Minimizing Amp Fan Noise, What's The best Way??
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Posted on May 22, 2010 05:22 pm
Rapid09
Member Since: Oct 28, 2009
hi
Am looking to setup a small h-rec setup recording into DAW such as Sonar. In the setup i would like to use my carver PXM-900 amp to drive a pair of passive monitors. Can someone suggest the best way to minimize fan noise from the amp so it is not noticed in my recordings.
Thanks
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J-botByte-MixerMember
Since: Dec 04, 2007
May 22, 2010 10:49 pm Hi Rapid,
Looking at the specs, it looks like that amp pushes a pretty good amount of wattage. Most monitors (depending on size) are pretty easy to drive, so they probably won't be taxing the amp too much. How hot does the amp get driving your monitors? If it feels like it stays relatively cool, you might be able to open her up, and disable the fans altogether. Though, looking at the wattage it pushes, I'm guessing it generally stays fairly hot most the time. And I'm just saying that's an option, though I don't really recommend disabling cooling systems on electronics at all, being a computer tech and such.
I know some people have done the fan disable to the amp I use, which is an ART SLA-100 (100W rms per channel @ 8ohms) My monitors only require 60W, so the amp drives em pretty easily. Though I have not disabled the fan on mine since I've not really had a noise issue.
You could try digging around the net to see if there are other, lower-speed fans that are compatible with it, or see if there's a way to lower the RPM on the existing fans. I don't know if those fans have some kinda switch or toggle for the speeds or not.
If you don't feel comfortable doing that, or it's too hot, you could try moving the amp into another room, or a closet or other vented enclosure to put a barrier between the amp's noise, and the mics. Most studios tend to put the noisier equipment (Amps, computers, servers, etc.) in a separate room, and run longer cables to the equipment.
If space is an issue, and depending on the mic you use, you could try pointing the mic away from the amp, to minimize bleed, and use a noise gate on the track to kill the room noise in the dead space.
Other folks around here might have some better suggestions.
cruxTypo SzarMember
Since: Jul 04, 2002
May 22, 2010 11:30 pm I second J-Bot's enclosure/room idea, if ur serious about getting rid of noise no point in doing it half way. U can make an enclosure that houses all of ur noisy equipment, CPU, AMP, everything, u can even cool that enclosure itself to keep everything nice and...well... cool
itll extend the life of ur equipment and give u as close to total silence as possible
cool?
May 26, 2010 01:15 am foam or pillows in between your amp and the mic would make an ok barrier for the time being....just try to keep it isolated
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 27, 2010 12:29 pm Ha, a guy over on an old board i frequented used to put his PC in a small refrigerator he'd keep in the studio. Close the door when recording, open it when not tracking.
In the past, I have put my PC outside the room, and had cables running into my desk / work area. In your case, it would be just cables, so no VID / Keyboard / etc. extensions.
Other ideas of mine would induce much hot-ness, so I would not advise.
So, Inroom: old refrigerator, maybe even still running / plugged in ( but it would make noise ). I would think you could get some of those re-freezable packs and put it in on top of the amp, so the cool-ness conveys down to the equipment. But, not something that would melt, or sweat water. I suppose a rag would work to catch the drops. eh, i'm rambling =)
Better: out of room, with cables connected through tiny access hole.
