Quiet Cutter Amp Advice

[PMST]

Hi!

I cut daily on 3 x Vinyl Recorders. I like to keep all my unbalanced cables short, so each VR sits on a tower with rack space below it housing the cutter amp, level meter and hardware audio player.

Currently i use Ecler eLPA 2-350 cutter amps on the lathes, which i have had no issues with, but running 3 lathes means a base level of 50db in my room. The level means that when checking grooves it can be a bit of a pain to monitor as the amp noise can mask things.

I am wondering if anyone has any advice on suitable amps with the lowest possible fan / running noise. I know i could move the amps, but ideally i do not want the VRs unbalanced cabling to run too long......

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

[markrob]

Hi,

Are the fans on a thermostat or do they run all the time? The reason I ask is that perhaps you could mod the amp to add that feature. In fact I wonder if you ever really need a fan given that you probably only ever hit the heads with low average, but high peak power. I have no experience with the VR heads, but I would not expect them be able to handle very much long term power. Do the amps ever get more than luke warm in operation?

Mark

[sameal]

The fans in those amps are probably pc case fans I'm guessing. They make silent running fans as replacements and a handful of them are pretty suprising. If you're really lucky they just plug into the pcb with a connector.

Also if they mount to the case itself you can replace the screws with a type of rubber shock mount to lift the fan off the case and reduce mechanical coupling noise

[boogievan]

I didn't end up needing the fan in my new, arbitrary function generator, and it sure was loud, but I did run it, thereafter, without the lid on the chassis, as recommended by Bob Katz for removing the fan noise from the old Sonic HD-3 breakout box.

As for my cutting amps, the crazy - loud fans (loud as a jump jet) initially inspired me to use an IsoBox, but the IsoBox ended up having an audible fan, too. So, as sameal suggested to you, I opted for an air-bearing, 16-dB computer fan (by Thermaltake - the model I use is discontinued) for each chassis (channel A, channel B, and dual-psu) that are the same size as the original model (by Pabst). However, the original ran on alternating current from the Mains supply, whereas, the quiet computer fans needed their own DC supply - simply added with a wall wart, solder, and heat-shrink tubing, innit?



Note how the bolts for the original motor slide through the corresponding holes in the Thermaltake PC fan, securing it in the same place. I did make sure that the fan blades were moving the air in the same direction as the originals - there are two 'breathing holes' on either side of the fan vent. But doing this, I need to make sure that the fans are on and running before I turn on the cutting amp dual power supply, so that I don't forget, since they're on their own PSU and aren't getting switched on with the amps.

If you find a quiet fan, then all you need is to wear closed-ear headphones so you don't have to hear the full brunt of the hiss from your three chip tubes? (;

- B

[sameal]

You could also chop in a cheap fan controller. I put one in my suction box to control the 4 fans I have cooling the motor and it works pretty good. Each fan now has individual control and the box has an internal temperature readout.