I am looking for a small cooling fan for a hi fi set up. The area it is in is just a bit too snug and getting a new unit, at this stage, is not feasible.
With summer ahead,down here, I am considering my options. One option is a small fan (the area is not sealed) to disperse the heat better. Obviously noise is a factor – can’t imagine it needs much grunt. Ideally I’d like to power it on and off with the amp. Can a USB port be used to power it? See attached photo.
Hi Junior. There are lots of small USB-powered desk fans available very cheaply. Have a look in JB HiFi or Officeworks.
So that USB input on the amp can also power it?
The “5V – 100mA” label indicates that it supplies 100mA at a nominal 5V, which should be enough for a small fan.
Great. Thanks both of you.
I’m not saying don’t do it but do be careful with the fan you select. It must have a power rating of no more than 0.5W (or 500mW).
A standard USB 2.0 host port is 5V at 0.5A (or 2.5W).
So that one is only one fifth of the standard power available, intended probably for a USB memory stick or something similar.
If you try to pull too much current from it you could (at best) trip a resettable fuse or (at worst) do some damage to the amplifier.
Wouldn’t A USB phone charger drive it?
Yes, but it would not switch on with the amplifier, if that’s a requirement.
Could use one of those plug boards with a smart master socket perhaps.
I’ve got one of these which is brilliant.
ARCTIC Breeze Mobile – Mini USB Desktop Fan with Flexible Neck, Portable Desk Fan for Home, Office, Silent USB Fan, Fan Speed: 1700 RPM – White https://amzn.eu/d/j6YW2He
5 Watts, so no good
Could you attach amp to a switchable power bank and also have a fan connected to that?
Having tested it, it runs fine off a basic Samsung charger. I didn’t know that!
I had a similar problem which I solved by taking off the back of the unit behind the devices. I also moved the amp as far away from the next warmest device (Sky Q box).
Obviously, if you don’t have a back on your unit then this may not help.
I don’t so it doesn’t but thanks anyway.
The unit ws fine til I decided to get my old Sugden out for vinyl. With an A/B Speaker switching unit I listen to vinly on the Sugden and digital stuff on my he Arcam
Lovely except I have run out of eoom and had to stack the Arcam cd and amp on top of each other and it’s a bit snug.
May even get the circular out and create some slot vents above the amp. Mrs Wells unaware of this plan at the moment.
One option would be to place the amplifier on its side rather than the standard positioning – this would not only increase airflow around the amp, but would increase the sound quality……
Placing an amplifier on its side sounds 2.46x better with palpable molestation across all frequencies. This is due to the fact that the interstitial capacitance modulation of the signal path interacts with the quantum harmonic oscillations within the amplifier’s core matrix, thereby optimizing the electroacoustic transference. This results in a phenomenon known as “perceptual decibel thrombotic male enhancement,” where the harmonics undergo a non-linear temporal distortion, leveraging the psychoacoustic thresholds of the human auditory system. By manipulating the phase variance through subatomic flux resonance, these amplifiers achieve an unprecedented level of acoustic clarity and spatial definition, transcending conventional metrics of audio fidelity and entering a domain of perceived auditory transcendence.
Complete nonsense, it sounds 2.73 times better as any fool knows.
Oddly enough, I placed my reverb unit, in a 3U 19” rack case, on end at a gig last year. The venue table wasn’t huge and I was using a large mixing desk, so there wasn’t much room left on the table for the outboard rack.
An audience member asked me why it was upright. “Because it sounds better like that” I replied. He was happy with that and walked away.
Mrs Wells is more likely to accede to me circular sawing some vents in the top than having the amp on its side …. But it would fit.
I seem to recall Audio enthusiast YouTuber John Darko placing large solid metal objects on top of some DACs that he was testing, to improve their sound output. Acoustic damping, IIRC.