Why do people keep their expensive amps on the floor?

Yamahaha

Well-Known Member
Serious question. So many pictures of expensive gear being kept on the floor. Since this stuff often costs 5,ooo or more I am assuming cash for a stand isn't the concern. Why are people keeping such pricey stuff on the floor?

Classic gear photo = basement room, window draped in a blanket, stuff on floor. Puzzles me.
 
Perhaps the vibrations from the loudspeakers would rattle the stands causing IM to the output stage due to unforeseen resonance between the heat-sinks and the rack.

If you look close to these pictures, the thumb thick speaker wire rests on special non-resonant pucks that -incidentally - keep the wires from collecting dust from the floor.
 
My guess... Simply 'cause they are a pain in the @$$ to place in and/or on racks and furniture.

The only issue I see other than tripping over them is that it tends to make the input cables longer. Shorter is almost always better.
 
Funny I never see them directly on the floor, always a block of wood or a short stand of some type.

Perhaps the OP can show us all these $5000+ power amps that they always see directly on the floor.

:lurk:
 
There's a ton of photos all over the internet of them on the floor. I have also seen any on very short stands as mentions. Like 2" high. Figured there must be a reason. A dealer told me he wants a straight line in speaker cable from amp out to speaker in. I am not here to judge. That was the only reason I've heard from one party. Maybe there is no reason?
 
There have been a number of reasons already given. Another is that often it's cooler by the floor, unless perhaps you have in-floor heat.

Shorter speaker cables and weight are the two I think of mostly. Often they're monoblocks so that plays into the co-located by speaker, short speaker cable approach.
 
Some may simply find the effect aesthetically pleasing.

Again, the size and weight of some amplifiers limit furniture that can accommodate it. Additionally, amplifier controls being seldom used eliminate the need for convenient placement as well as providing the most stable location for very heavy equipment.

I guess it boils down to floor being the simplest solution - mainly for large monobloc amplifiers - especially when the alternatives can be costly.
 
Shorter speaker cables and weight are the two I think of mostly. Often they're monoblocks so that plays into the co-located by speaker, short speaker cable approach.

This is my excuse. Where my rack is located has always made it necessary to use a minimum of 20' speaker cable. When I was going through my high current/voltage, high wattage SS amplifier and high impedence/low effeciency speaker phase it didn't seem like a problem.
Since that time, I've veered off into the other ditch of small wattage SET and single driver, full-range back-load horn design speakers.
It just seemed to make more since to use amp stands between the speakers and use longer inputs but shorter speaker cables.
But yeah, I wanted it to look cool too:smoke:
 
Here are my reasons (discovered mostly out of necessity) after putting them in racks my first few years in the hobby....

1) Heat dissipation
2) Lower rack height means less acoustic interference for my dipole designs
3) class A SS amps stay on 24/7 and I disconnect audio and speaker cables when done listening
4) easier to roll tubes and change amp bias
5) easier to change cables
6) easier to change amps
7) easier to clean/dust
8) I don't like a huge, cluttered rack and I usually have several amps in use at once

Now, I should mention my listening space is more or less dedicated so I don't have to worry about traffic or the amps being in the way. I probably wouldn't try to do the amps on the floor thing if my listening space were in the living room.
 
Stereo racks are just another weapon used by the man to keep us down!

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^^^

More power to ya, Pee!

I mean, I tried it both ways.....

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....and guess I just kinda grew out of it. :)
 
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I would think that placing them on or near a wooden floor would increase dust flow into the equipment. There are some nooks and crannies that are impossible to clean. Different strokes.... I have mine in cabinets and open them up when in use.
 
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