Chrome stripping

[thumb5]

Let's try to keep it in the spirit of fun, innovation, adventure and learning rather than painting a doom & gloom scenario before its finished. No improvement ever came from complacency or not trying something. And holes can be plugged!

I didn't see anyone painting a doom-and-gloom scenario.

However: you are describing some very invasive and irreversible changes, based on your personal opinions about perceived deficiencies in the engineering of the product, on the grounds that you expect them to make significant changes to sound quality.  It seems perfectly reasonable to comment about potential negative side-effects of those changes, and also for that matter to challenge whether these supposed deficiencies are significant or even objectively "real".

Of course I wouldn't presume to discourage you from doing whatever you want to your own equipment, and I'm interested to hear about it, but some balance wouldn't go amiss.  Also I'm keen to hear about how the changes in sound quality will be objectively verified

[Manoet]

Something everyone should understand if they haven't caught on by now is 100% of everything I do is mechanical rather than electronic. I mean sure, I can solder, build interconnects, power cords and passive power conditioners but my abilities are limited to mechanical in nature tho some can have a dramatic effect on electronics. The things I know about fluid and thermal dynamics, convection cooling, air flow, boundary layer disturbances etc all come from previous mechanical pursuits. Tho I'm not completely daft as it relates to electronics I'm no wiz-kid either. S'why I can't recognize a thermal sensor when I see one even tho I own them from infra red/laser to various surface temp measurement probes! But I'm an exceedingly quick study and only have to be shown something once! And ya gotta know I'll be making no effort to rebuild any power supplies or the like in the Devialet... "Man's gotta know his limitations!"

My attempts at improving temperatures and SQ are being approached from a purely mechanical position and relying totally on reducing EMI/RFI via elimination of magnetic plating, fasteners etc while thermal efforts rely on vastly more efficient radiant surface finishes and convection cooling. If you look closely at what I've done and/or am doing there's hardly an electronic tweak in the house! Even binding post replacement was a mechanical tweak.

But I'm curious about the 250. How much cooler does it run? The only numbers I'm trying to better are what the 200 GUI shows, ie:
A 44C
D 45C
S 47C

Above numbers based on DPM/off (I prefer constant high current) post 24 hour continuous run time in a room thats 24-25C ambient in summer. Those numbers are repeatable & constant at volumes from -028 to -32dB

[NickB]

Something everyone should understand if they haven't caught on by now is 100% of everything I do is mechanical rather than electronic. I mean sure, I can solder, build interconnects, power cords and passive power conditioners but my abilities are limited to mechanical in nature tho some can have a dramatic effect on electronics. The things I know about fluid and thermal dynamics, convection cooling, air flow, boundary layer disturbances etc all come from previous mechanical pursuits. Tho I'm not completely daft as it relates to electronics I'm no wiz-kid either. S'why I can't recognize a thermal sensor when I see one! But I'm an exceedingly quick study! And ya gotta know I'll be making no effort to rebuild any power supplies or the like... "Man's gotta know his limitations!"

My attempts at improving temperatures and SQ are purely mechanical and relying on totally on reducing EMI/RFI via elimination of magnetic plating, fasteners etc while thermal efforts rely on vastly more efficient radiant surface finishes and convection cooling. If you look closely at what I'm doing there's hardly an electronic tweak in the house!

But I'm curious about the 250. How much cooler does it run? The only numbers I'm trying to better are what the 200 GUI shows, ie:
A 44C
D 45C
S 47C

Above numbers based on post 24 hour continuous run time in a room thats 28-29C ambient. Those numbers are repeatable & constant at volumes from -028 to -32dB

I am fairly certain that Devialet said that any temperature up to 65C was no problem for continued running of the amp and have also seen on other forums (fori) that more important is to have individual solid state devices in the same unit running at the same temperatures. Not sure apart from the feel good factor of running at lower temps you are going to get, but very happy to wait and see/hear.

[Hexen]

I have my D200 standing on Nordost sort kones 

and my temp never goes over 40c at the moment i have
A 38c
D 37c
S 39c

[Manoet]

Thumb5-

Nor did I but having been around forums awhile I saw the potential for it and wanted to head it off at the pass.

I personally know of nary a single "irreversible" change in the itenerary and of course 'invasive' is part and parcel to the project. When omelette is on the menu going invasive on eggs is required. Neither a right, wrong, good, bad, here nor there thing... just the way it is. I believe I have been exceedingly objective in expectations to a fault. Readily admitting at every opportunity this could be better, about the same or worse as that relates to SQ or temperatures. No guarantees! I can do no better at that. There's little reason to challenge my assertions when I'm continually proffering possible improvement, possible no-change and possible worse conditions on all aspects of this in multiple posts each day. You're simply repeating what I've already said. Seems a bit of "the department of redundancy department" to me. But s'ok and if you forget sometimes I'll try to remind you ;-)

I'm unsure SQ enhancements can be verified in any certified or bona fide way. But then again its not my job to verify the results but moreover to simply pass them along as best I can in an as honest and objective way I know how. I have no reason to embellish as there's nothing to be gained by me for doing that. If it works that is my reward. However it turns out I'll tell you. Verification then becomes your responsibility. You want to hear it? Make the plane reservation! But let me repeat unless someone missed it then you can reaffirm... it could turn out the better, the same or worse than before I started.

[Manoet]

I don't believe any of us seek cooler temps due to safety thresholds but moreover as component life extending measures. Least that's why I prefer lower-to-higher.

[rwjr44]

I missed what A, D and S mean in relation to a unit's temperature. Please dispel my ignorance.

i.e.
A 38c
D 37c
S 39c

[Manoet]

Analog board, Digital board & Supply (printed to left of temps in GUI)

[Rufus McDufus]

Also I find my D200's running temperatures are very dependent on what features are set - for instance I found recently running SAM can make it 8C hotter. DPM is very efficient at thermally managing the unit too. With DPM on I find temperatures typically around 40C max (usually the power supply slightly hotter than the rest) and generally a bit cooler than that. With DPM off the temp will increase to perhaps 50-52C with the A amp being the hotterst component.
I've always felt there was sound quality deterioration as the unit gets hotter (I've never felt it sounded worse cooler, contrary to virtually everyone else's opinion I've read). There does seem to be a point at the upper end of the temp scale where it just seems to dip in sound quality. I've been monitoring this quite closely recently as I've feared there could be a fault with my Devialet when it gets hotter, but so far it's playing ball.

[Jean-Marie]

[...] 

As to EMI escaping; if it opens any of my garage doors unintentionally I'll change their code. If my iPhone rings all the time as it did before with a new unmodified digital amp I'll move it further than 5-6 feet away.

Let's try to keep it in the spirit of fun, innovation, adventure and learning rather than painting a doom & gloom scenario before its finished. No improvement ever came from complacency or not trying something. And holes can be plugged!

It is yet to be proven that EMI would be a problem. I'm not aware of any frequency within the Devialet that is higher than what you will find on any PC, and not all of them are hermetically shielded. 

In case EMI would turn to be a problem, before plugging holes, fine grained grids could also be an option, still being an EMI shield while letting the air flow. 

Jean-Marie