Amplifier heat

[BREEKO1963]

Replaced my marantz 6002 amp with a naim nait 5i and listened to about an hours music. It was fairly loud but not louder than I would normally listen at when I went to switch it off. Even before I got to it I could feel the heat and touching it confirmed it was very warm to say the least. I cant recall my marantz producing any heat so I was surprised by this. Is this normal and why would there be such a difference when they are both doing the same job.

 

[BREEKO1963]

Can anyone explain this because I've read about people mentioning amplifier heat but always assumed they were playing loudly for a long time. I listened at the same volume for the same length of time as I did with the marantz which has roughly the same power as the naim. It would be interesting to find out how the same technology can differ so much, and whether it is normal and safe.

 

[iQ Speakers]

i would not worry, the Naim probally runs more into class A than the Marantz hence the heat. Most modern amps with have a thermal protection circuit and turn itself off if too hot. My old Sugden A21SE even the knobs got very hot full class A. My Abrahamsen is class AB heavilly biased into class A runs warm.

 

[chebby]

i would not worry, the Naim probally runs more into class A than the Marantz hence the heat.

The Nait 5i-2 (or 'italic') runs in class A for just a tiny fraction of it's output, so it is - essentially - a class B device.

I had one for 2 years and it never got hotter than just slightly warm to the touch. (Even during the summer.)

Either you are thrashing it or you need to get it checked.

 

[SteveR750]

FWIW, running the Hegel at around 75% of the max available volume (the ATCs are not very sensitive) for an hour plus and no real thermal drama, in fact the sub gets hotter. I've looked at a supernait a couple of times, albeit a shop demo, but I didn't notice it being anything more than lukewearm.

 

[Singslinger]

I'm with Chebby on this - my experience with Naim amps over the years (which includes owning the NAP 140, 250, 135s and SN2) is that they rarely run hot.

 

[GCE]

Mara 6004 run very cool, even at high vol (10 o'clock) for 3 or more hours...