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The thread title sums it up. I love this new HT receiver/speakers in almost all regards but this one.

I do have a tendency to crank this thing up and lately I have found the limit on several occasions. It happened first when I was enjoying some of my new SACDs. Halfway through the second disk the whole system went completely silent without any warning, the display briefly said "Protection", then it went blank as well. The top on the unit was "egg-frying" hot. I let it cool about 1/2 hour, started cranking again, and within 2 mins. it happened again. After another 1/2 hour cool down I was running again, but at about 10 dB lower (per the inconsequential, relative read-out) than before. These are not ear-ringing levels either, like the front 10 rows at a concert. But they are considerably higher than I would have them with other folks in the room (certainly couldn't carry on a conversation!)

The other evening the thing went into protection again for the first time while I was watching a movie, again at a level I only use when I'm by myself. I believe the instantaneous power demand can be higher for movies in general, but the average is probably lower. I guess the average this time was also too high! In fairness, our weather has taken a turn for the 90s, so the ambient might have been as much as 10 deg. higher than in recent weeks since I got the system running in early May. I don't have air conditioning.

I won't absolutely guarantee it, but I can't believe this is related to any issues with the speakers or wiring since everything sounds great up to the apparent thermal shutdown point. The receiver is only powering 5 speakers. There is only a preamp out for the (self-powered) sub and I don't have any surround backs connected at this time. The Paradigms are nominally 8 ohms, and the receiver is set to match. I have them set for "small", channeling more LFE to the sub. I have the front crossover freqs. set at 80Hz, IIRC.

The receiver is on the top shelf of an open equipment rack and essentially in free air. There is almost nothing above it (my old R-R recorder is on top of it, but only over the front 1/3 of the receiver, and there is airflow between) and there is nothing below it that produces heat.

The evening the unit shut down playing a movie I placed a small 2-speed fan on the top of the receiver with the air blowing down into the receiver to cool it quicker following the shutdown, then I left it running on the lower speed for the duration of the movie. This seemed to give me a cushion - I got through the rest of that movie at only about 5dB lower indicated volume without further issue. Frequent "hand checks" on the top of the receiver proved it was running a good bit cooler, but that was not consistent over the whole top surface.

The next morning, while the ambient was still relatively cool I was playing a CD again, just started from a "cold start", and I had not turned the fan on yet. I was "up there" in volume again, maybe 5dB lower, and within the first song the unit cut out again!

Any suggestions? (Other than "turn it down"...that's no fun, and the darn thing sounds great at those levels!)

I was thinking of getting a pair of 4", 65 cfm, 120vac box fans to position side-by-side on the top on the receiver with the airflow being sucked into the botton and out through the top (reverse of what I have now with that single fan). I want at least 2 fans (there's probably room for 3) in order to spread the cooling over a wider area, over those "hot spots" I detected. For now I'll just run the fans with a switch. Eventually I'll come up with some kind of thermostat instead, perhaps multi-stage them at that time.

Is there anything else out there already that does the same kind of thing? I know about laptop coolers, but I don't think those would be anywhere near enough airflow for this situation, and most of the ones I know about need a USB port for their 5vdc power requirement, something the Sony does not have.

TIA for any advice, and BRgds...