Ok, I feel like an idiot for asking but its been over 10 years since Ihad couase to need to install an amp upside down under a deck shelf in a sedan. I THINK I remember that for subwoofer amps, due to the heat they can generate from hard use, inverted mounting put the heatsink in the wrong position so it wouldnt disapate heat right.... I'm just looking at a small 50x4 old school amp to drive my 2 sets of components and seriously doubt there will be a heat or heat soaking issue.... again, I apologize but It's been a while.... thanks in advance, pro's or con's to this?
-------------
Matt
Heat rises so many people will say not to do it.
However, heat does NOT rise when attached to a heat sink - the sink will absorb the heat the same way whether it is upside down or right side up (I learned this from industrial thermography inspections).
But, with that being said, mounting the heat sink upside down will reduce the efficiency of the heat sink because the heat sink trys to transfer heat to the air around it and the hot air will just rise back up in to the heat sink.
But, if there is no air moving around the heat sink (ie no fans) your heat sink won't be efficient anyway (regardless of the position of the amp), as air flow is key to keeping the sink cool.
So, to summarize, it will all depend on the amp. If the heat sink is undersized you may run in to issues. If you put a fan to blow air across the amp you'll be fine. A fan blowing lightly across an upside down amp would be better then a right side up amp with no air flow.
-------------
Kevin Pierson