Used the SA400 for some days as a subwoofer amp with a pair of 4 ohms bass speakers. The sound was outstanding but nevertheless I've sent the amp back. Why? SMSL doesn't mention anywhere that the amp has got a fan in the bottom side of its enclosure :-( But ok, I knew this from several tests. There is said the fan starts running at 65 degrees and stops below 60 degrees. Thought this would be acceptable (and had assumed that the amp never would ge...
Used the SA400 for some days as a subwoofer amp with a pair of 4 ohms bass speakers. The sound was outstanding but nevertheless I've sent the amp back. Why? SMSL doesn't mention anywhere that the amp has got a fan in the bottom side of its enclosure :-( But ok, I knew this from several tests. There is said the fan starts running at 65 degrees and stops below 60 degrees. Thought this would be acceptable (and had assumed that the amp never would get so hot in my application), so I bought the SA400. But in my device, the fan already starts after a few minutes at 40 degrees, when the enclosure still feels cool, and runs all the time til I switch off the amp. It's even running without any tone signal when there is nothing to amplify. The device stood freely in an open rack with much space around. The fan causes a permanent swoosh that is noticeable on my listening position. My query to SMSL, if this is normal or if my device could be faulty, stayed unanswered so far. But actually I already made my decision: An amp with a fan like this is no solution for me. So unfortunately I'm sending it back. Three stars for design, manufacturing quality and professional, kind service by Soundimports.
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