Have you looked at the manual for the Amp at
https://www.sonos.com/support/en-us/sonos-user-guide/index.html#t=sonos-user-guide%2Famp%2Famp.htm
From what I see, they’re designed to be racked, as that document states. I don’t see it mention stacking, but I would think that a stack might block some of the venting/cooling provided by the top of the device.
Seems like 111° is a tad hot based on what I see, I’d be tempted to provide them a little extra space for airflow around them.
In my past, with devices that I felt were running hot, but didn’t want to buy a rack for, I’ve put a couple of small ¼ to ¾ inch square wooden dowels between the two devices, just to provide that extra airflow between them. And frequently, if they were inside a cabinet, I’d add a fan to pull air through the cabinet and exhaust the heat.
I’ve used a 120 mm computer fan for cooling airflow, you can get a three speed fan that is silent on the lowest speed.
Not recommending this one, just an example:
https://smile.amazon.com/Computer-EasyAcc-Cooling-Control-Receiver/dp/B09DS63YQF/ref=sr_1_17
Have you looked at the manual for the Amp at
https://www.sonos.com/support/en-us/sonos-user-guide/index.html#t=sonos-user-guide%2Famp%2Famp.htm
From what I see, they’re designed to be racked, as that document states. I don’t see it mention stacking, but I would think that a stack might block some of the venting/cooling provided by the top of the device.
Seems like 111° is a tad hot based on what I see, I’d be tempted to provide them a little extra space for airflow around them.
In my past, with devices that I felt were running hot, but didn’t want to buy a rack for, I’ve put a couple of small ¼ to ¾ inch square wooden dowels between the two devices, just to provide that extra airflow between them. And frequently, if they were inside a cabinet, I’d add a fan to pull air through the cabinet and exhaust the heat.
Bruce, thanks for the response. I did see that article but did not see what temperature that the Sonos Amps are allowed to get up to or even what is considered normal. In the rack the temperature is around 80F which is well within the Operating Temperature spec.
The article does in a round about way state they can be stacked: “Place four Amps in a 3U rack” The only way to place four amps in a 3U rack is stack them 2x2.
I’ve used a 120 mm computer fan for cooling airflow, you can get a three speed fan that is silent on the lowest speed.
Not recommending this one, just an example:
https://smile.amazon.com/Computer-EasyAcc-Cooling-Control-Receiver/dp/B09DS63YQF/ref=sr_1_17
Are you stacking 2x2 (or even 3x2)? Depending on the placement of the fan it might be moot, there’s zero gap when stacking to get crossflow and the Amps are at the bottom half of the rack where the only location I can place is a fan is at the top.
If you scroll down to the specifications, it lists:
| Operating Temperature | 32°F to 104° F (0° C to 40° C) |
I suspect that if you “rack” them, there’s a space between each item in the rack. Not huge, but they wouldn’t be sitting directly on each other.
If you scroll down to the specifications, it lists:
| Operating Temperature | 32°F to 104° F (0° C to 40° C) |
I suspect that if you “rack” them, there’s a space between each item in the rack. Not huge, but they wouldn’t be sitting directly on each other.
That’s what I was referring to when I mentioned 80F being within spec. Generally Operating Temperature means the ambient temperature the equipment is running in, not necessarily how hot the equipment itself will run.
Also no, in this instance in order to rack within 3U you are laying one on top of another. There is no gap between them. In fact, Middle Atlantic and Penn Elcom both sell specific racks for Sonos Amps (up to 6) where the Amps are just laying on top of each other.
I’ve been running 2 out of 4 of my amps for about an hour now and they’re remaining steady around 115-120F.
Even with the Amps sitting on top of each other there should be (I don’t have a pair to verify that) a bit of space between layers, Moving a bit of cooler air into that space will cool the internal Amp temps.
With the rack you have you might well see an improvement if you just mounted the fan on edge, at the rear of the shelf and blowing on the Amps.
If you have the room under the shelf you might try a duct to bring forced air up through the bottom slots.
Depending on the ambient temp you might even look at adding a bit of ventilation to your whole rack space. If you have the room to have a bit of vertical rise of the warm air passive might even get you enough air flow.
Experiment a bit, I’ve tried a lot of options when faces with limited space and too much heat. Some options worked well, others I thought “brilliant” didn’t do so well.
