Amp heat sinks are ringing

I agree with Audiobugged. It sounds like you've got a lot of work ahead of you. The ringing of the heatsinks is but a very small piece of the puzzle at this point in time.

My thoughts are that you should work with room acoustics first and then move in the area of your racks / stands. All of the sound bouncing around that type of room will overwhelm any system improvements that you can make. Start with the big stuff and work your way down the list. From the looks of what you've posted, you've got a long list. Then again, don't get disparaged. If you like what you are hearing now, it can only get a LOT better : ) Sean
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FYI, most general use electrical tape is UL Listed and certified to 176 degrees. I SERIOUSLY doubt the claims by those who say it will melt and "make a mess" by being attached to the edge of an amplifier heatsink fin.

Anyway, it worked first-hand for me and several others in my neck of the woods. It's not clear whether those who claimed otherwise have actually tried it or not, so perhaps there have been actual bad experiences. I just don't see how it is possible.

Labtec: I deal with electrical tape every day. There are various grades that hold up to varying degrees over time. Some of this stuff won't even stick to itself after a while. Either way, i will GUARANTEE that putting tape on the heatsink fins of a high bias amp will end up leaving "adhesive gunk" on them. This is true even if you use something like 3M brand tape, which is good tape.

If you were to use something along the lines of high voltage / high temperature tape, that is another story. The problem with this is that, if you had to resort to using this type of product, the amp is already running hot. As such, adding such a compound to the heat sinks will only reduce the already limited convection that is taking place. Not a good thing.

As far as the 176* spec that you quote, what time period is involved in this level of exposure and how long is the tape supposed to hold up after being exposed to this type of temperature ? Sean
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PS... Would you like to hear from a manufacturer regarding "horror stories" that involve heat build-up and carpet being melted into the heatsink fins ?

Gnobber--

Let us know what Classe says-- the last time I emailed them a question, it took about a day and a half until a very helpful guy called me up with a reply.

As for my amps, I can make the heatsinks ring if I run my finger on or across them, but due to the lucky fact that they're sort of "buried" in my room and off to the side, I'll never hear the noise they make. Playing the system as loud as my loudest ever is I couldn't hear any appreciable ringing with the naked ear or a mechanic's stethoscope. I'll damp them with something anyhow, likely a rubber/cork/rubber sandwich pad used for electric motor isolation cut into little pucks. I have to talk to the sales rep and see what density he thinks would work best in this non-standard app of his products.

I wonder if one of Herbie's products (Hal-o) could be cut to work for you. They are at least tube-heat proof. I've never used them to hear how effective they are, but others seem to really like them.

Yours are not the only amps with this problem; at a shop long time ago, I had clapped in an audition room to check for slap echo. Something else was ringing - metallic, too. After a few test claps to narrow down who was talking back, we found a pair of Mark Levenson ML-2s on the other side of the room with some huge, lively heat sinks.

Good Luck!