None of today's stereo products would be possible without the aid of today's music amplifiers which attempt to satisfy higher and higher demands concerning power and music fidelity. There is a huge quantity of amp designs and models. All of these vary regarding performance. I am going to describe some of the most widespread amp terms including "class-A", "class-D" and "t amps" to help you figure out which of these amplifiers is best for your application. In addition, after understanding this guide you should be able to comprehend the amplifier specifications that producers issue.
An audio amp is going to convert a low-level audio signal that frequently originates from a high-impedance source into a high-level signal which may drive a speaker with a low impedance. Depending on the type of amplifier, one of several types of elements are used in order to amplify the signal such as tubes as well as transistors.
A few decades ago, the most widespread kind of audio amplifier were tube amplifiers. Tube amplifiers make use of a tube as the amplifying element. The current flow through the tube is controlled by a low-level control signal. Thereby the low-level audio is transformed into a high-level signal. Tubes, on the other hand, are nonlinear in their behavior and will introduce a quite large amount of higher harmonics or distortion. Many people favor tube amplifiers because those higher harmonics are frequently perceived as the tube amp sounding "warm" or "pleasant". A downside of tube amplifiers is their low power efficiency. In other words, the majority of the power consumed by the amplifier is wasted as heat instead of being transformed into music. Consequently tube amplifiers are going to run hot and require enough cooling. In addition, tubes are pretty expensive to make. Thus tube amps have by and large been replaced by solid-state amplifiers which I am going to look at next.
The first generation versions of solid state amplifiers are referred to as "Class-A" amps. Solid-state amps use a semiconductor instead of a tube to amplify the signal. Regularly bipolar transistors or FETs are being utilized. In a class-A amp, the signal is being amplified by a transistor which is controlled by the low-level audio signal. In terms of harmonic distortion, class-A amplifiers rank highest amid all types of power amplifiers. These amplifiers also regularly exhibit very low noise. As such class-A amps are perfect for extremely demanding applications in which low distortion and low noise are vital. Though, similar to tube amplifiers, class-A amplifiers have very small power efficiency and the majority of the energy is wasted.
By utilizing a number of transistors, class-AB amps improve on the low power efficiency of class-A amplifiers. The working region is divided into 2 distinct areas. These 2 areas are handled by separate transistors. Each of those transistors operates more efficiently than the single transistor in a class-A amp. The higher efficiency of class-AB amps also has 2 other advantages. Firstly, the necessary number of heat sinking is minimized. As a result class-AB amps can be manufactured lighter and smaller. For that reason, class-AB amps can be manufactured cheaper than class-A amps. Though, this topology adds some non-linearity or distortion in the area where the signal switches between those areas. As such class-AB amps typically have higher distortion than class-A amplifiers.
By making use of a series of transistors, class-AB amplifiers improve on the low power efficiency of class-A amplifiers. The working area is divided into 2 distinct areas. These two regions are handled by separate transistors. Each of these transistors works more efficiently than the single transistor in a class-A amp. As such, class-AB amps are generally smaller than class-A amps. When the signal transitions between the two distinct regions, though, a certain level of distortion is being created, thus class-AB amplifiers will not achieve the same audio fidelity as class-A amps.
Class-D amps improve on the efficiency of class-AB amplifiers even further by utilizing a switching transistor that is constantly being switched on or off. Thus this switching stage barely dissipates any power and thereby the power efficiency of class-D amps frequently surpasses 90%. The switching transistor, that is being controlled by a pulse-width modulator generates a high-frequency switching component which needs to be removed from the amplified signal by using a lowpass filter. Both the pulse-width modulator and the transistor have non-linearities which result in class-D amps exhibiting bigger audio distortion than other kinds of amps. More modern audio amps include some type of mechanism in order to reduce distortion. One approach is to feed back the amplified audio signal to the input of the amp to compare with the original signal. The difference signal is subsequently used in order to correct the switching stage and compensate for the nonlinearity. A well-known topology which employs this kind of feedback is known as "class-T". Class-T amplifiers or "t amps" attain audio distortion which compares with the audio distortion of class-A amps while at the same time offering the power efficiency of class-D amps. Therefore t amps can be manufactured extremely small and yet attain high audio fidelity.
An audio amp is going to convert a low-level audio signal that frequently originates from a high-impedance source into a high-level signal which may drive a speaker with a low impedance. Depending on the type of amplifier, one of several types of elements are used in order to amplify the signal such as tubes as well as transistors.
A few decades ago, the most widespread kind of audio amplifier were tube amplifiers. Tube amplifiers make use of a tube as the amplifying element. The current flow through the tube is controlled by a low-level control signal. Thereby the low-level audio is transformed into a high-level signal. Tubes, on the other hand, are nonlinear in their behavior and will introduce a quite large amount of higher harmonics or distortion. Many people favor tube amplifiers because those higher harmonics are frequently perceived as the tube amp sounding "warm" or "pleasant". A downside of tube amplifiers is their low power efficiency. In other words, the majority of the power consumed by the amplifier is wasted as heat instead of being transformed into music. Consequently tube amplifiers are going to run hot and require enough cooling. In addition, tubes are pretty expensive to make. Thus tube amps have by and large been replaced by solid-state amplifiers which I am going to look at next.
The first generation versions of solid state amplifiers are referred to as "Class-A" amps. Solid-state amps use a semiconductor instead of a tube to amplify the signal. Regularly bipolar transistors or FETs are being utilized. In a class-A amp, the signal is being amplified by a transistor which is controlled by the low-level audio signal. In terms of harmonic distortion, class-A amplifiers rank highest amid all types of power amplifiers. These amplifiers also regularly exhibit very low noise. As such class-A amps are perfect for extremely demanding applications in which low distortion and low noise are vital. Though, similar to tube amplifiers, class-A amplifiers have very small power efficiency and the majority of the energy is wasted.
By utilizing a number of transistors, class-AB amps improve on the low power efficiency of class-A amplifiers. The working region is divided into 2 distinct areas. These 2 areas are handled by separate transistors. Each of those transistors operates more efficiently than the single transistor in a class-A amp. The higher efficiency of class-AB amps also has 2 other advantages. Firstly, the necessary number of heat sinking is minimized. As a result class-AB amps can be manufactured lighter and smaller. For that reason, class-AB amps can be manufactured cheaper than class-A amps. Though, this topology adds some non-linearity or distortion in the area where the signal switches between those areas. As such class-AB amps typically have higher distortion than class-A amplifiers.
By making use of a series of transistors, class-AB amplifiers improve on the low power efficiency of class-A amplifiers. The working area is divided into 2 distinct areas. These two regions are handled by separate transistors. Each of these transistors works more efficiently than the single transistor in a class-A amp. As such, class-AB amps are generally smaller than class-A amps. When the signal transitions between the two distinct regions, though, a certain level of distortion is being created, thus class-AB amplifiers will not achieve the same audio fidelity as class-A amps.
Class-D amps improve on the efficiency of class-AB amplifiers even further by utilizing a switching transistor that is constantly being switched on or off. Thus this switching stage barely dissipates any power and thereby the power efficiency of class-D amps frequently surpasses 90%. The switching transistor, that is being controlled by a pulse-width modulator generates a high-frequency switching component which needs to be removed from the amplified signal by using a lowpass filter. Both the pulse-width modulator and the transistor have non-linearities which result in class-D amps exhibiting bigger audio distortion than other kinds of amps. More modern audio amps include some type of mechanism in order to reduce distortion. One approach is to feed back the amplified audio signal to the input of the amp to compare with the original signal. The difference signal is subsequently used in order to correct the switching stage and compensate for the nonlinearity. A well-known topology which employs this kind of feedback is known as "class-T". Class-T amplifiers or "t amps" attain audio distortion which compares with the audio distortion of class-A amps while at the same time offering the power efficiency of class-D amps. Therefore t amps can be manufactured extremely small and yet attain high audio fidelity.
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