[tanfenton]

The quartet of canted-back 7868s in my Sherwood radiate a tremendous amount of heat. I've mused to others outside the forums before that I could cook breakfast over some of the amps I use, and that has never been more apparent. While this amp could quite happily continue its service as a miniature space heater (not to mention a damn fine integrated!), I'd like to coax more life out of the yummy Conn organ tubes I'm using than these sustained temperatures will permit. So I'm wondering whether any of you use (even for self-cooling) a small free-standing fan which moves a reasonable amount of air quietly--quietly enough for me not to notice it with music playing through speakers at sane levels. Any ideas?

NGF

 

[null]

what about watercooling? or heatsinks with fans on them?

 

[tanfenton]

I don't think you understand the nature of a tube amp

. I wish that were something I could do, though.

NGF

 

[Howie]

If you already have the amps in a well ventilated place then the tubes should hold. The thing with your idea of adding a fan besides the fan noise and the object itself is the fact it might draw from the same power source as at least one of your equipment. Sorry if this doesn't help you but I would just stop worrying about tube life (unless the heat dramatically shortens the lifespan) and enjoy the music.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I've read that the tubes have to get to a certain temp to do their "thing" anyway, If you're cooling them down the amp may have to work harder to maintain that temperature. Nonetheless, there are tube cooling sleeves at Partsconnexion and you could use a couple of Papst 120mm cooling fans in a push pull config.