b!tchin' pic's. When you get time I'd appreciate more on the above. That sounds like good planning. I just hope it's cheap.
I was gonna ask you about the differences between the NHT & the rear ported Curly Maple Song Center. Swerd has talked about that center and I wanted to reread that. You should probably avoid reading that before listening.
I'll definitely avoid reading that before I try to do a comparison.
Well, it all started with the fact that I wanted to keep my components cool (mainly the onkyo 3009 since they have a history of over heating and causing all issues) so I started researching my options. I looked at a lot of companies that specialized in component cooling and entertainment stand cooling and all that. I thought that their prices were bloated for what I was getting so I started looking into other options. Turns out that yes it can be done much cheaper, but there are some trade offs. The main tradeoffs you make in doing your own thing are that:
-You lose some convenience options (sort of, more on this later)
-It usually involves more effort to get everything set up
-Most of the time it just looks messier without more effort and good pre-planning
-Probably something else I'm forgetting
So one of the main drawbacks that I saw in going more of a DIY route was that it was going to look sloppier without some fiddling, but decided that I could live with it because after the stand was built I would be able to hide nearly all of the perceived sloppiness.
Next there was the issue of what fans to use. Most of the "specialized" fans were only 80mm or 120mm. They came with all the bells and whistles, like purpose made enclosures or all the pieces you'd need to install it in your entertainment stand have it end up looking nice and neat. The other big thing that they offered that would be tough or impossible to replicate was temperature monitoring and/or the fact that the temperature monitoring on some units also controlled the fans so that it would turn them on and off for specific temperatures that you set.
Now I found out you can buy the control/temp monitoring units separately and install them in whatever you cobbled together, but I was still less than thrilled with what it did. To me, the controller never delivered enough power to the small fans to really get the air moving, not to mention I wanted bigger fans so that, just do to simple physics, they would have to spin much much slower to move a lot more air.
So because the stand wasn't anywhere near ready I thought I'd start with component cooling. I bought two different 3 different fans to experiment and see which ones would be the best option. First I bought a 120mm USB fan, then an Antec Big Boy fan 200mm (which needs power but comes with a L/M/H switch on it), and a cooler Master blue LED Megaflow 200mm fan. I also bought a simple fan controller. The problem with the fan controller is that it's meant to be put in a tower computer case so all the electronics are exposed. You either need to live with it, buy an enclosure, or buy one that is already enclosed (which is more expensive).
USB fan was a bust, I didn't like anything about it (for component cooling anyways), but really liked the fan controller and fans. After an extended period of using the fans I decided that I really liked the megaflow fan more, both because when I watch movies it gives some ambient light which makes it easier on the eyes and drastic light changes and because it responds a bit better to the fan controller when I up the power or lower the power. Plus the LED's dim when you lower the power as well. So those were what I decided were going to become my stand fans and currently all three are mounted but waiting for the controller.
The controller I decided to get for the stand is a 6 fan controller with a display that will show the RPM and temperature (if the temp module is hooked up) for whichever fan you select (only two fans/temps are displayable at a time). It was roughly double the price of the first fan controller, but it was enclosed and the temp monitoring was worth the upgrade. The fan controller I am getting is the
Scythe KM04-BK Master Pro Ace Controller Panel Now the whole package together costs about $120 for three fans, the controller and the AC adapter power cord. It's expensive and I totally could have put together a cheaper option, but this combination offered the right balance of performance and aesthetics compared to price for me. Plus it'll move about 5 times (or more) as much air as a similarly priced option from one of the those other companies.
Did that answer your question?
