No, YOU missed the point. The player does not run that hot, it does not glitch or crash (well, there is a rare bug in 1.01 that can do that but its not heat related). Read my last post again - I thought I was quite clearly saying that your specific player may well have a problem.

I don't know why you would just assume that this behaviour is normal - we do actually know a thing or two about designing hardware. If your player is working normally then there's SOMETHING different with your install because we have players in hotter climates that Miami and its not unusual for a DIN bay to have restricted airflow. As I said, as soon as you started getting glitching and crashing you should have contacted customer support, not open up the player invalidating your warranty. I for one would contact support if my $1000+ product didn't work properly!

The main board in the empeg runs practically cold - the 220Mhz processor that you draw attention to is a StrongARM which runs completely cold, it doesn't even need a heat sink. The only noteworthy heat generators in the unit are the VFD and the hard drives. When was the last time you saw a force cooled notebook harddrive? Sure they have a fan for the x86 processor, but I've even seen notebook drives completely sealed in a tin can (Compaq LTE series) and they're quite happy with it. The VFD is supposed to get hot, it has heaters which are fundamental to its operation.

The fan mounting point is historical - the original metalwork was designed before we even had any production circuit boards and it seemed sensible to arrange the ventilation holes in a fan formal just incase one was needed. In fact it wasnt needed, but there was no point producing new CAD for the metalwork.

Why don't we fit a fan anyway? Apart from the fact that you're the only person that ever had a problem, the fan significantly reduces the height of drive that can be accommodated without the two colliding when the shock mounts flex.

The figure of 55 degrees is quoted in line with the drive manufacturers spec sheet. For the same reason you can't operate a laptop under the same conditions, or a portable hard drive based MP3 player either. The operating tolerance for a CD head is usually similar or even lower. In practice, of course, people do use all of these items in a hot environment - but if you regularly drive your car with a cabin temperature over 130F then you're taking risks with your health. In practice, of course, you most likely switch on the AC and the cabin temperature drops to a comfortable 70F - 90F very quickly. If you're comfortable, your empeg will be comfortable.

While I was working on other things in the truck (parked) I would have the Empeg playing for listening pleasure. After about 3 to 4 hours it would lock up, crash or reboot with some unpleasant pops

You don't leave it parked in the sun do you? Without AC? If you run your empeg in an oven for four hours then, yes, it will get hot! We publish an operating temperature limit of 55 degrees as you know, but a truck left in the sun can easily reach or exceed that temperature (as you also know).

I hope you see this conversation as an intellectual one and not a pissing contest.

Of course.

Rob