Removing feet from my DVD player - good idea?

[Lanthanide]

I have recently bought a new 60" TV and an entertainment unit to go with it. The entertainment unit has a small space in the very centre directly below the TV where the centre speaker is going to go, and it just fits. There is also a space 5cm high beneith the shelf that the centre speaker sits on that we had intended to put the DVD player in.

When I measured the DVD, it was 5cm tall - but I forgot to measure the extra 1cm on the feet. So the dvd player is 6cm tall and the space is only 5cm. I may be able to fanangle the centre speaker to fit in there (the top part of the e-unit is kind of hollow in there, by about 1 cm) but I'd prefer not to do that if possible.

So the question is, can I remove the feet from my DVD player, or will there be consequences? There are no venting grills on the DVD player at all, either on the sides, back or bottom, although there are a few small holes on the bottom where internal components have been fitted in etc, but theseb holes are not specifically designed for ventilation.

The DVD player is the Onkyo SP404: http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?m=DV-SP404&class=DVD&p=i

The feet seem to be just hard, hollow plastic, held on by regular philips screws, so they do not appear to be made of rubber for any kind of sound insulation, and they have special saftey screws that cannot be removed, so I'm thinking it's probably ok.

[dphirschler]

You are begging to overheat it if you do that.

I have a small portable DAT recorder that I occasionally use. It also has no venting holes. But if I record a concert with the recorder in the carry case, it gets very hot. Almost hot enough to burn flesh!

So the lesson learned is that electronics don't always need air moving through them, but they still need air moving *around* them.


Darryl

[jman98]

dphirschler is 100% correct in his advice. My brother lost a DVD player due to overheating. He jammed it in a fairly large slot in his entertainment system, but crammed VHS tapes and DVDs all around it and it overheated and died. He learned his lesson. Now his VHS tapes and DVDs are elsewhere and his new DVD player has plenty of breathing room.

There is a push in the industry to make DVD players as thin as possible. Consumers like this. However, the thin design elminates fans, so units run hot now. They need plenty of open space to air cool. Also, manufacturers do this as well because they know that some percentage of players will overheat and have to be replaced, so it's great for them if the player doesn't last as long due to heat damage. People are going to have to buy new ones all the time. I've even read about people who drilled air holes or mounted their own exhaust fans in DVD players just to try to help them to run cooler.

[ron spencer]

stay away from the slimmers....I have a nice thick Denon....kids have left it on all night before....hardly any heat.....a slim job would melt away like that witch in the wizard of Oz.