Just looking at the 360 and ps3 setup threads, you can see most people do not have their consoles in areas that would be cool enough to do a proper test, considering the 360/ps3 get much hotter and need much more free space around them then traditional AV kit, and I daresay some PCs even!
This is the point I was trying to make.
When my PS3 was under my TV, it did have room to breathe.
At the time, I figured it would be plenty.
The amount of heat that the PS3 puts out though is quite amazing.
If I put my hand under the telly, when the PS3 had been on for a while, it was boiling in there. Slowly cooking my DVD player and PVR

No wonder the fans sped right up.
Out in the open though, you can hardly hear it, and the heat coming out of it feels greatly reduced. The heat was building up under the telly, and wasn't escaping very well. It really was surprising how warm the air was, if I put my hand in the telly stand.
V1N.
PS. As RP200(0) says, there were/are plenty of threads about the fans spinning down, and I was convinced that I had one of the faulty ones.
Now it has a proper airflow though, it doesn't bother me one way or the other, as it doesn't get loud enough to bother me any more.... and I am one of those people who HATE that fan noise, which is why it wound be up so much before... to the point I didn't wanna use the PS3 if it were gunna whooosh at me the whole time.
I have noticed that when you turn it on, the first x mins are fan free. When level 1 kicks in, it stays on, it certainly never goes back down to fan free, unless I turn off & on the PS3. It never gets to level 3 any more to test that, but I shall pay attention next time it goes to level 2, to see if it drops to level one when left idle in the XMB.
V1N.