MusicDirector
New member
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
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- 2,013
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- #1
Actually, it's no big thing, component and even cabinet cooling rigs are easy to build and not expensive either although cabinet rigs may be harder to install.
My new amp generates tremendous heat (at least to me), the other day it clocked in at 116 degrees on average, but has reached higher. That's more than enough to make me very nervous.
The cooling rig I did for the old amp does not work on the new one due to the venting layout and as it happens the old cooling rig was getting quite noisy. With my new amp only giving me 4 inches of top clearance in my cabinet, that also changes the game. (I can adjust the shelf above or the shelf the amp is on to give me another inch, but that's about it and one inch is not going improve things).
My old rig had the warm or hot air exhausting out the top, but my profile was also several inches lower. With my new amp I don't have enough clearance at 4 inches to exhaust out the top (at least not without setting the shelf above on fire or something).
My cabinet is open front and back (thank goodness), but it's huge and I hate climbing behind it and also don't want to put holes in it, etc. (I should have designed it with built-in cooling, but since it's an open front/back design I didn't think I'd need it). So, what to do? We cool the component, just like I did the first amp. This time though due to different dimensions I am building a different cooling rig.
What I am doing basically, is taking two 12v Blower fans such as what is sometimes found on high-end GPU cards (I think 120mm). Basically, one flat side has a bigger opening for the blades than the shroud on the other side and then the air is vented through vents on one narrow/vertical end. The blower fans sit directly on the amp with little rubber feet that raise them a very tiny bit off the surface and prevent movement and are wired with a manual 12v DC speed control and a 500mA 110-12v AC-DC small wall wart allowing me to plug it in on a separate power strip.
The two blower fans are rated at 17CFM airflow and a noise level of 19.8dB(A) at max speed. (I have no idea how quiet they will be at 19.8dB and since I listen to soft volume only, hence the speed controller).
Seeing that the amp has two intake fans at the bottom I figure by having the two blower fans exhausting the hot air out the back that should increase airflow enough to drop the unit 10 degrees or better.
If need be, I can add a 120mm low speed AC fan on a little metal stand and set it on the same shelf to increase intake air, but I don't think I'll need to. Not sure I'd want to as that would add about 33dBA of noise at full speed.
Anyone can build this stuff, really especially if I can do it. If you understand airflow (which is easy peasy) then you can make a cooling rig. Parts are easy to obtain and no need to do hard-wiring, they(read just about everywhere) have molex-AC adaptors and all that stuff readily available.
My new amp generates tremendous heat (at least to me), the other day it clocked in at 116 degrees on average, but has reached higher. That's more than enough to make me very nervous.
The cooling rig I did for the old amp does not work on the new one due to the venting layout and as it happens the old cooling rig was getting quite noisy. With my new amp only giving me 4 inches of top clearance in my cabinet, that also changes the game. (I can adjust the shelf above or the shelf the amp is on to give me another inch, but that's about it and one inch is not going improve things).
My old rig had the warm or hot air exhausting out the top, but my profile was also several inches lower. With my new amp I don't have enough clearance at 4 inches to exhaust out the top (at least not without setting the shelf above on fire or something).
My cabinet is open front and back (thank goodness), but it's huge and I hate climbing behind it and also don't want to put holes in it, etc. (I should have designed it with built-in cooling, but since it's an open front/back design I didn't think I'd need it). So, what to do? We cool the component, just like I did the first amp. This time though due to different dimensions I am building a different cooling rig.
What I am doing basically, is taking two 12v Blower fans such as what is sometimes found on high-end GPU cards (I think 120mm). Basically, one flat side has a bigger opening for the blades than the shroud on the other side and then the air is vented through vents on one narrow/vertical end. The blower fans sit directly on the amp with little rubber feet that raise them a very tiny bit off the surface and prevent movement and are wired with a manual 12v DC speed control and a 500mA 110-12v AC-DC small wall wart allowing me to plug it in on a separate power strip.
The two blower fans are rated at 17CFM airflow and a noise level of 19.8dB(A) at max speed. (I have no idea how quiet they will be at 19.8dB and since I listen to soft volume only, hence the speed controller).
Seeing that the amp has two intake fans at the bottom I figure by having the two blower fans exhausting the hot air out the back that should increase airflow enough to drop the unit 10 degrees or better.
If need be, I can add a 120mm low speed AC fan on a little metal stand and set it on the same shelf to increase intake air, but I don't think I'll need to. Not sure I'd want to as that would add about 33dBA of noise at full speed.
Anyone can build this stuff, really especially if I can do it. If you understand airflow (which is easy peasy) then you can make a cooling rig. Parts are easy to obtain and no need to do hard-wiring, they(read just about everywhere) have molex-AC adaptors and all that stuff readily available.
...A secured/protected brand name amp.