AVR-525 fan kicks on with adequate ventilation and 8 ohm speakers at low SPL levels. (1 Viewer)

[Robert McClanahan]

The Harmon Kardon has high current amps.I think a fan is justified.The benefit of sound quality out weighs a little fan noise in my opinion.The nice thing about having a fan is that you can place the unit in a closed cabinet and it wont overheat and you wont hear the fan.

 

[BenK]

The benefit of sound quality out weighs a little fan noise in my opinion.

But other receivers have comparable sound quality without the use or annoyance of fans. For me that would be a deal breaker between two comparable receivers.

 

[LanceJ]

For those thinking their receiver doesn't have a fan, better look closer! I've seen them in some Denons (you have to look directly into the rear panel vent); I saw one recently in a small Pioneer Elite receiver on a Tweeter clearance table (looking directly down into the top vents, there was a small fan pointed at the side of the heat sink).

Cast/machined aluminum sinks cost a LOT. Fans on the other hand, are MUCH cheaper.

I'm just glad my Technics SA-DA8's fan is volume-dependent: I have never heard it while operating.

LJ

 

[Ben_Wang]

I've had my 525 for 5 months now and never heard the fan at all until just last weekend when the temperature spiked to 90 degrees. I probably heard the fan turn on a total of 4 times that weekend, and it is louder than I would like. But it was sure a hot day.

 

[Matt Malto]

Well, picked up an AVR525 yesterday and the fan comes on every 30 minutes or so, even when nothing is playing and the unit is on mute. The receiver is in the open with nothing on top of it.

Does anyone know if the AVR325 experiences the same fan issues? Haven't seen many complaints about the 325 having the fan come on.

I love the receiver, but I'm not sure I can deal with the fan. It's really loud.

 

[Adrian_S]

Does anyone know if the AVR325 experiences the same fan issues? Haven't seen many complaints about the 325 having the fan come on.

My AVR-325 fan is very quiet. If you look at my sig, you can see where I have it. There is 1 inch of space on top, 1 inch on the sides and the back is fully exposed. The fan comes on only after heavy use - like my kids party where the kids watched movies all day. At night, when it's very quiet, I can't hear it fan. Maybe the 525 is louder?

 

[Juan M]

With my 525, if the fan has come on, I have never noticed it. I do know that it gets hot, so I removed the glass doors from my TV stand and removed the back, as well, to make connections easier and aid ventilation.

Maybe the fan is drowned out by noise from the hard drive in my TiVo...but even that I only notice when everything is off...

 

[Dale B]

I have the 325 and never heard the fan. Don't know though if it has ever came on. it gets really hot so I just wish the fan would kick in once in a while.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

I have the 325 and I have NEVER heard the fan come on. I have about 2 inches of clearance at the top and very little clearance on the sides. But I do have an external H/K PA-5800 5-channel amp connected to the 325. Do you think that having an external amp relieves some of the thermal stress off the 325 negating the need for the fan to kick on? Any others here using external amplification w/ their 325/525?

 

[Jeff Meininger]

Here's my DIY vent hood that I built to solve the loud-H/K-fan problem. It's basically just a "lid" that goes on top of the receiver with an ultra-quiet 80mm PC case fan running at low RPM to suck out the hot air through the top. Cool air is drawn into the receiver from the sides and bottom. It's MUCH QUIETER than the H/K's internal fan. If the central A/C in the house clicks on, I can't even hear it.

I made it out of 1/4" birch plywood and tried to stain it black using 1 part flat black oil based enamel and 3 parts paint thinner. Didn't come out looking that nice (covered up the wood grain rather than bringing it out), but initial testing seems to indicate that it does the trick and prevents the H/K's internal fan from ever coming on. I'll know for sure this weekend after watching a movie or two.

I put a switch on the front so it can be turned on and off manually, but now I realize that I could have just powered it from the switched outlet on the back of the receiver so it automatically turns on and off with the H/K. Not sure if powering a fan from your receiver is an audiophile thing to do, though.

 

[Yogi]

Are the heatsinks on the 525 the same as that on the 520? I remember seeing the heatsinks on the 520 at a CC and was shocked to see the piss poor aluminum foil bent in the shape of a heatsink attached to the output devices. I remember the same quality heatsinks on my very first Sony DE prologic receiver but that was Sony DE. HK receivers sound fantastic. They are one of the most musical sounding receivers in the market but they have to do something about their build quality. I am assuming all these fan problems are due to inadequate heatsinking. Putting a ratshack fan above the HK chassis that blows air on the heatsinks should take care of that problem without much noise. I prefer blowing air into the chassis from top instead of pulling air from the top as this tends to pull in dust, into the component, from the surface below the receiver.

Best of luck.

 

[Jeff Meininger]

The heatsink in the 525 is very substantial. I think it's cast aluminum. The problem is that the heatsink fins do not reach out into the air around the heatsink, so convection cannot do a very good job of cooling the heatsink. The heatsink is like a square tube, with many fins protruding from the side walls of the tube INTO the tube itself. The H/K's internal fan is at the end of this tube, so air can be sucked straight through the tube and therefore across all of the cooling fins.

 

[MarkO]

Know whats strange... I have a Harman Kardon Signature 2.0 processor and 2.1 5 channel amp. The amp never gets hot. The pre pro on the other hand can get quite hot. especialy when processing 5.1 channels. I would asume 7.1 would generate even more heat.