I want to put a CD player/changer in a small space: on top of a microwave and below the cabinets. The room for the space is 4”, the CD player (with feet) is 4.5”. The bottom of the player is solid, with the exception of about six square inches of cooling/airflow grill.
I want to amputate the player’s feet (guess I’ll have to go out and get the soundtrack to Footloose) to give me the room, but will need to compensate for the loss of cooling/airflow. To do so, I’m thinking of taking off the top half of the case.
The cabinets have a ridge of sorts, so that the space restriction is really only on the outer edges — inside the area of the cabinets there is another half to inch or so for air circulation. If that doesn’t make sense, they look like this:
| | (cabinet top)
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|_____|
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Because the player will sit sandwiched between the microwave and the cabinet bottoms, there is no chance of anything accidentally falling in. The receiver is not located near the CD player, so heat from that won’t be a problem. I’m also assuming that the additional openness of the top will compensate for the relative closed-ness of the bottom—that the circuit boards that are being cooled underneath will be able to vent their heat upwards.
I don’t think there will be a problem, but thought to ask in case doing so is a Very Bad Idea. Oh, what about leaking electronic noise? Will that screw up any chance of receiving AM or FM broadcasts in the kitchen? Would covering it with a metal screen help with that?
Radiated noise might be a problem, but if it is, just turn the CD player off when you are listening to the radio. Other than that, I don’t see any serious issues.
There’s a chance that the case is serving as a Faraday cage that keeps external noise sources from affecting the circuits upstream of the initial audio amplificiation. If so, you might end up with noisy output, but that’s something you can just try.
As for the Faraday cage, will any conductive material (that doesn’t enter the body of the unit) work as a cover? Again, I’m thinking a think piece of screen or aluminum foil with holes (e.g., anything metal but with more ventilation than the original cover). Or is the spacing of the holes important to the overall effect?
In my opinion, what you are thinking of doing is, well, a bad idea. I can think of several reasons why I would not want to remove the cover even if it is well covered by something else. Everywhere in the house, dust and grease settle everywhere. The kitchen being the source of the grease.
If I could make a suggestion, is there enough room to set the player where you want it without modification if the under hang wasn’t there? I would rather notch the cabinet so the unit could fit.
Even better would be to put the player inside of a cabinet and run it on batteries.
I have an inexpensive under-cabinet cd/radio/timer that plugs in. Works very well and no chance of falling anywhere it is securely bolted to the underside of the cabinet.
Above all else, please do it safely! Remember, you are not the only one who will ever come into contact with this appliance.