# Receiver question



## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

do avr's typically get hot?

i ask because when i get mine, its going to be stored in an enclosed tv stand, and the top shelf above it will be the cable box.

thanks.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Yes... some hotter than others. It is always good to have some ventilation. I have three small super quiet computer fans installed in the top of my cabinet pulling air over the equipment from the front.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

Sonnie said:


> Yes... some hotter than others. It is always good to have some ventilation. I have three small super quiet computer fans installed in the top of my cabinet pulling air over the equipment from the front.



you know i thought about doing that when we got the cable box, i even bought 3 little fans with a usb connection. i just never installed them.

how do you have yours set up? what powers them? where did you get yours?

thanks


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

Can somebody tell me how I would be able to connect small cooling fans to an avr so that they turn on and off with the avr automatically? I’m sure its possible?

Or if there’s a how to somewhere.


thanks


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I purchased the following kit from Coolerguys...

CabCool1203 Three 120mm Fan Cooler for Rack or Cabinet w/Thermal Control

$80










The front of our cabinet is open, but the top, bottom, back and sides were all closed, so I installed the fans on the top near the rear of the cabinet, behind where our DLP display sits. We do not hear or see it.

Ours (the one above) is on a thermal control and plugs directly into our power strip. To turn on with your AVR, you might be able to plug it into a switched outlet on the back of your AVR.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

So on the thermal control, does it turn on automatically when it gets to a certain temp?

Our tv stand is split down the middle, with two sliding glass doors. On the left side we have the cable box and that’s where the avr will go. On the right side is the playstation 3 by its self so it has breathing room because when it gets hot enough, the internal fans get loud. So one side of the stand is always open and the other closed depending on what we’re using.

But when I get the avr, its going to be opposite side of the ps3 and that’s mainly what I’ll be using the avr with. So when that happens the avr will be pretty much enclosed all around, so I would like to have some air flow in there.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I bought a clear 120mm PC fan that has a 3 speed selector switch I placed it directly on top of my Onkyo 805 and wired a standard 120 volt to 12v DC power adapter to it and plugged it directly into the switched power output of the receiver and it works great.
You can see it in the photo below. Its hardly visible with the lights on and once off during a movie its completely invisible and on its medium speed setting I can not hear it at the listening position.
http://www.members.shaw.ca/tonyvdb/album1044003.jpg


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## tenzip (May 4, 2007)

The thermally controlled one Sonnie showed should turn on automatically at a preset temperature, so you wouldn't have to worry about turning it on. If you were going to buy one, I would suggest putting it in the back of your TV stand, may take some work with a saw/dremel/whatever. You could put it in the middle, between the two sides, so it would draw warm air out of both sides, AVR and PS3.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I agree with Chris on all of this... he has a good suggestion on mounting.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

hmm, yeah i didnt think about that. i could make a hole or two on each side and direct the warm air out...

well i guess i'll see what i can come up with after i get the HT and figure out where i should place it all. i may have to rearange stuff around.


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## davidag02 (Oct 24, 2008)

I have a kit from Cooler Guys as well. It's the 1202 with 2 120mm fans instead of 3. It works great and is extremely easy to install.


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## the_rookie (Sep 30, 2008)

I have a question, could ya place 2 fans on a AVR, like cut holes for the fan to be mounted one entering cool air and one exiting for pushing the air out.

So one blowing in, the other out to create a jet of air through it to cool it?

WOuld ya guys recommend against it for any reason?


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

the_rookie said:


> I have a question, could ya place 2 fans on a AVR, like cut holes for the fan to be mounted one entering cool air and one exiting for pushing the air out.
> 
> So one blowing in, the other out to create a jet of air through it to cool it?
> 
> WOuld ya guys recommend against it for any reason?


i dont know about cutting into the avr but check this out.

http://www.buyextras.com/cacofankit1o.html


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I am thinking that would not work too well. Having both fans that close together, one blowing in and the other out. I believe for that to work properly, that would need to be spread further apart. You can buy the fans themselves for very little, place one on one side of the unit blowing in and place the other farthest away on the other side of the unit pulling air out. Or really just one on top pulling air out should work, if you don't mind an ugly fan sitting on top of your AVR. You could put two on top for pulling, but I probably wouldn't use one to blow air in. Most of the air around the unit is going to be warmer air anyway... pulling it away from the unit will be better. If you have a cabinet cavity that is separated from the section the AVR is sitting in and can pull cooler air in from that other area, then that might be an option. No reason to get all that complicated though.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

well yesterday i found out one good thing about our tv stand. the back panels are screwed on in two peices and are made of real wood. so if and when i decide to cut a hole for a fan set it will be easier that i originally thought. my only problem would be, i have nothing to cut it with, and i want it to be a perfect cut.

so i take it these fan kits are pretty much plug and play after you assemble them right?

i'm not sure if i'll get the 3 or 2 fan kit.


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## tenzip (May 4, 2007)

I understand the desire for the perfectly smooth hole to mount the fans, but consider that this will be in the back, where you will be the only one to ever see it.

How thick is the wood in back? If it's very thin, you may be able to use a carpet/utility knife to cut it, just score it in the shape you want, and then continue to cut deeper until you go through. As with any cutting tool, let it do the work, using more muscle leads to cutting something you didn't want to cut.

One of those fans will move more than enough air. All you're really trying to do is keep the air circulating, not create a wind tunnel. Any of the kits should work fine.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

tenzip said:


> I understand the desire for the perfectly smooth hole to mount the fans, but consider that this will be in the back, where you will be the only one to ever see it.
> 
> How thick is the wood in back? If it's very thin, you may be able to use a carpet/utility knife to cut it, just score it in the shape you want, and then continue to cut deeper until you go through. As with any cutting tool, let it do the work, using more muscle leads to cutting something you didn't want to cut.
> 
> One of those fans will move more than enough air. All you're really trying to do is keep the air circulating, not create a wind tunnel. Any of the kits should work fine.


the wood panel is pretty solid an about an 1/8" thick


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

If you go with a 2 or 3 fan kit, your cut-out will be rectangular shaped. I believe you can download the install instructions from Cooler Guys.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

so i just came back from best buy, i went to buy resistance 2, and so i decided to take a look at the samsung avr i'm getting, and it doesnt have any vents on the top, or sides... it was enclosed pretty tight in the display but the front and about half of the sides where open, its pretty cool inside the store tho, i touched the sides and it was just a little bit warm to the touch.

i'll probably just end up installing the 2 fan kit, then later on add one to the oposite side of the tv stand for the ps3


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Albert, Please let us know what you think of the Samsung HTIB system as your the first person that I know of who has bought it and if its decent I may want to add it to my list of HTIB systems that are good quality. Some pictures would also be great particularly close up of the speakers and sub.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> Albert, Please let us know what you think of the Samsung HTIB system as your the first person that I know of who has bought it and if its decent I may want to add it to my list of HTIB systems that are good quality. Some pictures would also be great particularly close up of the speakers and sub.


no problem, i haven't bought it yet, but i'll most likely get it tomorrow since i took the day off.

i'll take pics of the speakers, sub, and avr, then installed.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

Ok, so I bought the Samsung HTIB Tuesday night and yesterday the HDMI cable I ordered came in, so I set up the system. I had to go back to best buy because the remote did not work at all. They ordered me a new one which I’ll be getting in a few days, not a big deal because last night I also ordered the 2 fan kit from cooler guys and also a couple of 90 degree angle HDMI connectors, because the HDMI cables in the back don’t let the AVR go far back enough for the TV stand door to close (it hits the volume knob), so I’m hoping the connectors will solve that problem.

I turned on the system for a while and it sounds really good, to me at least. Considering I haven’t plugged in the rear speakers because I’m going to end up doing those wirelessly later on. I really haven’t messed around with the settings because of not having the remote. 

So I was playing the PS3 for about over an hour with the door almost closed all the way on the AVR and it didn’t get hot like I thought it would, it was barely warm to the touch (maybe that will change later?) so I’m going to put the fan kit on the side of the PS3 and the cable box because it does get hot in there. If it does start to get warm in the side of the AVR then I’ll probably buy the one fan kit for it to have some ventilation. 

I did take pictures before installing it but I haven’t uploaded them yet. I’ll post some later this evening after work.


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

The PS3 does get pretty hot and will heat up the inside of the cabinet a lot. Mine is off to the side and pumps out as much heat as my projector does. When you install the fans be sure to follow the natural flow of air. For the PS3 you would want to intake fan blowing either to the front or sides and the exhaust fan blowing out at the rear (the PS3 exhausts to the rear). You probably only need exhaust fans unless your cabinet is well sealed.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

MatrixDweller said:


> The PS3 does get pretty hot and will heat up the inside of the cabinet a lot. Mine is off to the side and pumps out as much heat as my projector does. When you install the fans be sure to follow the natural flow of air. For the PS3 you would want to intake fan blowing either to the front or sides and the exhaust fan blowing out at the rear (the PS3 exhausts to the rear). You probably only need exhaust fans unless your cabinet is well sealed.


the ps3 is not sealed tightly, it has plenty of space on the sides, rear and front since i leave the door open when use it, but it does get hot regardless, so i planned on putting the cooling fans on the back of the stand blowing air out from the rear.


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## Albert1500 (Oct 31, 2008)

Ok so I finally got my cooling fan kit last night around 8:30pm. I ended up going to sleep after midnight because I’m the type of person that likes to do stuff as soon as I get it.

Well even before I got the fan kit I had already taken apart all the entertainment system.

I cut a pretty good rectangular hole on the back panel of the tv stand, with a $6 hand saw and a drill. So, then I put together the fan kit and it works great, and to my surprise its a lot quieter than I expected, I have 3 small fans that came with a laptop cooler that are louder than the 120mm ones from coolerguys. The little box where the fans connect to, have a super BRIGHT green LED light hahaha.

I ended up facing the fans to blow air out of the back. I have to say the fan kit looks really nice in there because it kind of blends in since the tv stand is black and so is the fan kit. Almost looks like it should’ve came like that. 

All I have left to do is connect everything back up after work. I took some pics and will post them later tonight.


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