Korg Forums

I do find it rather surprising and I cannot believe that users do NOT realise that there is a fan inside the Kronos???????

My hearing is NOT brilliant (I am getting on a bit...) but it hit me straight away...

The first time I switched my K61 on it whirred up and settled into a drone..

Annoying me....

For some reason you do not notice it when next to my desktop PC?? It might be that the frequencies are similar?? So I suppose it wont bother me or most users a lot of the time.

However if you want to use it on its own I can easily hear the fan noise whilst wearing headphones.

That said I do not want to be too negative about this as I love the machine. It is a fantastic piece of equipment.

I have the exact same experience. The fan is annoying. The instrument is outstanding. However, I can't hear the fan when I play with headphones, nor do I hear it when I play with speakers, unless it's a quiet piano passage.

I must say that I am beginning to get used to it.....most of the time....

I guess I'm in luck because my PC is VERY noisy (that's getting to annoy me more and more so my next PC will be more quiet), but probably more than a Kronos.

And in the rehearsal room or while gigging it's probably not audible at all.

Mine is definitely disturbing in a calm home studio.

Not unbearable, but constantly disturbing.
So mine will be replaced no matter what: there are MUCH more silent fans out there, and there are also more intelligent ways to isolate it from the Kronos body than now.

It's my only remaining issue with the Kronos, everything else being overall fine here (knobs, sliders, keybed, OS, display, whatever...).

I am looking forward to the forum post which describes how to replace the Kronos fan with a quieter one, in a smarter way. I always like a bit of tweaking

I f anyone is determined to replace the fan, please keep in mind that the replacement should :
1. Draw the same- or less amps.
2. have similar or higher cubic feet per second.
3. have a lower dB rating as is possible, 1/2 would be a good guide.

All of the above is in addition to mounting configuration, etc.
I have a Fractal Audio Ultra guitar processor, which at the forum, had a very high complaint thread about the internal fan.
The SilenX Corp.
http://www.silenx.com/index.asp
was the over-all choice for replacement because when I called and was able to speak with a rep., they asked for the present fan model, specs, serial number, etc., and supplied a unit that exceeded those requirements:
... slightly less amperage draw- a very good thing.
1/2 the dB rating and even a little more air flow!
I haven't seen a clear picture of the internal mounting scheme, but one can obtain practically any assortment of screw, bolts, rubber washers, etc., from home depot.
I choose brass screws because brass is softer than the standard type hardware and is less prone to transmit vibrations.
However, there are other considerations regarding the mounting and since I haven't seen the insides of the K, I can't say.
One thing to avoid is making the mounting points too tight as this couples the vibrating source to the body or first points of physical contact.
Of course, many creative and satisfactory tweaks can be had

Wasn't it established by somebody in this thread that the fan itself isn't to blame, but rather the way it's mounted?..

curvebender wrote:Wasn't it established by somebody in this thread that the fan itself isn't to blame, but rather the way it's mounted?..

just a kind correction I was not trying to establish any facts it was just my observation based upon the images at the following website, I have been building custom PC's for many years, during the last 2 years I have built couple silent PC's (the one I am using currently has a noise level of 25 dBA) for friends so again it was just my personal observation, I do not want to mislead anyone. I am not an electrical or computer engineer by profession

http://si7-lab.blogspot.com/2011/06/part-5.html

I have not opened my Korg KRONOS even though fan noise does bother me personally and I never had OASYS so I have nothing to compare to, been using Korg workstations since N364, guess OASYS and KRONOS are the only 2 workstations with actual computer motherboards with CPU fans?? regards.. Navid

NavidSyed wrote:

curvebender wrote:Wasn't it established by somebody in this thread that the fan itself isn't to blame, but rather the way it's mounted?..

just a kind correction I was not trying to establish any facts it was just my observation based upon the images at the following website, I have been building custom PC's for many years, during the last 2 years I have built couple silent PC's (the one I am using currently has a noise level of 25 dBA) for friends so again it was just my personal observation, I do not want to mislead anyone. I am not an electrical or computer engineer by profession

Ok Navid, I understand.

I am on my 2nd Kronos 61 as well, (the first came in a damaged package) and both fans were equally loud and, to me, annoying. When I turn it off it is such a relief. This is unacceptable for the long run, and I will either need to make the fan quieter, or keep my ear out for Kronos2 or some other replacement. Sad, because otherwise she's close to a perfect keyboard.

nowtime wrote:I am on my 2nd Kronos 61 as well, (the first came in a damaged package) and both fans were equally loud and, to me, annoying. When I turn it off it is such a relief. This is unacceptable for the long run, and I will either need to make the fan quieter, or keep my ear out for Kronos2 or some other replacement. Sad, because otherwise she's close to a perfect keyboard.

Hang in there, I believe we will come up with an improvement soon.

Mark

philmagnotta wrote:I f anyone is determined to replace the fan, please keep in mind that the replacement should :
1. Draw the same- or less amps.
2. have similar or higher cubic feet per second.
3. have a lower dB rating as is possible, 1/2 would be a good guide.
All of the above is in addition to mounting configuration, etc.
I have a Fractal Audio Ultra guitar processor, which at the forum, had a very high complaint thread about the internal fan.
The SilenX Corp.
http://
However, there are other considerations regarding the mounting and since I haven't seen the insides of the K, I can't say.
One thing to avoid is making the mounting points too tight as this couples the vibrating source to the body or first points of physical contact.
Of course, many creative and satisfactory tweaks can be had

I understand some may want to tinker with the fan.

However, it is not worth voiding the warranty over.

I just switched on my K61 for the first time, and: Oh my God..

The fan in this thing is absolutely horrific!! (Mind you, this was after I had spent an hour or so with the *fanless* JP-80..)

Somebody please come up with a fix/mod, I am willing to pay!

I hoped it would be quieter than the Oasys, but no such luck.

and you thought you had problems

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fd7opXGDg

Here's a guy who disconnected the fan in his K61...

http://korg-kronos-inside.blogspot.com/ ... sound.html