JT has written up how he modified his NAD T760 to run cooler. The goal is to extend the life of the components. The first test was to add an additional external fan. This is somewhat effective and because it is running at a lower voltage it isn’t that noisy. Not satisfied JT ventures inside and decides to modify the internal temperature sensor so that the built in fan turns on at a lower temp. He makes sure to slow down the fan speed since it is now on when the amp is playing at lower volumes. The end result is a temperature only one degree above ambient.
a fine hack if you have an overheating amp and have no option. but if you’ve taken the time to buy a half decent amp, i’d suggest doing some research first instead of buying an amp that is notorious for overheating.
i hate to imagine what chucking a 12v fan into the same ac circuit as the amp is doing to the sound quality…
dear nich,
thanks for providing the fresh skepticism, however i’d like to point out:
(1) the vast majority of top-selling home-theatre receivers are based on the same overall system layout (if not chipset), and thus suffer from the same problem. trust me, i’ve owned a few of these quite recently, and it was ‘research’ that indicated heat was becoming a general issue for much of today’s feature packed a/v equipment. it’s also no secret that many savvy a/v enthusiasts have been installing outboard fans in equipment racks for years. if you’d like to preserve capacitor quality in *any* piece of audio equipment, the capacitor manufacturer’s temperature rule noted in the post applies.
(2) the fan was not ‘chucked’ into the amplifier circuitry. as with many other digital components that generate electrical noise throughout the receiver, nad included dedicated active power regulation for supplying a dedicated 12 volt power rail for the internal fan. as such, there was no degradation in the audio signal, even with speakers worth far more than the receiver itself. also, without any signal input and the volume control turned near maximum, the noise level was unchanged from that before the mod.
Hey buddy thanks very much for the info, I also own a NAD T760,, Been looking to put another fan into it for a long time.
I love keeping things cool, my AMP included..
Hi, great article and idea.
By any chance, where you able to get a copy of the 760 circuits?
TY
E.