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ARC VT-200 Cooling Fan Noisy, nit picking?

I would be the last person to claim that I have the most sensitive hearing but in my well-damped dedicated listening room, the sound of the cooling fan in my amp is noticeable (and distracting at times). I've even set the adjustable speed to the slowest setting and I can still hear it. The amp sits on an amp stand between my speakers about 10' from my listening chair and has plenty of ventilation but anyone familiar with the VT-200 knows that it can put out some serious btu's. Would it significantly affect tube life if I disconnected the cooling fan? Anyone else try replacing the fan with one that runs more quietly? Is this an "Ask Leonard" question?
jc4659
hifibri
39 posts
 
I had the same issue with a VT 100 MKIII and agree with Rodman as well. I believe the proximity of the fan to the bottom cover was the main problem as the air made noise as it passed through the slots in the cover. You could; detach the fan from the bottom and raise it up a bit, remove the bottom completely and place the fan on the shelf the amp is sitting on, or what I did was to removed the top and bottom covers and disconnected the fan completely. Added bonuses - prevents fan vibrations from affecting the amp and the amp warms up faster. I use a separate fan at the top of the case to extract heat during those long listening sessions - the noise is practically nil. Extracting air is more effective for cooling than blowing air into the case.
dev
832 posts
 
You are not alone regarding these fan noise issues, see below other members thoughts;

Mantis007 posted 11-18-08
I ordered some silent fans(7db) from overseas - I found them in the threat you told me about. I have the original fans disconnected and the covers off while I wait for the new fans.

Downunder posted 11-08-08
I had a listen to the ref 210's for a few minutes and even at low volumes in a cold room the fans were churning away LOUDLY.
I think the 210's sounded quite good, but I could not get my head around why the fans were so loud, especially since the amps did not seem hot and volume was low. I can only imagine how loud the fan would be at high volumes.

Is this normal for this amplifier??

Does cutting the fans out make reliability an issue??

Jc4659 you will find more too.
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tdaudio
201 posts
 
Elberoth2 posted info on how he put in XThermal (or is it Thermal?) BTF80Pro fans in a Ref 110 and liked the result. I did some searches on XThermal and found some references to the fans. They do not appear to be distriputed in the US. Anyone know if they are carried by someone in the US? Google search did not turn up much for me, plus I am looking for some other stuff.

Terry
jc4659 OP
172 posts
 
Thanks everyone. I searched the forums and see that I am not alone on this issue. I will contact steve at gnsc and see what he has to say about it, I doubt ARC will offer anything better, and the last option which I would consider is removing the top cover and disconnecting the fan altogether. I don't have any little ones running around anymore who might be tempted to poke around inside.
cajunpepe
254 posts
 
I did not purchase the REF 110 because of the fan noise. On low passages it is audible at 9 feet and I could not move the amp further away in my room.

Pepe
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