First of all, I'd like to thank everyone here at the forum for their valuable insight. It is through these forums that I was able to make up my mind to purchase a Marantz 5400 receiver. Unfortunately, we in India do not have the luxury of demoing products at our homes before purchasing it.
My question is this: the Marantz 5400 (90W x 6) uses a separate amplifier for each of the 6.1 channels. And even at low volumes the unit gets very, very hot. And after a while I was able to scald myself by touching it with my hand for about 3 to seconds. Is this a normal phenomenon? And can this cause internal problems for the receiver?
If so, this receiver was bought for my parents who are over 60 and I want to minimize the number of hazards in the house. With this Marantz 5400 receiver, I will always have an aching fear in the back of my mind about my folks touching it at the wrong time. It's not that they will suffer from 2nd degree burns but at the same time, the heat issues will always play games with my mind.
Am I just being paranoid?
Furthermore, does any one here have ideas on how to cool high power receivers? Maybe a fan/heatsink combo similar to the way computer 3D accelerators do?
I live in Australia in an area where in summer high temperatures and humidity is common. About a year ago, I purchased a Marantz Sr-7300 and found also that it ran very hot.
These units must have plenty of space around them and I use a small fan that can be regulated from 2 to 12 volts sitting on top of the unit over the vents where one side of the unit is seperated from the other by the heat sinks.
I have the fan drawing the air upwards from inside the unit and generally have the regulator set at 4 volts. This works very well and after a few house use the unit only gets luke warm. Any electrical shop should help with the fan. Mine is no wider than 4 ins across and about 3/4 in wide.
The 5400 is a very good receiver and the small fan should do the job for you. Do not keep running the unit at high temps or you might have problems. If it is scalding then it is far too hot.
I think the 1st batch of x400 receivers may have heat issues. I tried researching on it but seems like some x400 owners have it but some don't. It could be due to QC or different firmware or PCB rev. I have no idea.
I have one of the last batches of 7300ose and even if I play the unit all day, it would only get barely warm.
My brother bought a 5400 earlier this year, and his unit would get fairly hot to the touch very quickly, even at average volume. And the unit is placed in the open on top of a stereo rack!
There is no smell & the unit does not go into protected mode, so he just continued to use it.
The DC fan mentioned above should work for you. Good luck!
Initially I had the same heat issue with my 4300 but with about a months use its run only warm ever since. I think as long as you give the receiver plenty of room to breathe, especially on top, you won't have any problems but if you are still concerned I would invest in the fan mentioned previously.
Hi again and thanks to everyone for their replies. As it turns out, I took the receiver back to the dealer and in his opinion, the unit was running way too hot and got it exchanged for a Marantz SR6400 receiver. Things are running much cooler now and I'm delighted with the new product I've received..
