Anyone tried running PS Audio P-300 with no fan ?

I got this answer from PS Audio:

"The fan can be unplugged if you are not running the unit too hard. Loads under 100 watts should be fine without the fan."

So I disconnected the fan, but I also decided to try an
ultra quiet (only 11dB!) Papst cooler. When I replace this el-cheapo cooler I will let you know about the resoults.

Hasn't Paul McGowan heard of heatsinks and/or heatpipes? I would never buy an audio item with a fan - just seems to me like there are better ways to achieve the required cooling. He must be hitting a price/size point in order to use a compromise such as a fan in his design.

Yeah, that is strange - the whole P-300 housing is made of aluminium anyway and it is a one, big heatsink, so enlarging those heatsink "wings" should be easy and cheap.

As I suggested before: go ahead!
It's OK that a unit like a PowerPlant is running hot! Every Class A amp does, let alone tube gear. So I never understood the introduction of the fan at all, because if you intend to run high loads where cooling down might be a necessity, there is always the 500, the 600 and the 1000 PowerPlant. And sure Paul knows what he is doing which you can see taking a closer look to the housing which certainly IS a heatsink!

I got an aftermarked cooler. Not a Papst, which happend to backordered, but some chineese stuff. I took the most quiet I could find - 19dB. It costed 10$ in a nearby computer shop. I also got a manual speed controller, which added 5$ to the bill.

With the speed set to max, the cooler as efective as a PS Audio unit - at least judging from the temp of the housing. Plus, as expected - it is 10x more quiet !

I can stil hear it from my listening possition - but now barely. And when I want it to be DEAD quiet - I set the controller to min speed. At min speed, you can't even hear it at late night listening, with everything switched off in the house !

I estimate, that the air output at min is about 50% of the output you get when you set the controller to the max. The unit gets considerably hotter - but not excessivly so.

And since the the regulator came with 0,5m of cable - I placed it OUTSIDE the P-300 and can controll the fan on the fly.

Now I turn it down every time I listen to some music, and turn it up when I don't.

I couldn't be happier.