I flew in to the redneck Rivera today to replace a bad B&O system. The equipment goes in a built in wall unit that’s too shallow for the Yamaha 3070. I can probably cut the back out, but don’t want to because I traveled with limited tools due to weight limits.

Cooling is probably going to suffer... most AVRs are convection cooled and tipping on the side is probably going to restrict airflow for the convection cooling.

I've put amplifiers on their sides before and had no issues. In theory the heat syncs would likely be laid out in such a way that the heat will rise up away from the components. So perhaps putting it on its side would cause the heat to rise through them instead of up and away, causing it to stay hotter longer? . Have a look inside to see where the heat syncs are and if possible put it on the side that best locates them as high as possible. Maybe put a USB powered cooling fan on it to get some air moving inside.

Craig.

add fans and flip it anyway you want.

Craig and RH are both right.

It's heat sink, though, as in source (where something originates) and sink (where it goes to).

So no one is worried about the fifth foot? 🙄

Don't route the HDMI-5 cable closer than 3.14159" to the foot. Use it as a bend radius gauge for cables.

So, no explosives, eh?

The normal path for eliminating heat requires that it lay flat, but if you attach a fan that blows through the AVR, it will cool. The problem is covering the whole heat sink and even a 5" will be too small. Two of them would work.

On another note, if cutting out the back is the best then are you with in appropriate distance just to rent what you need from Home Depot? Or buy a $30 throw away jig saw?

Might take less out of the budget to cover that than messing with installing and finding fans.

Make sure you put your card on top of the receiver so the next guy can laugh.

Just giving you some sheet. I have only put some elan Z on their sides with a fan in back.
Still going for more than ten years now.

There is no reason you can't. You can do whatever you want. There might be reasons you shouldn't. Will receiver die quickly when fans do fail? Oh dam I'm beginning to sound like Earnie. Just not as smart.

Sure, the fan(s) could fail, but how many racks and pieces of equipment have we installed with fan? Have these been a problem?

Actually, the receiver will probably last longer because of the fans.

I Hear you. Most racks that sit in a room and are open back probably don't need fans. Racks built into walls and similar surely need a fan. If he buys a fan that he knows will last. Then go for it.

Our Yamaha rep is always singing praises of the fifth foot. lol

Not getting the 5th foot comments. Does Yamaha literally have a 5th foot on them or something?