Now that I have my system tore down and am in the process of doing some changes, I have a quick question. With amps that are Class A ( Original DMA200 )and run very hot, are there materials that make for a better amp stand ? I'm not sure how hot the bottom of each amp gets after several hours of play, but always like to side of safe over appearance. I was leaning towards a custom granite or marble stand, thinking the stone would help absorb and displace any major heat without any chance of getting to hot.
If your amps run very hot, they should be on feet to raise them off the mounting surface and the mounting surface should have ventilation holes bored through it to increase air flow.
Granite, marble or other stone will initially act as a heat sink, but in time will become heat saturated unless there is a way to eliminate the heat. If you want, you can do what I had done in a kitchen counter to keep it cool: I had 1/4" copper tubing zig-zagged across and epoxied to the under side of the counter top to allow cold water to flow through and keep it cool. You need the cold water line and a waste line. This is very effective for rolling out pie crust and pastries in the kitchen. I don't know if you're hard core enough to do this for an amplifier stand.
If your amps run very hot, they should be on feet to raise them off the mounting surface and the mounting surface should have ventilation holes bored through it to increase air flow.
Granite, marble or other stone will initially act as a heat sink, but in time will become heat saturated unless there is a way to eliminate the heat. If you want, you can do what I had done in a kitchen counter to keep it cool: I had 1/4" copper tubing zig-zagged across and epoxied to the under side of the counter top to allow cold water to flow through and keep it cool. You need the cold water line and a waste line. This is very effective for rolling out pie crust and pastries in the kitchen. I don't know if you're hard core enough to do this for an amplifier stand.
I was at Lloyd Walker's years ago and he had an amplifier that required water cooling. He ran 1/4 copper tubing up from the basement and the return had a valve to control the flow. The system had a very liquid sound IIRC.
I like the water cooling idea but in order to run a water line serving both amps would have to run about 40' to get to the closest water line and major renovations to hide it . I was thinking on seeing how quiet the laptop cooling pads are and may make a trip into Staples to see sizes ( not sure if this will work or not )
I was at Lloyd Walker's years ago and he had an amplifier that required water cooling. He ran 1/4 copper tubing up from the basement and the return had a valve to control the flow. The system had a very liquid sound IIRC.
The name escapes me but there was a water cooled German amplifier built back in the mid to late '90s. In fact, to make it fancier, the water came in different colors
I like the water cooling idea but in order to run a water line serving both amps would have to run about 40' to get to the closest water line and major renovations to hide it . I was thinking on seeing how quiet the laptop cooling pads are and may make a trip into Staples to see sizes ( not sure if this will work or not )
A laptop cooling pad will support and cool a 5 pound laptop. I think a 100 pound amp will crush it.
Coming back down to earth for reasonable cooling, how about running an air conditioning duct or a fan to blow ambient air on the amplifiers. A fan and a base with holes bored through the bottom for air flow and feet on the amps to raise them a couple of inches off the surface will do wonders for cooling.
I would check with the manufacturer with regards to forced cooling with water/fans/air conditioning/liquid helium.
A well designed amp like the Spectral should reach thermal stability and then the heat sinks radiate excess heat. You may need to cool your amp base, but you should not have to cool your amp. With forced cooling, your amp may never "warm up". I am a competing manufacturer, so please don't take my word for it and contact the manufacturer of your amplifier.
Copper with copper fins. Use your current bases, and have a sheet metal shop fabricate a top of copper and copper fins on a downward flange.
I can go into details if interested.
Copper has great thermal conductivity [absorbs and carries away heat], silver is better, and I believe Diamond is the best.
zz
What you don't do is use any type of Sorbothane or pliable footers under your amp. I made that mistake with the Wave Kinetics footers under my Pass Labs amps and the heat turned them all brown and gnarly!
If you want more effective cooling of your Spectral amp, my computer fans on top of the preamp and other units, powered by a selectable-voltage power supply from RadioShack, work very well and are extremely quiet at 3.3V. I would put such either on top of the fins or near them you would need to figure out a way to attach them, but it's not difficult.
If you want more effective cooling of your Spectral amp, my computer fans on top of the preamp and other units, powered by a selectable-voltage power supply from RadioShack, work very well and are extremely quiet at 3.3V. I would put such either on top of the fins or near them you would need to figure out a way to attach them, but it's not difficult.
Copper with copper fins. Use your current bases, and have a sheet metal shop fabricate a top of copper and copper fins on a downward flange.
I can go into details if interested. Copper has great thermal conductivity [absorbs and carries away heat], silver is better, and I believe Diamond is the best.
zz
Diamond IS BY FAR THE BEST known thermal conductor, about five times better than copper, but in order to get enough in one slab, you might have to rocket out to that "Diamond Star" they discovered about a year ago and that might be a bit costly.
I think increasing the amount of ambient air flow via a fan or just improving convection around the amps should do fine. Mike, you aren't the only person running a DMA200 or other large power amps running in Class A, and they don't seem to be lighting on fire for people who own them. You might just want to add an AC duct to cool the room in general.
The Spectral DMA 200 amplifier is forced air cooled by design, make sure the fan is functioning properly, the air inlet and outlet are clean and unobstructed, and all should be fine. It may be worthwhile to have a tech remove the internal shroud and make sure there is no dust buildup on the fins of the heatsinks that are in the air flow path. I am sure Spectral can give advice if there is any question.
The Spectral DMA 200 amplifier is forced air cooled by design, make sure the fan is functioning properly, the air inlet and outlet are clean and unobstructed, and all should be fine. It may be worthwhile to have a tech remove the internal shroud and make sure there is no dust buildup on the fins of the heatsinks that are in the air flow path. I am sure Spectral can give advice if there is any question.
I have seen the TAD mono amps...similar base to the legendary Esoteric P-0 Transport sold in Japan. But does cast iron near amp have any issues due to the magnetism?
