KRONOS Fan Information

aribo61 · Post by **aribo61** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:43 pm

also see my kronos album:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1085100000 ... directlink

see the image with caption "better decoupling..." and the following three with the golden SilenX fan.

Note, the SilenX has some rubber and felt attached to not touch the bottom cover which would produce too much noise then.

The Noiseblocker with it's rubber mounts used in a standard way produces too much hum for me, so I chose a more loose mounting. This could be further improved by using a more soft kind of clips or similar, those paper clips can jingle sometimes.
Perhaps a different (shorter) kind of rubber mounts would fit better.

Keymangerbo · Post by **Keymangerbo** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:17 pm

I replaced the orginal fan with the NoiseBlocker BlackSilentFan XR2
in my Kronos and used the rubber mounts and the result is very good.

I can hardly hear the fan now so i am very happy with it

Gerrit

davidnaggar · Post by **davidnaggar** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:27 pm

Just wanted to thank Aribo publicly for his reply.

David

mykejb · Post by **mykejb** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:40 am

I fitted a new fan on my Kronos last night (the 61 key version)

I used a 70mm Acousti AcoustiFan fan running at the slower speed (inline resistor cable) which gives the same airflow as the original fan but is almost absolutely silent. Or at least it was till I put the bottom cover back on .... with all the screws in place!

What happened then was the base panel acted like a huge sounding board and magnified the hum from the fan vibrations. Still nothing like the original noise but annoying. Anyways, I tried mounting the fan with the rubber mounts intead of screws and with the rubber anti-vibration seal fitted rather than screwing it to the bracket assembly.

One of the rubber mounts fitted fine at the top right of the fan looking from the power supply end of the K61, but there was no hole for another. Fortunately with the 70mm fan, fitting a mount directly into the second fan mounting hole at the top left of the fan put it in exactly the right position to slot into a groove in the bracket assembly.

That killed the vibration problem completely and I now have a totally silent Kronos

Disclaimer ... my Kronos sits in my studio (which my wife still insists is a dining room) and doesn't get moved around a lot. The way I mounted the fan is almost certainly not gig-safe as it's only firmly attached by one rubber mount!

Mike

aribo61 · Post by **aribo61** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:43 am

mykejb wrote:I used a 70mm Acousti AcoustiFan fan running at the slower speed (inline resistor cable) which gives the same airflow as the original fan

did you measure it? please don't trust the values given by the manufacturers.
it's easy to do: take a big sack with the most thin foil material you can get and wrap it's opening around the fan, the only air flow into the sack should go through the fan. Make the sack entirely empty, then start the fan taking the time until the sack doesn't blow up any more (you will hear this as the popping out of the last folds makes some noise).

What happened then was the base panel acted like a huge sounding board and magnified the hum from the fan vibrations

yes, this is still my main problem, too.

My current configuration generally works well, but the SilenX fan sometimes changes it's mind somehow and starts sounding the bottom cover... I have some 5mm soft felt pads in between, which normally work, but sometimes they seem to get compressed too much.

I am thinking of using a much smaller fan on the motherboard cooler, which completely fits between the cooler and the bottom cover. All small (40mm) fans I have, have a better throughput than the SilenX, so the should work. Unfortunately those 40mm fans rotate very fast, I certainly have to reduce the speed very much. But cooling the motherboard doesn't demand much airflow, so this might work.

According the 70 mm fans:

I removed one of the mounting plates of the Flash-Disk (the one nearer to the power supply) so I got more room for mounting anything bigger. I mounted the disk on the other side. If needed, I would mount the disk at some other place. I consider the disk as non-critical, it's very light, and I think it doesn't need any cooling, so the mounting doesn't matter much.

I'm also thinking about using a 70mm fan, as bigger fans tend to have a better result. There are plenty of good fans for PC cases to choose from.

I'll probably try to mount it at some angle, by removing the mounting plate of the disk, I got some more options for that.

(I really hope, I got my English right, I had some very difficult sentences above, at least for me, apologies for any inconveniences)

CShorte · Post by **CShorte** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:00 pm

Another question that I had had about the Kronos was whether all versions had a fan. After reading some of this thread, it appears that my question is resolved, all Kronos keyboards have a fan. And, fan noise is still a concern and is a user solution versus a Korg Corporate solution.

I am sincerely back to the drawing board as to what will be my next keyboard purchase. Thanks to all who have commented on the various issues with Kronos.

popmann · Post by **popmann** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:43 pm

I find that funny. But, OK...I count the fan noise as a negative, but it's not like there's another comparable piece of hardware to choose over it.

I'm taking mine in for the RAM upgrade next week...I'll talk to the Korg repair guy...I bought the Noiseblocker per recommendations here. Although, I've never used them before--Silenex has always served me well in shutting up Wintel boxes. Even used on in the KSP8 that was maybe 30-40mm...stock was a little whiny guy-now, I don't even hear it.

Anyway, one needs, I think to separate "things not working as intended" from "things not working like you would like them to"--Korg should be held accountable for providing "fixes" for the first. The second would be a "nice to have"...

davidnaggar · Post by **davidnaggar** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:34 pm

Popmann,

Not sure if my previous private messages got sent to you, so I'm posting here.

From another thread:

popmann wrote:Got my Kronos back with silent fan, 3gb, and 1.52...so, I can finally demo these expansions.

Did your repair guy install the Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentFan XR2?

Did your repair guy do anything special to get the fan silent? E.g. special placement, etc.

Thanks,

David

popmann · Post by **popmann** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:52 pm

Yes...the fan recommended here. I bought it...he installed it, so I have no details as to how. I'm glad he was willing, being an authorized repair shop...

I booted for the first time this morning with intentionally nothing else in the studio on. It's as close to silent as you will ever get with active cooling. I literally have to put my ear right over the screen to hear anything. I would never have noticed anything had this been stock...BUT...my fan was quiet (although not this quiet) from the factory--and it got louder over the first few months, so--I've never used NoiseBlocker in PCs or my KSP8--always Silenex...so, here's hoping the quality is on par with them in terms of longevity.

davidnaggar · Post by **davidnaggar** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:56 pm

Thanks Popmann. Nothing like silence in a studio.

Has anyone noticed if their Noiseblocker has gotten louder over time?

LivePsy · Post by **LivePsy** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:40 am

I'm new to this thread but have tried to read all the way through. My Kronos 61 produces 39-40dB according to a SPL meter app on my iPhone 4 - at the mentioned 1/2 inch above the master fader. Is this considered normal by most people? Personally, I would be very unhappy if my desktop computer made that much noise 1 meter away from me. But if it is normal I can save me any fuss and not bother contacting Korg. The noise in my case is mostly humming, not airflow. And I have no idea if the iPhone app is worth the .99 cents

Regards,
B

theo73 · Post by **theo73** » Fri May 11, 2012 9:04 am

Why are we still...... being presented with noisy fans. Hummmmmm. Unnacceptable! This has been an issue since Kronos was initially released!

Isn't this a matter for Korg rather than end users trying to remiedy on their own?

Should have been addressed already!

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Fri May 11, 2012 10:04 am

theo73 wrote:Why are we still...... being presented with noisy fans. Hummmmmm. Unnacceptable! This has been an issue since Kronos was initially released!

Isn't this a matter for Korg rather than end users trying to remiedy on their own?

Should have been addressed already!

Not everyone thinks this is a problem, and definitely not everyone thinks there are more important things Korg could address.

It's about the same category as asking Roland or Yamaha why we still are being presented by non touch screens, not having an SSD etc.

theo73 · Post by **theo73** » Fri May 11, 2012 10:13 am

Sorry, totally different. The fan issue is a design flaw left to users to remedy (voiding warranty I may add). Korg has not even bothered to respond. I've left my Kronos on at night when working on things, fallen asleep, to be awoken by, yes, my Kronos fan humming in the other room. And I'm a heavy sleeper.

Non touch screens and no SSD is not a design flaw, it is a design decision. A noisy humming fan that wakes the dead is!

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Fri May 11, 2012 10:17 am

theo73 wrote:Sorry, totally different. The fan issue is a design flaw left to users to remedy (voiding warranty I may add). Korg has not even bothered to respond. I've left my Kronos on at night when working on things, fallen asleep, to be awoken by, yes, my Kronos fan humming in the other room. And I'm a heavy sleeper.

Non touch screens and no SSD is not a design flaw, it is a design decision. A noisy humming fan that wakes the dead is!

Yes you are true about that. It might be that there is a big difference in fans, I don't have any problems with mine, but have to admit my computer is REALLY making a lot of noise and in the rehearsal room I don't even hear it. It would be nice if (maybe for some small cost) an improved fan could be installed (like RAM memory upgrade) or for free if the fan makes 'too much' noise, whatever that may be defined as.