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Lexicon RV-8 query followup-fan noise?

Ok. This was a dud when i bought it secondhand, So ive never actually heard it. Eventually had to get a new power supply from lexicon, at ridiculous cost. (Approx USD700, shipped to NZ, of which person who sold amp to me contributed half). Amp is now up and running. But fan noise from the power supply seems LOUD to me, and is constant, even staying on for ages after you power the unit down. Can anyone who has owned one of these amps tell me-Is this fan noise normal, and im being over sensitive?!

Between this, and the fan on my linn sizmik subwoofer, and in my oppo bdp 95, im going nuts. Whose bright idea was to use fans to cool hifi and HT gear, anyway?! Is it just me? But meeb theres something wrong with lexicon? At least the linn and oppo fans are only on intermittently.....
yourmomm
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Has anyone tried asking Lexicon? It looks like its a common problem. Maybe they have a fix.
yourmomm OP
12 posts
 
Thanks all. Am waiting for response from Lexicon. Will post for information. But since i bought this power supply with fan attached from Lexicon only one week ago ($800 NZ, including shipping and GST!) i am guessing they have no recent fix...i read the service manual, which suggests the fans should speed up and slow down according to power amp demands (which makes sense), but my power supply fan seems to only have one speed: noisy, whether power amp is being used or not (or even when unit is on standby)...ive never heard any of the other three internal cooling fans, which suggests to me the power supply is either faulty, or very poorly designed, despite its massive cost...any more owners' views?

Not to hijack my own thread, but im also interested to hear how many owners had power supplies that blew, and the circumstances that led to this fault (eg period of disuse). Am thinking i might have to make a separate soft start unit, which seems ridiculous for a power supply this expensive....

Thanks
thaluza's avatar
thaluza
285 posts
 
I owned the RV-8 and had the same experience as Csmgolf. The constant fan noise was unacceptable.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Have a look at this web site.

http://www.newegg.com/Fans-PC-Cooling/Category/ID-11

There has to be something that will fit where your old fan is. If you're willing to run a small cable outside your Lexicon, you can control and power the fan externally.

I looked at some pictures of your RV-8 on the web and it appears to have vents on the top and sides. Another solution may to be install an external PC fan over the vents, if you don't want to go internal for whatever reason. Either way should work fine.
yourmomm OP
12 posts
 
Yep i was thinking similar....there are some very quiet 80mm 12v fans, so i could just put an inline 24v-12v regulator in, and fit one of these. I see most of them have a third cable (to a resistor?) which i assume is the control? i looked at external pc fan controllers, but these seem to need their own power source? i guess i could run another 12v circuit in parallel from the inlune regulator, but this seems a mission. Anyone know of an external fan controller which works passively? Or is there an easier way to do this that im missing?
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