Then there's the old Musical Fidelity A1 which reputedly got hot enough to soften its buttons and knobs if operated in a warm environment, or without enough free space above it. It also used its case as a heatsink. I don't think they'd be allowed to sell something that got that hot these days.
The old Musical Fidelity A1 operated mostly in Class A mode at around 65°C (sometimes even higher) in a virtually unventilated enclosure. This means that all internal components were constantly running at a minimum of 70°C.
Mine get quite hot running kef r3 as external amp from denon receiver, hot as keeping your hand on top hurt after a while, i got an ac infinity fan and problem solved.
I bought one of those guns to measure temperature, I had them out in the open and they read 39-40°,then I moved them into an enclosed space, still around 40° - not much change with louder or more dynamic music really - always between those ranges. I would recommend separate power supplies always. Ive stopped worrying now and just enjoy the music - they are silly good for the price!
As I said - the only benefit is size. There is no audio quality benefit.
I have these deployed for my local Church. They run in a "cabinet" where they sit on a shelf, the cabinet is not locked but it isn't specifically ventilated either and sits in a corner. There have not been any issues with them even during concerts and such, while driving RP-8060FA II speakers at over 60% volume.
I bought three at the kickstarter drop 18 months ago. 2 of the three have failed. On the up side, Fosi quickly and at no charge replaced them. All 3 are now working fine. They sound very good even when not taking price into consideration. At the price point they are incredible. Still, 2/3 failure rate is exceptionally bad.
What were you driving with them to make them fail? I also wonder if it was an issue with the early batch as you said that you got it off of Kickstarter.
Very likely I would say. I am convinced most kickstarter deliveries will come from the first or even pre-production batches. There can be all sorts of manufacturing process issues with those.
There has been a complete change of mindset since the 1950s. From the beginning of a real interest in quality sound reproduction around that time people bought equipment that they intended to keep for a long time. From the 1970s onwards developed a mindset to constantly change and that included just about everything including hi-fi. White papers in the 50s and 60s stated clearly that if temps for components dropped dramatically then life expectancy for components especially caps would increase 2 or 3 times or more. The obsession with manufacturers to create products in as small a space as possible was the name of the game. I reckon that the majority of people on this forum change products quite quickly so component life is irrelevant. Lots of modders pay good money for Z foil resistors (I am one of them) because they will stay within their stated parameters almost indefinitely and are totally transparent. They will ruthlessly expose any distortion that precedes them. There is no secret it's simply their construction is so different to 'standard' resistors.
I 3d printed risers stands for mine, added heat sinks and had a usb 80mm rolling fan on them. When I took them apart to replace the boards fosi sent me the thermal paste seemed correctly applied although it was the cheap kind. I used better thermal paste when I reassembled them. I know they have redesigned the boards as my 2nd replacement had different lower gain level settings for the rca side. I think there is a good chance the 1st ones were rushed to market and they have since worked out some bugs.
I used 4v mindsp flex balanced as my pre/dsp. My speakers were small JBL that are easy to drive. I dont think wother was a factor in the failure
Exactly! I 3d printed risers stand for better cooling, had a 80mm cooling fan on them, replaced the cheap thermal paste with good stuff and added a heat sink. Way overkill, but they did not get hot. I dont think my failures were caused by heat.
So then it was likely some design flaw in the first batch. I have nothing at all on either set of the ones that I deployed, not in my house and not at the church and neither has an issue in almost a year now of very regular use.
Or yours happen to have Divine Protection.
LOL Maybe the ones in the Church but not my ones at home.
