Peavey MiniMax fan

[Hellzero]

11 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Exactly. The best way to make a fan quiet is to make it bigger and slower. 

And with better bearings when there are some, better suspension, better material for the blades, better designed blades, better overall alignment, softer material for the housing, ... wait a minute that's a Noctua fan. 🫣😉

[Stub Mandrel]

59 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

And with better bearings when there are some, better suspension, better material for the blades, better designed blades, better overall alignment, softer material for the housing, ... wait a minute that's a Noctua fan. 🫣😉

 

There are two sources of noise, mechanical and airflow.

Obviously, Noctua put a lot of effort into addressing both and are a relatively affordable upgrade (if you avoid the very top of the range). But I've rarely encountered fans with a lot of mechanical noise compared to airflow noise, at least in the last 10-15 years, in the 90/00s it wasn't uncommon to encounter all sorts of rattly or rumbly fans). The main shortfall with cheap fans is poor lubrication of the sleeve bearings. Pealing back the sticker and applying a tiny amount of light mineral oil will silence many noisy sleeve bearing fans for years.

 

As for airflow, you can use better aerodynamic designs, but in small amps where size is a limiting factor, fans have to be small. My TE Elf is a good example, its tiny fan is intrusive if you run it in a 'bedroom' context as it runs flat out and isn't helped by the small vent holes. For slightly larger amps you can fit a bigger fan and use PWM or similar to reduce fan speed and achieve much less airflow noise.

The airflow through the amp itself is another issue, and you need a certain volume of air to achieve cooling. Something like the Orange Terror has a 75mm fan and a 'showbox' design with a lot of ventilation slots, which is probably why it is relatively quiet.

 

My computer has two 125mm fans, they run at modest speed 99% of the time and the airflow and heatsinking are well designed, so they are barely audible, even with the side panel off.

 

 

[Hellzero]

I totally agree with you @Stub Mandrel.