ARC VT-200 Cooling Fan Noisy, nit picking?

I saw a mod a while back for fans that we're much quieter. I wish I could remember where I read it. I believe it used some high quality computer fans but, I'm not certain. Do some googling and you may find it. I have a VT-200 and have mine closer than you, in the medium setting and have not found it too distracting. It may be that your fan has gone bad and a new unit from ARC may fix it but, that's just a guess. You might even wish to call Steve Huntley at GNSC. He's worked on these and may have a suggestion.

All the best,

Tim

I had the same issue with a VT 100 MKIII and agree with Rodman as well. I believe the proximity of the fan to the bottom cover was the main problem as the air made noise as it passed through the slots in the cover. You could; detach the fan from the bottom and raise it up a bit, remove the bottom completely and place the fan on the shelf the amp is sitting on, or what I did was to removed the top and bottom covers and disconnected the fan completely. Added bonuses - prevents fan vibrations from affecting the amp and the amp warms up faster. I use a separate fan at the top of the case to extract heat during those long listening sessions - the noise is practically nil. Extracting air is more effective for cooling than blowing air into the case.

You are not alone regarding these fan noise issues, see below other members thoughts;

Mantis007 posted 11-18-08
I ordered some silent fans(7db) from overseas - I found them in the threat you told me about. I have the original fans disconnected and the covers off while I wait for the new fans.

Downunder posted 11-08-08
I had a listen to the ref 210's for a few minutes and even at low volumes in a cold room the fans were churning away LOUDLY.
I think the 210's sounded quite good, but I could not get my head around why the fans were so loud, especially since the amps did not seem hot and volume was low. I can only imagine how loud the fan would be at high volumes.

Is this normal for this amplifier??

Does cutting the fans out make reliability an issue??

Jc4659 you will find more too.

Elberoth2 posted info on how he put in XThermal (or is it Thermal?) BTF80Pro fans in a Ref 110 and liked the result. I did some searches on XThermal and found some references to the fans. They do not appear to be distriputed in the US. Anyone know if they are carried by someone in the US? Google search did not turn up much for me, plus I am looking for some other stuff.

Terry

Thanks everyone. I searched the forums and see that I am not alone on this issue. I will contact steve at gnsc and see what he has to say about it, I doubt ARC will offer anything better, and the last option which I would consider is removing the top cover and disconnecting the fan altogether. I don't have any little ones running around anymore who might be tempted to poke around inside.