what parameters are considered when calculating heat load of an amplifier?

Question

planning the HVAC requirements for an equipment room of a theater - the room will contain amplifiers, DVD players, other control equipment

Answer 1

TV's and Amps are pretty inefficient at converting electricity into light and sound, creating heat as a by-product.

Add-up the total wattage of all your components, multiply it by typical component efficiency of 0.8, then multiply that figure by 3.412 to convert into BTU's.

For example, my home theatre consumes a maximum of 827 watts.

(827 x 0.8) x 3.412 = 2,257 btu's.

So, on top of regular considerations in choosing the size of an air conditioner, dimensions, windows, exposure, number of occupants, your climate, I would have to add 2,257 to my system capacity.

BTW, under normal conditions, this extra 2,257 btu's added to the room by my system has been easily overcome by a 6,000 btu room A/C in my old apartment, and now by a 10-year old central A/C in our house, which was not designed with the home theatre in mind.

If you're asking this question, your home theatre may well be much, much larger than mine. :)

Answer 2

You can assume that all of the power input to these devices will end up heating the room. So add up all of the volt-ampere ratings of all the equipment and you will get a good estimate of the heat generated.