Audio power amplifier

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"Power amplifier" redirects here. It is not to be confused with RF power amplifier.

Audio stereo power amplifier made by Unitra

The inside of a Mission Cyrus 1 Hi Fi integrated audio amplifier (1984)[1]

An audio power amplifier (or power amp) is an electronic amplifier that amplifies
low-power electronic audio signals such as the signal from radio receiver or electric
guitar pickup to a level that is high enough for driving loudspeakers or headphones.
Audio power amplifiers are found in all manner of sound systems including sound
reinforcement, public address and home audiosystems and musical instrument
amplifiers like guitar amplifiers. It is the final electronic stage in a typical audio
playback chain before the signal is sent to the loudspeakers.

The preceding stages in such a chain are low power audio amplifiers which perform
tasks like pre-amplification of the signal (this is particularly associated with record
turntable signals, microphone signals and electric instrument signals from pickups,
such as the electric guitar and electric bass), equalization (e.g., adjusting the bass and
treble), tone controls, mixing different input signals or adding electronic effects such
as reverb. The inputs can also be any number of audio sources like record players, CD
players, digital audio players and cassette players. Most audio power amplifiers
require these low-level inputs, which are line level.
While the input signal to an audio power amplifier, such as the signal from an electric
guitar, may measure only a few hundred microwatts, its output may be a few watts for
small consumer electronics devices, such as clock radios, tens or hundreds of watts for
a home stereo system, several thousand watts for a nightclub's sound system or tens of
thousands of watts for a large rock concert sound reinforcement system. While power
amplifiers are available in standalone units, typically aimed at the hi-fi audiophile
market (a niche market) of audio enthusiasts and sound reinforcement
system professionals, most consumer electronics sound products, such as clock
radios, boom boxes and televisions have relatively small power amplifiers that are
integrated inside the chassis of the main product.

Contents
 1 History
 2 Design parameters
 3 Filters and preamplifiers
 4 Power output stages
 5 Further developments
 6 Applications
 7 References
 8 See also

History[edit]

De Forest's prototype audio amplifier of 1914.

The audio amplifier was invented around 1912 by Lee De Forest, made possible by
his invention of the first practical amplifying electrical component, the triode vacuum
tube (or "valve" in British English) in 1907. The triode was a three terminal device
with a control grid that can modulate the flow of electrons from the filament to the
plate. The triode vacuum amplifier was used to make the first AM radio.[2] Early audio
power amplifiers were based on vacuum tubes and some of these achieved notably
high audio quality (e.g., the Williamson amplifier of 1947-9). Audio power amplifiers
based on transistors became practical with the wide availability of inexpensive
transistors in the late 1960s. Since the 1970s, most modern audio amplifiers are based
on solid state devices (transistors such as BJTs, FETs and MOSFETs). Transistor-
based amplifiers are lighter in weight, more reliable and require less maintenance than
tube amplifiers. In the 2010s, there are still audio enthusiasts, musicians
(particularly electric guitarists, electric bassists, Hammond organ players and Fender
Rhodes electric piano players, among others), audio engineers and music
producers who prefer tube-based amplifiers, and what is perceived as a "warmer" tube
sound.

Design parameters[edit]

Three rack-mounted audio power amplifiers used in a sound reinforcement system.

Key design parameters for audio power amplifiers are frequency response, gain, noise,
and distortion. These are interdependent; increasing gain often leads to undesirable
increases in noise and distortion. While negative feedback actually reduces the gain, it
also reduces distortion. Most audio amplifiers are linear amplifiers operating in class
AB.

Until the 1970s, most amplifiers were tube amplifiers which used vacuum tubes.
During the 1970s, tube amps were increasingly replaced with transistor-based
amplifiers, which were lighter in weight, more reliable, and lower maintenance.
Nevertheless, there are still niche markets of consumers who continue to use tube
amplifiers and tube preamplifiers in the 2010s, such as with home hi-
fi enthusiasts, audio engineers and music producers (who use tube preamplifiers in
studio recordings to "warm up" microphone signals) and electric guitarists, electric
bassists and Hammond organ players, of whom a minority continue to use tube
preamps, tube power amps and tube effects units. While hi-fi enthusiasts and audio
engineers doing live sound or monitoring tracks in the studio typically seek out
amplifiers with the lowest distortion, electric instrument players in genres such
as blues, rock music and heavy metal music, among others, use tube amplifiers
because they like the natural overdrive that tube amps produce when pushed hard.

In the 2000s, the Class-D amplifier, which is much more efficient than Class AB
amplifiers, is widely used in consumer electronics audio products, bass
amplifiers and sound reinforcement system gear, as Class D amplifiers are much
lighter in weight and produce much less heat.

Filters and preamplifiers[edit]

Since modern digital devices, including CD and DVD players, radio receivers and
tape decks already provide a "flat" signal at line level, the preamp is not needed other
than as a volume control and source selector. One alternative to a separate preamp is
to simply use passive volume and switching controls, sometimes integrated into a
power amplifier to form an integrated amplifier.

Power output stages[edit]

The final stage of amplification, after preamplifiers, is the output stage, where the
highest demands are placed on the transistors or tubes. For this reason, the design
choices made around the output device (for single-ended output stages, such as
in single-ended triode amplifiers) or devices (for push-pull output stages), such as
the Class of operation of the output devices is often taken as the description of the
whole power amplifier. For example, a Class B amplifier will probably have just the
high power output devices operating cut off for half of each cycle, while the other
devices (such as differential amplifier, voltage amplifier and possibly even driver
transistors) operate in Class A. In a transformerless output stage, the devices are
essentially in series with the power supply and output load (such as a loudspeaker),
possibly via some large capacitor and/or small resistances.

Further developments[edit]
For some years following the introduction of solid state amplifiers, their perceived
sound did not have the excellent audio quality of the best valve amplifiers (see valve
audio amplifier). This led audiophiles to believe that "tube sound" or valve sound had
an intrinsic quality due to the vacuum tube technology itself. In 1970, Matti
Otala published a paper on the origin of a previously unobserved form of distortion:
transient intermodulation distortion (TIM),[3] later also called slew-induced
distortion (SID) by others.[4] TIM distortion was found to occur during very rapid
increases in amplifier output voltage.[5]

TIM did not appear at steady state sine tone measurements, helping to hide it from
design engineers prior to 1970. Problems with TIM distortion stem from reduced open
loop frequency response of solid state amplifiers. Further works of Otala and other
authors found the solution for TIM distortion, including increasing slew rate,
decreasing preamp frequency bandwidth, and the insertion of a lag compensation
circuit in the input stage of the amplifier.[6][7][8] In high quality modern amplifiers the
open loop response is at least 20 kHz, canceling TIM distortion.

The next step in advanced design was the Baxandall Theorem, created by Peter
Baxandall in England.[9] This theorem introduced the concept of comparing the ratio
between the input distortion and the output distortion of an amplifier. This new idea
helped audio design engineers to better evaluate the distortion processes within an
amplifier.

Applications[edit]

Pyle two-channel power amplifier

Important applications include public address systems, theatrical and concert sound
reinforcement systems, and domestic systems such as a stereo or home-theatre
system. Instrument amplifiersincluding guitar amplifiers and electric keyboard
amplifiers also use audio power amplifiers. In some cases, the power amplifier for an
instrument amplifier is integrated into a single amplifier "head" which contains a
preamplifier, tone controls, and electronic effects. These components may be mounted
in a wooden speaker cabinet to create a "combo amplifier". Musicians with unique
performance needs and/or a need for very powerful amplification may create a custom
setup with separate rackmount preamplifiers, equalizers, and a power amplifier
mounted in a 19" road case.

Power amplifiers are available in standalone units, which are used by hi-fi audio
enthusiasts and designers of public address systems (PA systems) and sound
reinforcement systems. A hi-fi user of power amplifiers may have a stereo power
amplifier to drive left and right speakers and a "monoblock" single channel power
amplifier to drive a subwoofer. The number of power amplifiers used in a sound
reinforcement setting depends on the size of the venue. A small coffeehouse may have
a single power amp driving two PA speakers. A nightclub may have several power
amps for the main speakers, one or more power amps for the monitor
speakers (pointing towards the band) and an additional power amp for the subwoofer.
A stadium concert may have a large number of power amps mounted in racks.
Most consumer electronics sound products, such as TVs, boom boxes, home
cinema sound systems, Casio and Yamaha electronic keyboards, "combo" guitar
amps and car stereos have power amplifiers integrated inside the chassis of the main
product.

References[edit]
1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-04-24. Retrieved 2011-
01-16. Cyrus Audio: Product Archive: Cyrus One
2. ^ http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/transistor/history/ The
Transistor in a Century of Electronics
3. ^ Otala, M. (1970). "Transient distortion in transistorized audio power
amplifiers". IEEE Transactions on Audio and Electroacoustics. 18 (3):
234. doi:10.1109/TAU.1970.1162117.
4. ^ Walter G. Jung, Mark L. Stephens, and Craig C. Todd (June 1979), "An
overview of SID and TIM", Audio
5. ^ "Circuit Design Modifications for Minimizing Transient Intermodulation
Distortion in Audio Amplifiers", Matti Otala, Journal of Audio Engineering
Society, Vol 20 # 5, June 1972
6. ^ Distribution of the Phonograph Signal Rate of Change, Lammasniemi,
Jorma; Nieminen, Kari, Journal of Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 28 # 5,
May 1980.
7. ^ "Psychoacoustic Detection Threshold of Transient Intermodulation
Distortion", Petri-Larmi, M.; Otala, M.; Lammasniemi, J. Journal of Audio
Engineering Society, Vol 28 # 3, March 1980
8. ^ Discussion of practical design features that can provoke or lessen slew-rate
limiting and transient intermodulation in audio amplifiers can also be found for
example in chapter 9 in John Linsley Hood's 'The Art of Linear Electronics'
(Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 1993).
9. ^ "Audio power amplifier design", Peter Baxandall. Wireless World magazine,
February 1979