I’m a bit concerned about the heat generated by my Gryphon Essence amp and the impact on my Reference DAC.
They are on separate shelves, but as we all know, heat rises, and the stacked power supply and DAC seem to get very hot when playing back in Class A.
Do others here place your MSB components on top or each other as we often see, or do you place side by side. Instinct tells me that if possible side by side is better…
Mike
I put the Cascade Powerbase separate from the Digital Director which is stacked on top of the DAC unit. Otherwise, the Powerbase gets quite hot. Even in this current arrangement, the Powerbase and DD can get very warm without air-conditioning.
Hello Hubmann. Nothing… including our DACs should ever be placed above a class A amplifier. I have seen one of our DACs on a separate shelf with 12" space above the amplifier to the next shelf above it. It made the DAC get very hot. While the most of the components in our DACs can tolerate a high degree of heat, no capacitor in any component can tolerate excess heat. The life of a capacitor in any component is reduced exponentially as the heat rises. A capacitor’s life rating and performance quality varies widely depending on the cost of the capacitor. As an example, a capacitor rated at 47,000 uf.(microfarads) will start to lose its specification with excess heat. When I was doing high end audio repairs and recapping many years ago, I would see such capacitors down to 5000 UF and lower. The sound quality of the component slowly deteriorates until some point that you decide that that component doesn’t sound good and maybe has never sounded good because you didn’t realize what was happening inside. MSB uses capacitors that have the highest rating available that are seldom used even in high end Audio. And even in a home environment that might be very high like 90° F , MSB’s capacitors are rated to last 20 or 30 years and probably beyond. I am trying to demonstrate in this long explanation that no component should ever be placed above a class a amplifier regardless of distance to the next shelf.
Capacitor life vs temperature Google search:
I have the Premier DAC on a shelf above the Power Base and Digital Director. I have the power base on top of the DD to make it easier to get to the power on/button, and theoretically have the hotter component on top. I also agree with having the very hot Class A Amp in a separate stack, with nothing above it.
One often sees these amps on amp stands, either in front of the other rack, or near to the speakers.
Everythink is being moved today.
Thanks
Mike
The Cascade’s three chassis are designed with shielding on the top side of the power supply so the DAC can be on top of the power supply. The Director should be on the very top.
Since the Cascade’s special sheilding system for statcking is a new developement, all of our previous DAC’s including the Premier DAC should try to put the DAC and power supply on separate shelves for best performance. Heat is not a consideration except for the previous comments about placing ANY components above an amplifier.
DAC’s and power supplies should also stay away from any power conditioners. We just had a customer with a new DAC questioning the break in time of the DAC. Which made me suspicious that there was something not right in his system. He had a power conditioner in the rack with the equipment. I asked him to move the power conditioner to the floor behind the rack. He said immediately upon pushing play he was amazed at the difference and was now hearing what he expected.
Hello Luca,
The picture is much too dark to see?
Looks like an S202 underneath. Looks perfect, especially since the top shelf deflects all the heat away from the DAC with its solid design.
I just removed the Reference power supply from its position on the shelf above the Gryphon amp and all is good (warm, but not hot).
No more stacking for me.
