of dozens of small fans - each with db rating.. I have a couple which are barely audible but cool everything really well. Sky box runs hot without (in standby) but great when its fan is on (working).

 

[Vaprak001]

Hi LDTM,

I wouldn't worry about it. I have a pair of the M5000R on the bottom shelf of a rack with only 5 cm clearance above them (like you open back and sides). I play pretty loud too into a pair of Kef Reference 207/2's. It's a relatively new set-up so I've been obsessively checking how hot they get and it's never been a cause for alarm. They always feel substantially cooler than my Onkyo AV amp even when it's playing at half the volume of my stereo get-up.

BTW, I think the P3000R/M5000R is pretty under rated, don't you?

 

[LDTM]

Vaprak001,

That's an interesting piece of information, thanks.

I've had the pre/power combination for the better part of a year now and I think it's an absolute gem. The grip the power amp exerts over the speakers is vice-like; I listen to a lot of power metal with double kick drum awesomeness and the amp never struggles to keep up. The preamp is beautifully transparent. The model for the Japanese market has no tone controls, which was a concern at first but after extensive listening, I've never really found myself wanting them.

They hold up very well against the Accuphase and Luxman amps I've had the pleasure of hearing. Perhaps it might be a case of brand image? A Nissan GTR for example seems to have been designed with the sole intent of seeing how much lateral G it takes to peel a human face off but a Ferrari, vis-a-vis, just feels more exotic.

I'd love to see how the matching CD player sounds with them.

 

[Vaprak001]

Living in Dubai and Ferrari's are dime a dozen over here!

Yes, I'm really pleased with the Onkyo kit too. FYI, the C7000R is also a very good disk-spinner - makes the whole sound very 'connected', timing is excellent. I sourced mine new from Amsterdam last month - they still have stock if you're interested?

I was very annoyed that the P3000R didn't have balanced out though. It's the one failing of the system that may eventually drive me to change the Pre and the rest could begrudgingly follow!

Cheers

 

[LDTM]

Vaprak001,

Ah, yes, well...Dubai is nothing if not a byword for petrol-head heaven...

Kind of you to offer a connection for sourcing the CD player. I'm in Japan though and therefore on a different type of mains power supply so it would probably be wise to buy locally. Thank you very much for offering though.

I too was a little disappointed that at the lack of balanced connections. Although I'm no expert on the matter but I had thought that balanced connections were really advantageous when dealing with either long cable runs or low signal strength. For shorter runs with CD level output I wouldn't have thought it wouldn't make a tremendous difference but I have never done a listening test or read substantially into the matter.

Incidentally, what madness drove you to think that one M-5000r was so lacking you had to get two?! Concert volume levels my friend? Hang on...with all the ferraris running around you have to drown out their exhaust notes somehow. Right. Now I get it. *biggrin*