Using a fan on Tube amps

[qguy]

Just curious who among the members here uses a a fan or forced cooling in their amps ?

qguy does...

[rtsyrtsy]

This is my ears, my gear, my room. So others would have a different experience.

Since I switched from physical CDs to streaming on digital sources, my conclusion has been that having something spinning, even a small electric motor in a transport, makes the background less black.

I'm not an engineer but my guess is that those spinning things inject noise into an electrical circuit so the less of them I have, the better, all else being equal.

On analog, a spinning motor is unavoidable unless somone starts using magnets or blowing air or something to turn a table.

In my current case, I'm simplifying my system and am trying to squeeze everyting into one rack. Which basically means bye-bye tubed amps. Mark my words though, this thing between me an tubes is au revoir and not adieu.

[jadis]

I have used a small fan either as exhaust or heat dissipation above the tubes, and also to cool down the power transformer of my tube amps, past and present. The noise is very minimal from my listening seat and though it might contribute to losing some inner detail or whatever, I still value the positive attributes of cooling down a tube amp.

[tony]

I still value the positive attributes of cooling down a tube amp.

i agree, the components underneath the chassis can benefit the most from fan cooling, although the tubes themselves are designed to run hot, unless it says on the data sheet that forced air cooling is required, those tubes would be transmitter tubes.....

[m_shoe_maker]

I used to have an ARC D250 w/c had 4 built-in fans underneath the chassis. Whenever there were very silent passages in the music, you can hear the darn fans. But I guess good 'ol Bill of ARC had reason to design it that way....

[jadis]

I used to have an ARC D250 w/c had 4 built-in fans underneath the chassis. Whenever there were very silent passages in the music, you can hear the darn fans. But I guess good 'ol Bill of ARC had reason to design it that way....

Yup, several models of ARC have built-in fans, including the top of the line Ref 610. In my experience, cooling down the tubes, and it's surrounding circuit parts, have an effect on the sound. I learned that long ago when a Jadis 500 and 800 owner told me to remove the grill cages of the power amps when playing as they restrict air flow, hence making the tubes hotter. He told me by doing that, the sound will be better. And true enough, I removed the grill cages of my JA 200 amps and after a while I noticed they sounded more open and less strained. I have even removed the top plate of my ARC VS110 to lessen the heat inside the amp ever since I bought it.

[qguy]

Thanks... I think I will add more space between the amp and the stand or add a small laptop fan underneath

I still value the positive attributes of cooling down a tube amp.

i agree, the components underneath the chassis can benefit the most from fan cooling, although the tubes themselves are designed to run hot, unless it says on the data sheet that forced air cooling is required, those tubes would be transmitter tubes.....

[kabubi]

if your amps are located near your aircon unit, i-asinta mo yung vent or airflow ng aircon sa mga amp

[egay]

http://www.realhamradio.com/liquid-cooling.htm

This is an amateur radio site that discusses LIQUID COOLING SYSTEMS for amplifiers (transmitters, of course), but I 'think' this can be adapted to audio amplifier needs (unless this has already been done); computer systems already use water cooling.

.e.

[Nelson de Leon]

My tube amp has no grill so cooling it, i think, is not a problem for me.

Pero, you can use an analog (4'x4") or digital (2"x2") thermocontroller to control the switching of the small exhaust fan at a preset temperature. You can also wire 2 exhaust fan in series to lower the RPM thereby lessening the noise it creates. A timer might also come in handy when you want the cooling fan to run for a few seconds or so after turning off the amplifier.

[carbondated]

Speaking of noise, in the latest Hifi News there's a Robert Koda amp that has a power supply so big that the hum was distracting the reviewer... it would be like having a Meralco sub-station in your listening room!