Korg Forums

LivePsy · Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 355

As a Kronos 61 mk1 owner for several years, the fan noise and the heat on the front panel have subtly bothered me and I felt apprehensive that it was reliable. If you're like me my heart sank a little bit when I first turned it on at home and the fan started up. The OS 3 feature of fan control (even though it isn't the full functionality with the old mk1 board) gives me complete confidence to rely on the Kronos. I now feel how I should have felt when I first turned it on years ago.

I have used the Kronos for quiet level piano and organ playing in the last month and turned the fan off and monitored the temperature. I now know how hot it gets. So now I can relax and listen to the sound! Kronos now feels like an instrument.

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bluelava · Joined: 29 Dec 2012 Posts: 6 Location: Munich

I am curious, at which temperature does your K61 mk1 settle if you leave it switched on for, let's say, 2-3 hours? Mine sometimes scratches the 80 degree celsius, even with the fan turned on. Reading in another thread, that the bigger models settle around 60-65 (of course they contain more air to be pushed around), for me this somehow seems to be too high...

drdave2002 · Junior Member Joined: 26 Sep 2007 Posts: 96

Just as an FYI....

I have OS 3.0.2 installed and I have noticed "fan overheating" flashing at the top of my screen after a couple of hours of solid playing, I have noticed a couple of things that may help.

I have noticed when the SSD's (yes I have two) are being used (samples streaming etc) it does seem to make a difference with the temp avg 82 degrees, i.e. it gets hotter quicker than when I play some of the non sample based sounds. (I have wondered if replacing them with one newer and bigger drive may make an improvement)...so any advice warmly received ....yes I see the irony in that comment!

I may be getting this completely wrong but I do notice when the Fan overheating warning comes on I seem to see some weird notes hanging, I actually thought it may be the keybed and was going to video this, but then i thought who cares, just get on with it.

I could leave the system on longer but I get a bit nervy and switch it off.
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Korg Kronos 61, M3-73, Karma (all-time classic), X5, Wavestate, Roland Juno Gi, JV, D110, Arturia Microfreak, Modal Skulpt, IK Uno. Nanopad2, M-Audio Venom, Deepmind 12D, Crave, TB3, Maschine Mk3, Moog Werkstat and a few other bits

Bachus · Platinum Member Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 3127

I hope the new Kronos has more efficient hardware, it should have, a lot has changed concerning the efficiency of processors and SSD´s..

Newer moddels have better performance and generate way less heat..

LivePsy · Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 355

LivePsy · Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 355

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3777

I changed the fan to a much quieter version.

The keyboard housing never gets much warmer than about 30 degrees C.

Here's a thermal infra red image of the board after several hours of being powered up and played.

https://app.box.com/s/n8vgsb0mg3vab757ek0nsc5iosa5ryaa

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DJ Kronos · Junior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2015 Posts: 56

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3777

[quote="DJ Kronos"][quote="voip"]I changed the fan to a much quieter version.

The keyboard housing never gets much warmer than about 30 degrees C.

Here's a thermal infra red image of the board after several hours of being powered up and played.

https://app.box.com/s/n8vgsb0mg3vab757ek0nsc5iosa5ryaa

..[/quote]

It's not surprising that the hottest area is near the transformer & PS.

I have an X88 and while I don't have an exact reading, my fingers tell me that the surface seems to remain cool (about the same as yours.)

My internal temperature is usually around 60°-65°C with a room temperature of 25°C, but that's with the fan on full as it used to be before the V3.0.2 upgrade. I'm too chicken to turn the fan down. I'm also waiting to see what happens when the summer comes and it's 30°C or more in the house.

drdave2002 and LivePsy, you've both said that your boards get as hot as 80° to 82° C. Have you let them run at those temperatures for a long time? Do you know what the temperature was when you got the warning message? It would be great to know what the "safe" limit is.[/quote]

The fan was fitted some time ago and I'm pretty sure the airflow direction is from right to left making the keys on the left side of the board warm from the warm air plume coming out, whilst the keys to the right hand side are cool because that's where room air is being drawn in. Most of the heat comes from the motherboard. The CPU heatsink stays relatively cool, whilst there's a chip nearby (graphics possibly?) that does get rather warm (guessing ~70 degC) and doesn't have a heatsink, although I think it should. The SSD barely gets warm.

DJ Kronos · Junior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2015 Posts: 56

LivePsy · Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 355

SanderXpander · Platinum Member Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 7860

Most CPUs consider 60 degrees pretty normal when being used. 41 definitely isn't anything to be worried about.

It's just the MS20 and PolySix getting warmed up Wink

DJ Kronos · Junior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2015 Posts: 56

LivePsy · Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 355

I'm now getting 68 degrees after 4 hours turned on in a 17 degree room, compared to 80 degrees after 4 hours in a 30 degree room. I guess that sounds right. Smile

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groK-Guy · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 10

Voip,

Could you tell me what fan you used, and does your Kronos seem to be cooler after the mod? My original K61 runs in the 80,s most of the time and I'd like to see if I can bring that down to a more exceptable level.
Thanks.