HiFi Racks Podium Reference/Podium XL users help

[admin_exported]

Hi

If you own one of these your advise would be most helpful.

I’m buying a 4 tier Podium Reference rack this month. I noticed all users photos on this website and others all show equipment placed on the Plinths with very little space between each Plinth.

My main concern is my AV receiver which is a Pioneer VSX 2020. In the manual it states I need to leave a gap of 40Cm of free space. This sounds a lot. At the moment I’m using a glass rack at the space between the shelves is 15cm.

Would I be ok with leaving very little space above my amp with out it over heating. The amp is always on when I watch TV as my sky box is going through it. I know the racks look really nice with tight gaps making a bespoke look, but I would rather get longer legs made to give space for the equipment to breathe,

Thanks for your help

 

[Crossie]

Many manufacturers specify lots of headroom for their AV receivers - most people ignore this and have no problems at all. Unless you run your amp flat out all the time you will almost certainly be OK with just a few centimetres.

 

[BenLaw]

Agree with Crossie. I have 1cm clearance above most of my components and 2cm above my power amp, which runs fairly cool. Just placing your hand above your amp should give you an idea of how hot it runs, and leave whatever gap you feel happy with. The podium at least is open on all four sides.

 

[Anonymous]

That really depends on the model. My Arcam AVR has less than 10cm headroom (20 cm on either side though) and never gets much warmer than my hand (except on hot summer days). Likewise, my Marantz PM7003 was fine with only 5cm clearance, but ran hot when I put a cd player directly on top of it.

On the other hand, my mom's Onkyo really needs that 20+cm (but it has 5cm side clearance). There used to be a shelf 10cm above the Onkyo, but that shelf now has burn marks and a cable tuner on that shelf has died from overheating. Can't really say for sure that the Onkyo's at fault there, but the receiver tends to get extremely hot.

 

[Dan Turner]

I've got my Sony AV amp in a podium rack with about 3cm of clearance and it's fine. I agree wi

Iagree with the comments above, if it's fine with 15cm currently then you can certainly afford to cut the gap a bit. Also bear in mind that if the AVR is on the bottom shelf, then your perspective when looking at it means you can get away with a bigger gap without it looking odd in comparison to the gap on the higher shelves. You could probably have a 5cm gap without it looking strange, when you view it from a sitting or standing position.