MC750 music server - great but with 1 flaw

[mac11]

First, the 'pluses':
Sound quality is superb, with not much difference from even the MCD-1000.
I can control it from my laptop via Apple airport express. Most convenient CD to hard disk process ever.

But, what's happening with the FAN NOISE?

The fan kicks up every hour or so (or half hour?), and after a couple of months of use, I find it is just unbearable. Dare I compare it to the Dell experience ?! (My Dell PC also had a crazy fan)

The distributor has explained that the fan is needed for its instant-on feature,
but when I am playing a quiet music on it or from other sources, the fan starts up. Even when it's on standby (off) ! In the dead of the night, it feels like a giant sucking sound. When I have the TV on low volume, I can't hear it once the MC750 fan kicks in. Only when I pull the power plug, it gets quiet. So, the machine is now in my stack, unplugged. This just cannot be normal for the great Mc ? :sigh:

------------
Oslo Terry

 

[Victor]

I got a long digital interconnect (to hook my MS750 to my MDA1000) and took my MS750 out of the listening room (it is now around the corner in my bedroom). The only down side is I need my laptop to control my MS750. Now I'm completely happy with my MS750.

Victor

 

[mac11]

Victor, it sounds like a good solution.

I only had Mc machines for a few months, and cannot bare putting them away from the display area. The visual presentation is too strong with Mc's and I will miss them too much... Have you attempted to cover up the fan noise?

------------
Oslo Terry

 

[Brice]

Yep, it does happen also with my MS300, luckily it's in a closet with all my other McIntosh gears, so when I got annoyed, I close the door...

Thinking of disconnecting the fan? I do... :scratch2:

 

[mac11]

Yep, it does happen also with my MS300, luckily it's in a closet with all my other McIntosh gears, so when I got annoyed, I close the door...

Thinking of disconnecting the fan? I do... :scratch2:

Hey.. didn't think of that option !



------------
Oslo Terry

 

[Jericho]

Yep, it does happen also with my MS300, luckily it's in a closet with all my other McIntosh gears, so when I got annoyed, I close the door...

Thinking of disconnecting the fan? I do... :scratch2:

Don't disconnect the fan, it's going to harm your hard disk and other components in the unit, it's like a computer without a fan, it's becoming hot, but the computer will automaticly shut down, your MS300/750 will not:nono:

 

[Victor]

Have you attempted to cover up the fan noise

I put about 3 square feet of Dynamat in my MS750. It did help reduce the noise a little but I still decided to put the MS750 in a diffrent room than where I listen to it.

I would not disconnect the fan. Keep in mind the MS750 is basically a PC and without a fan I don't think it will last long.

Victor

 

[rlrct]

Our (400 GB, Escient-brand version of the) music server is sitting right out in our family room. The fan noise was very annoying. I power off the unit when it's not being used. The key point there is to make sure that the unit has "gone to sleep" before powering it down.

 

[mac11]

Seems everybody had to face the fan noise issue.
That at least convinces me it's part of the MS750 package.
Have to try out all your solutions. Think will do foll:

1. Power down after the unit has "gone to sleep"(?). This way, can keep
the unit and its handsome faceplate in my vertical rack.

2. Isolate the fan noise by putting up some panels around the unit. Will have
to see if the existing racking system allows such option.

I still don't u'stand why the MS750 needs so much cooling. After all, there are many notebook designs without a fan. Nothing in the MS750 can be runing hotter than a notebook CPU ?

Victor, how are you placing the Dynamat on your MS750?
------------
Oslo Terry

 

[Victor]

I still don't u'stand why the MS750 needs so much cooling. After all, there are many notebook designs without a fan. Nothing in the MS750 can be runing hotter than a notebook CPU ?

The MS750 hard drive is spinning anytime the unit is plugged in, this is what makes the majority of the heat in the MS750.

Victor, how are you placing the Dynamat on your MS750?

I took off the top and bottom covers and put Dynamat on all the flat surfaces inside the MS750 I could get to that would not affect cooling.

Victor

 

[mac11]

The MS750 hard drive is spinning anytime the unit is plugged in, this is what makes the majority of the heat in the MS750.


I took off the top and bottom covers and put Dynamat on all the flat surfaces inside the MS750 I could get to that would not affect cooling.

Victor

.. Sounds extreme. Are you still under warranty as such?
Has the Dynamat treatment quieted down the machine a bit?

As for the hard disk, why would it need to spin even in standby?
Much more complex computers' hard disks stop spinning even under 'sleep' mode. I think Mc should issue new firmware to kill the HDD at least when the machine is turned off (in standby).

-----------
Oslo Terry

 

[Brice]

Nope, when my unit is in standby mode, the HD is still spinning and the fan kicks in some time to time.

But I agree, the firmware should put the whole thing in standby mode like laptops do. Thanks for youe advice and I know it would be bad to disconnect the fan but it's annoying to switch the unit on and off all the time.

I want to buy a second unit for my bedroom and still debating...:scratch2:

 

[howiebrou]

Seems like a healthy dose of heatsinking is called for....

The latest HTPCs with several TB of storage have very extensive heatsinking and have managed to ditch the fans altogether :yes:

howie

 

[mac11]

Seems like a healthy dose of heatsinking is called for....

The latest HTPCs with several TB of storage have very extensive heatsinking and have managed to ditch the fans altogether :yes:

howie

+1

Totally agree. Plenty of hard-disk spinning, cpu-running fanless computers out there. Such an audiophile machine as MS750 should be more carefully designed to shield the listener from the fan noise.

 

[masterlu]

Off the record of course, you can always disconnect the fan & direct an extended AC vent to cool the unit.

 

[ntang]

I am a Mac fan but STILL..I am totally amazed that you guys will put up with such fault (defect) for a piece of equipment costing as much as the MS750

Sorry, but there must be a limit!

 

[Drag0nFly]

Yes, there is definitely something McIntosh could have done better on this one; case-design/ventilation, choice of HDD (is it using 2.5" or 3.5" drives?) -- even large-capacity flash-based storage (maybe not as much as 750GiB though) would be possible at that price point.

After all, they did manage to get their MC501s & MC402s running without generating much heat; according to users on this board.
(but I guess music servers are still kind of a new market for them)

 

[LIONKING]

I am a Mac fan but STILL..I am totally amazed that you guys will put up with such fault (defect) for a piece of equipment costing as much as the MS750

Sorry, but there must be a limit!

They are true believers --- it would make more sense for Mcintosh to revamp the MDA1000 to allow RJ45 connection to your network where you could store the PC and as much disk as you need in a closet. Of course a new display and some software would be needed but given the progression of disk technology having the disk under cover is a bit silly.

 

[cornfeded]

They are true believers --- it would make more sense for Mcintosh to revamp the MDA1000 to allow RJ45 connection to your network where you could store the PC and as much disk as you need in a closet. Of course a new display and some software would be needed but given the progression of disk technology having the disk under cover is a bit silly.

The MS750 is a gorgeous piece of work, but no need to buy it if you are just going to put it in the closet. Buy an Apple Mac instead - more flexibility and capability in every way at less cost.

 

[mrz80]

My vote would be to revamp the thing so that it booted off a flash card, then had the option of either powering up and using the internal HD, or of NFS- or SMB-mounting a server elsewhere on the network to store the program material.