Hello! I would appreciate some guidance regarding fan noise in my Pioneer VSX-918V A/V receiver. I would like to know if this sort of thing bothers other members, but especially I would like some tips on how to discover if an A/V receiver has a noisy fan before I buy a replacement!
My receiver is located on a desk directly behind an electronic keyboard (a Korg M50-61 for those who care). When I play loud passages on the keyboard a fan inside the receiver comes on and continues to run for about five seconds after the loud passage ceases. During soft passages following loud passages I can hear noise from the fan. It's really distracting. I want to know how to avoid this when I purchase a new receiver.
The receiver is sitting on top of a CD player (a Sony CDP-790) that has no vents in the case at all. It is rarely used and does not get warm when it is used. There is nothing on top of the Pioneer receiver. It's completely clear.
Apparently the fan in the receiver is controlled by a circuit that detects signal amplitude rather than power amplifier heat sink temperature. I noticed that the fan would come on right after the receiver was turned on when I played a loud passage on the keyboard. I unplugged the fan from its circuit board connector inside the unit to see what would happen. As soon as I hit a loud passage on the keyboard the received went into reset. That's how I figured the unit was detecting signal strength rather than heat. Also the fan's presence is obviously detected.
I ran this all by Pioneer tech support and received a nonsensical, useless answer. The tech must have visually scanned my message, found a keyword, looked it up and gave me a non-applicable standard blurb.
I bought an 80MM super quiet fan (same dimensions as the installed fan) to see how the unit would behave before even figuring out how I would replace the one in the receiver. Alas, the fan I bought has a 3-position connector while the one in the receiver has four. At that point I buttoned the receiver up and tried to live with the cycling fan noise.
I can't! It's driving me nuts. Any suggestions on how to avoid this kind of hardware behavior when purchasing a new A/V receiver? I haven't seen it evaluated in hardware reviews. For all the emphasis I see regarding the noise of fans in HTPCs I would think an manufacturer of Home Theater equipment would make this a significant priority. What good is a THD of 0.06% when soft passages of music are made unpleasant by a noisy fan in the A/V receiver? Thanks - Dave
