Cooling Solutions for Hifi Gear

ja_kub_sz

Well-known member
May 26, 2021
31
11
1,545
Visit site
Hello,

I'm relatively new to HiFi, but have noticed that my power amp (Azur 851w) gets incredible hot during extended use. I have it on an open shelf, but will soon be running a biamp mono block set up and can only imagine what kinda of heat that'll put out. I ultimately want to have all my gear in a cabinet setup, and was wondering what kinda of cooling solutions people have come up with for their HiFi gear?

I was looking at installing a fan and air circulation set up with thermostat, but concerned about noise (21dB is what the fans are listed at).

Current set up

Innuos Zen MK3 streamer/core
Gustard X26 Pro DAC
Cambridge Avla TT
Rotel 1590 MK2 Preamp
Dual Cambridge Azur 851w power amps
JBL L100 75th Anniversary Speakers

Any and all suggestions are welcomed.
 

Tinman1952

Well-known member
Hello,

I'm relatively new to HiFi, but have noticed that my power amp (Azur 851w) gets incredible hot during extended use. I have it on an open shelf, but will soon be running a biamp mono block set up and can only imagine what kinda of heat that'll put out. I ultimately want to have all my gear in a cabinet setup, and was wondering what kinda of cooling solutions people have come up with for their HiFi gear?

I was looking at installing a fan and air circulation set up with thermostat, but concerned about noise (21dB is what the fans are listed at).

Current set up

Innuos Zen MK3 streamer/core
Gustard X26 Pro DAC
Cambridge Avla TT
Rotel 1590 MK2 Preamp
Dual Cambridge Azur 851w power amps
JBL L100 75th Anniversary Speakers

Any and all suggestions are welcomed.
Very nice equipment! I have seen some people using thermostatically controlled AC Infinity Aircom units to cool AV receivers, Amplifiers and even game consoles. They seem happy with them and say the units are ‘quiet’. Personally I could not stand the sound of ANY fans whilst listening to music as you are effectively raising the noise floor of your equipment. But then I listen at low levels and am ‘picky’ 🙂 Many would shudder at the thought of putting quality HiFi in a closed cabinet. Are you sure that’s the only option?
 
How hot is your kit in degrees? It shouldn’t be too hot to touch or it wouldn’t be on sale, but I believe your Azur are traditional class AB amps which aren’t especially efficient, so will feel warm if the heat sinks are doing their job.

Imo, they shouldn’t need any forced cooling if installed as Cambridge suggest.
 

ja_kub_sz

Well-known member
May 26, 2021
31
11
1,545
Visit site
Very nice equipment! I have seen some people using thermostatically controlled AC Infinity Aircom units to cool AV receivers, Amplifiers and even game consoles. They seem happy with them and say the units are ‘quiet’. Personally I could not stand the sound of ANY fans whilst listening to music as you are effectively raising the noise floor of your equipment. But then I listen at low levels and am ‘picky’ 🙂 Many would shudder at the thought of putting quality HiFi in a closed cabinet. Are you sure that’s the only option?

Thanks, I just broke down and bought all my dream equipment in the last few months.

Interesting, so don't put it into a cabinet?

I don't have to, I wanted to have everyhting enclosed in a nice AV hutch I have for aesthetic reasons and logistical reasons in my music room/office. But I can come up with another solutions I'm sure, I might even be able to just lay them out on top of the hutch, and put other stuff inside it. It would allow all the units to breath and dissipate heat I'm sure.

But yeah, it feels "warm" to the touch, borderline hot, but right now I have my receiver on top of my amps stacked on each other I'm sure there's a better way to have them placed.

I haven't measured the temperatures, but again, it's almost uncomfortable to have my hand and arm on it which to me seems hot.

I too don't like the idea of having fans and noise of any kind going while I listen to music, so I honestly don't want to go the fan route, but didn't know if I would need to to improve the longevity of my equipment.
 

Tinman1952

Well-known member
I might even be able to just lay them out on top of the hutch, and put other stuff inside it. It would allow all the units to breath and dissipate heat I'm sure.
That sounds like a decent plan. 🙂 It‘s mainly the amps that will get warm. The heatsinks rely on air around them to convect the heat away. Getting warm to the touch is a sign they are working correctly. 👍 Stacking components is never a good idea…
 
  • Like
Reactions: ja_kub_sz

ja_kub_sz

Well-known member
May 26, 2021
31
11
1,545
Visit site
Appreciate the advice! Thank you!

Wife and I are having a house built so it'll be some time (9 months) before the final master listening room setup goes live.

Just preplanning it all now, but do have vaulted ceilings in the room which I have no clue how they're gonna change the acoustics.
 

Tinman1952

Well-known member
Appreciate the advice! Thank you!

Wife and I are having a house built so it'll be some time (9 months) before the final master listening room setup goes live.

Just preplanning it all now, but do have vaulted ceilings in the room which I have no clue how they're gonna change the acoustics.
Sounds exciting…good luck! Vaulted ceilings ‘could‘ be a very good thing as most rooms with an 8 foot ceiling for instance suffer from sound being reflected from that ceiling. 🙂
 

ja_kub_sz

Well-known member
May 26, 2021
31
11
1,545
Visit site
How hot is your kit in degrees? It shouldn’t be too hot to touch or it wouldn’t be on sale, but I believe your Azur are traditional class AB amps which aren’t especially efficient, so will feel warm if the heat sinks are doing their job.

Imo, they shouldn’t need any forced cooling if installed as Cambridge suggest.

Nopiano, you are correct its the amp that generates a bunch of heat.

I'll just space them out and not stack them. I was just reading some horror stories about extreme heat cutting into gear life span and don't plan on buying any more equipment for years to come 😉
 
  • Like
Reactions: nopiano

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts