Room for ventilation...

[weijst]

Did you have good ventilation for the unit (2 inchse at top, not a closed cabinet etc)?

I got this quote from another thread (thanx Aussie Geoff ). Here 2 inches at the top is defined as "good ventilation" (for the RSX-1056).

It made me wonder: how much room for ventilation do you guys use / recommend for your (pre)amps? I remember my manuals stating to use at least 10 cm... I have however seen pictures of people's cabinets (and racks) where the gear was stacked on top of eachother, allowing no room for ventilation whatsoever.

Since heat issues seem to be a common complaint, it may be helpfull to shed some light on this subject and capture a number of tips / recommendations / experiences:

In my open cabinet (no rear board) I'm using 10 cm above my 1075 and 1068 (2 cm at the sides) They still get pretty warm after about an hour, but certainly not too hot to touch!

[Andrew Pratt]

I think it depends on the gear in question. For example the 1075 power amp runs very cool so stacking something on top of it likely isn't a big deal...though I'd still prefer to see it on its own shelf. The 1080 on the other hand runs very hot so it will need much more ventilation.

As a real world example I've noticed that my 1098 will sometimes give me issues if it gets too hot. In my rack I used to have a HK PA5800 amp and a 1075 that both ran cool and it wasn't an issue. Now that I've replaced the HK with the 1080 though things are running much hotter and I've noticed the odd quirk that I'm betting is heat related. My solution is easy enough it just means moving the 1080 to the bottom of the heap and the 1075 up and giving the 1080 a little more breathing room. I used to have a Musical Fidelity Class A amp that always was so hot you couldn't touch it...now that guy needed breathing room

[phillipk]

I'm curious about this too. The manual says 4" on top and both sides. That seems like overkill... but I don't want to melt it either.

[Azeke]

I initially had a rack with the RMB-1095 on the bottom, I then acquired the RB-1080, for neatness, I stacked the RB-1080 on top of the 1095. I was left with about 2 inches, from the next shelf, and ventilation all around the rear. This served me well, but I started to feel the RB-1080 getting hotter as time went on. I decided to put the 1080 in a isolated location, due to it's heat output. I didn't want my internal components to wear to quickly due to heat dissipation.

Doesn't look as appealing, but I don't worry about heat being a factor in component degradation.

My thoughts, it's better to have too much ventilation than not enough.

Hope this helps,

Azeke