SR7015 cooling

[Jack N]

Does anybody happen to know at what temperature the internal cooling fans kick in on a Marantz SR7015?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Marantz should know and have answer while talking to them.

 

[dlaloum]

Does anybody happen to know at what temperature the internal cooling fans kick in on a Marantz SR7015?

Be aware that in many (most?) AVR's the cooling fans are set up to cool the power amp sections and do little or nothing for the HDMI/Video and DSP chips...
And in this day and age, the main source of problematic heat is often the Video & DSP chips.

I am NOT familiar with the Marantz - so this is a generic comment, but with my Onkyo, the fans are located under the main power amp heatsinks - current generation Onkyo's have additional smaller fans for the video & dsp chips - older models didn't - and suffered from HDMI & DSP board failures.

So you need to check/monitor temperatures at different areas of the AVR individually... it isn't a question of a single temperature.... (and in recent AVR's it isn't a question of a single fan!)

 

[lovinthehd]

No idea myself, don't know when they're on/off in any of my avrs, have never noticed them, nor is there any control over them, so just not all that important. If worried about extra heat then add external fans....

 

[dlaloum]

Just as an aside - about 12 years ago, I had an AV Receiver cooler, I cannot remember if it was from Asus or Acer - but it was one of the PC accessories brands...
It worked well... and all was rosy, until one day I did some test measurements, and identified some noise on my signals, which after much trial and error, was identified as being generated by the cooler...

The cooler was an earlier generation version of the AC Infinity Aircom units - and of course it sat right on top of the AVR, with the fans generating EM noise, directly on top of the HDMI inputs and DSP processing - and it showed up when I was testing the AVR.... wasn't huge, but dropped the SINAD by probably 10db.

Turn the fans off - and the noise was gone, turn them on, and the noise was there...

No the noise was not noticeable.... pretty low level, but just to be sure, I got rid of the cooler - what's the point of a Flagship AVR, being compromised by fan generated EM noise.... 2 years later, the AVR fried its HDMI board, and became a boat anchor. (sigh...)

Are the AC infinity devices any better - I don't know - and it would depend not only on the devices themselves, but also the AVR it is placed on top of, where the chips on that AVR are located, etc... but yeah it might be worth someone testing just to be certain.

Edit: found that cooler - It was an "Antec Veris AV Cooler"
reviewed here:
EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: We test Antec's VERIS AV cooling system | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)
Antec VERIS A/V Cooler Review - Legit Reviews

 

[Jack N]

Thanks for the tip on the coolers. Haven't had trouble, yet.....

The SR7015 is my first modern-day AVR. All of my previous equipment were passively cooled so I was shocked to see two cooling fans on the bottom. You'd think the manufacturers would address cooling problems, but now that I think about it, it's probably their way of getting you to buy replacements a lot sooner than you would otherwise have to. Risky business. I can guarantee you if the Marantz fails soon after the warranty runs out.....

FWIW - The Marantz is replacing a Yammie RX-V3300 which has gone 20+ years before showing any signs of failure at all.

 

[Verdinut]

Does anybody happen to know at what temperature the internal cooling fans kick in on a Marantz SR7015?

Marantz AVRs definitely heat even with their inboard fan. To help keeping your SR7015 working for a longer period, I strongly suggest that you get a pair of AC Infinity fans to put on it to pull out the heat that it produces. Also, there should be a free space of at least 4" above the unit. See this:

Amazon.com

 

[lovinthehd]

Just the nature of current avrs to an extent, and your old unit didn't have hdmi either. If in a tight space or getting unusually warm, easy to add external fans. If the idea of noise bothers you, the Infinity Aircoms aren't exactly noise free (as experienced with my fairly recent pickup of a T8), but not terrible (there are quieter but less fancy solutions with other fans/controllers).

 

[Jack N]

I bought a T10 to pair with it. The T10 will be my first trial as well with active cooling.

 

[dlaloum]

I bought a T10 to pair with it. The T10 will be my first trial as well with active cooling.

I was seriously considering the AC Infinity T or S series - but when I got to try out the new generation Integra (DRX 3.4) - it ran so cool that I did not bother...

With the previous generation AVR's they got seriously HOT (so hot that you could not keep your hand on the hot patch at the back of the case... let alone opening up and checking the temperature of the actual circuit boards and components!!)

Current Onkyo/Integra/Pioneer I would not bother. By reputation, the current Denon/Marantz models run hotter than the current Onkyo models - so it is definitely a matter of checking your AVR, to see how hot it runs, and then making your decision from there.

If it gets any hotter than slightly lukewarm to the touch - then an AC Infinity is probably a good investment.

 

[kinghudson]

I have searching on Marantz SR7015 Product Information Sheet, it does not mention the exact temperature of the cooling fans, but it does state that the receiver has a "high-current discrete power amplifier on all channels" and a "copper-plated chassis" for heat dissipation. It also recommends to leave enough space around the receiver for ventilation.

geometry dash​

 

[Trell]

I have searching on Marantz SR7015 Product Information Sheet, it does not mention the exact temperature of the cooling fans, but it does state that the receiver has a "high-current discrete power amplifier on all channels" and a "copper-plated chassis" for heat dissipation. It also recommends to leave enough space around the receiver for ventilation.

geometry dash​

The anecdotal evidence is that the fans seldom turns on, so keep the AVR in a well-ventilated place that is not hot. Some put extra fans on top of AVRs for cooling, something I’ve done.

 

[dlaloum]

I have searching on Marantz SR7015 Product Information Sheet, it does not mention the exact temperature of the cooling fans, but it does state that the receiver has a "high-current discrete power amplifier on all channels" and a "copper-plated chassis" for heat dissipation. It also recommends to leave enough space around the receiver for ventilation.

geometry dash​

A few years back they specified "enough space" as 6" on the sides, and 8" on top from memory... (although I could be mixing up Onkyo with Marantz...)

But it may be worthwhile asking Marantz exactly what they mean by "enough space"!!

 

[PENG]

As usual, they never tell you everything! Just saying 6", 8" on sides or whatever is not enough, could even mislead... One can have 8" on all sides, but in an area where the A/C could not get to, such as far from any air vent registers, or rooms with no AC with the room temperature around 28 deg C, whereas another person could have only 6" on all sides but the ambient temperature around the unit is 23 deg C because the room is cooled by AC, with air registers nearby. Of course the other important factor is, as we all know, the output demand on the AVR.

Manufacturers recommendations are just basic general guidelines, users have to be smart enough to do their own assessments. The easiest and obvious way is to measure the temperature around the unit, on top, sides of the enclosure, and go from there. If in doubt, use an external fan, because the internal fans rarely turn on, it seems D+M included enough fans to minimize their 3 year warranty exposure but set the trigger point high enough to avoid customer complains on noise. Others, such as Anthem, went the opposite way, probably because they do care about longevity, not just to survive the warranty period, and yet their customers offer complain about fan noise.

 

[Jack N]

I did get in contact with Marantz. The person I talked to didn't know at what temperature the internal fans came on, but did say they recommend not letting the temp get above 95°F. That sounds fairly low to me so i kind of wonder if he wasn't pulling something out of his hat.

The T10 does a good job of pulling the heat out but certainly isn't dead quiet. To keep the fans running as slow as possible, I taped up the cooling holes on the sides of the SR7015, and made a foam rubber gasket/border to go between the top of the AVR and the bottom of the T10 so it forces all of the air movement to go through the AVR instead of being sucked in from around the edges. This seems to work really well as it keeps the temp around 89° with the T10 fans on the 2nd setting, and around 90° - 91° with the fans on the lowest setting. The foam seems to cut down the fan noise just a tad as well.

 

[TLS Guy]

I did get in contact with Marantz. The person I talked to didn't know at what temperature the internal fans came on, but did say they recommend not letting the temp get above 95°F. That sounds fairly low to me so i kind of wonder if he wasn't pulling something out of his hat.

The T10 does a good job of pulling the heat out but certainly isn't dead quiet. To keep the fans running as slow as possible, I taped up the cooling holes on the sides of the SR7015, and made a foam rubber gasket/border to go between the top of the AVR and the bottom of the T10 so it forces all of the air movement to go through the AVR instead of being sucked in from around the edges. This seems to work really well as it keeps the temp around 89° with the T10 fans on the 2nd setting, and around 90° - 91° with the fans on the lowest setting. The foam seems to cut down the fan noise just a tad as well.

That sounds about right for the lower end of the range. Solid state electronics is usually OK in the range of 95 to 140 degrees F. The lower end of the range is better.
I just checked my AVP which has been running all evening, and it is 107 degrees. The Quad 909 power amps are running at 94 F and the two Quad 405 IIs are running at 104 F. The HTPC I have been running all evening is at 78 F. Only the HTPC has fans. These are very acceptable temperatures. So at 95 you are at the low end of an acceptable temperature range.

 

[dlaloum]

I did get in contact with Marantz. The person I talked to didn't know at what temperature the internal fans came on, but did say they recommend not letting the temp get above 95°F. That sounds fairly low to me so i kind of wonder if he wasn't pulling something out of his hat.

The T10 does a good job of pulling the heat out but certainly isn't dead quiet. To keep the fans running as slow as possible, I taped up the cooling holes on the sides of the SR7015, and made a foam rubber gasket/border to go between the top of the AVR and the bottom of the T10 so it forces all of the air movement to go through the AVR instead of being sucked in from around the edges. This seems to work really well as it keeps the temp around 89° with the T10 fans on the 2nd setting, and around 90° - 91° with the fans on the lowest setting. The foam seems to cut down the fan noise just a tad as well.

Yes 95F (35C) is a great threshold for guaranteed long life...

You can probably go completely safely up to the high 40's, but you don't want it to get past 50c (122f) without something starting to work at pulling it down.

Typically the actual temperature at the critical points (transistor / IC junction points) will be substantially higher than what the temperature probe measures - unless the probe is built into the chip itself.

My old Onkyo used to start up the fan at 36c (97f) and would then ramp up the fan speed if the temperature continued to rise - unfortunately temperature was only being measure in the power amp stages - and not the HDMI and DSP chips - which is where the overheating problems were!

 

[Jack N]

Sounds like my cooling tricks work better than I thought ! Thanks for the info guys.

And it's cool (ha ha) that you don't notice the black electrical tape and the black foam rubber because everything else is black. You have to be deliberately looking for it to notice it.