None of latest music systems would be feasible without the help of recent power amplifiers that attempt to satisfy higher and higher demands regarding power and music fidelity. There is a huge amount of amp designs and models. All of these vary regarding performance. I am going to describe a few of the most widespread amp terms including "class-A", "class-D" and "t amps" to help you figure out which of these amps is ideal for your application. Furthermore, after reading this essay you should be able to understand the amplifier specifications which suppliers publish.
Tube amps used to be common a number of decades ago. A tube is able to control the current flow according to a control voltage that is connected to the tube. Sadly, tube amps have a reasonably high level of distortion. Technically speaking, tube amps are going to introduce higher harmonics into the signal. However, this characteristic of tube amps still makes these popular. A lot of people describe tube amplifiers as having a warm sound versus the cold sound of solid state amplifiers.
Besides, tube amplifiers have fairly small power efficiency and therefore dissipate a lot of power as heat. Yet an additional disadvantage is the high price tag of tubes. This has put tube amps out of the ballpark for many consumer products. Consequently, the bulk of audio products these days utilizes solid state amps. I will describe solid state amplifiers in the following sections.
The first generation versions of solid state amps are referred to as "Class-A" amps. Solid-state amps utilize a semiconductor instead of a tube to amplify the signal. Regularly bipolar transistors or FETs are being used. In a class-A amp, the signal is being amplified by a transistor which is controlled by the low-level audio signal. Class-A amps have the lowest distortion and usually also the smallest amount of noise of any amplifier architecture. If you need ultra-low distortion then you should take a closer look at class-A types. Class-A amplifiers, on the other hand, waste the majority of the power as heat. For that reason they usually have big heat sinks and are quite heavy.
The first generation models of solid state amplifiers are often known as "Class-A" amps. Solid-state amplifiers employ a semiconductor instead of a tube to amplify the signal. Typically bipolar transistors or FETs are being used. In class-A amps a transistor controls the current flow according to a small-level signal. A number of amps employ a feedback mechanism to minimize the harmonic distortion. Class-A amps have the smallest distortion and usually also the lowest amount of noise of any amplifier architecture. If you require ultra-low distortion then you should take a closer look at class-A models. The main drawback is that just like tube amps class A amps have quite small efficiency. Because of this these amps need large heat sinks to radiate the wasted energy and are usually rather large.
In order to improve on the small efficiency of class-A amplifiers, class-AB amps utilize a series of transistors which each amplify a distinct area, each of which being more efficient than class-A amplifiers. As such, class-AB amplifiers are generally smaller than class-A amplifiers. When the signal transitions between the two separate regions, however, some level of distortion is being created, thereby class-AB amplifiers will not achieve the same audio fidelity as class-A amplifiers.
Class-D amps are able to attain power efficiencies above 90% by employing a switching transistor that is continuously being switched on and off and thus the transistor itself does not dissipate any heat. The on-off switching times of the transistor are being controlled by a pulse-with modulator (PWM). Typical switching frequencies are between 300 kHz and 1 MHz. This high-frequency switching signal has to be removed from the amplified signal by a lowpass filter. Usually a straightforward first-order lowpass is being utilized. Due to non-linearities of the pulse-width modulator and the switching transistor itself, class-D amps by nature have amongst the highest audio distortion of any audio amp. Modern amplifiers incorporate internal audio feedback in order to reduce the level of audio distortion. A well-known architecture that employs this kind of feedback is called "class-T". Class-T amps or "t amps" attain audio distortion which compares with the audio distortion of class-A amps while at the same time having the power efficiency of class-D amplifiers. Consequently t amps can be manufactured extremely small and yet attain high audio fidelity.
Tube amps used to be common a number of decades ago. A tube is able to control the current flow according to a control voltage that is connected to the tube. Sadly, tube amps have a reasonably high level of distortion. Technically speaking, tube amps are going to introduce higher harmonics into the signal. However, this characteristic of tube amps still makes these popular. A lot of people describe tube amplifiers as having a warm sound versus the cold sound of solid state amplifiers.
Besides, tube amplifiers have fairly small power efficiency and therefore dissipate a lot of power as heat. Yet an additional disadvantage is the high price tag of tubes. This has put tube amps out of the ballpark for many consumer products. Consequently, the bulk of audio products these days utilizes solid state amps. I will describe solid state amplifiers in the following sections.
The first generation versions of solid state amps are referred to as "Class-A" amps. Solid-state amps utilize a semiconductor instead of a tube to amplify the signal. Regularly bipolar transistors or FETs are being used. In a class-A amp, the signal is being amplified by a transistor which is controlled by the low-level audio signal. Class-A amps have the lowest distortion and usually also the smallest amount of noise of any amplifier architecture. If you need ultra-low distortion then you should take a closer look at class-A types. Class-A amplifiers, on the other hand, waste the majority of the power as heat. For that reason they usually have big heat sinks and are quite heavy.
The first generation models of solid state amplifiers are often known as "Class-A" amps. Solid-state amplifiers employ a semiconductor instead of a tube to amplify the signal. Typically bipolar transistors or FETs are being used. In class-A amps a transistor controls the current flow according to a small-level signal. A number of amps employ a feedback mechanism to minimize the harmonic distortion. Class-A amps have the smallest distortion and usually also the lowest amount of noise of any amplifier architecture. If you require ultra-low distortion then you should take a closer look at class-A models. The main drawback is that just like tube amps class A amps have quite small efficiency. Because of this these amps need large heat sinks to radiate the wasted energy and are usually rather large.
In order to improve on the small efficiency of class-A amplifiers, class-AB amps utilize a series of transistors which each amplify a distinct area, each of which being more efficient than class-A amplifiers. As such, class-AB amplifiers are generally smaller than class-A amplifiers. When the signal transitions between the two separate regions, however, some level of distortion is being created, thereby class-AB amplifiers will not achieve the same audio fidelity as class-A amplifiers.
Class-D amps are able to attain power efficiencies above 90% by employing a switching transistor that is continuously being switched on and off and thus the transistor itself does not dissipate any heat. The on-off switching times of the transistor are being controlled by a pulse-with modulator (PWM). Typical switching frequencies are between 300 kHz and 1 MHz. This high-frequency switching signal has to be removed from the amplified signal by a lowpass filter. Usually a straightforward first-order lowpass is being utilized. Due to non-linearities of the pulse-width modulator and the switching transistor itself, class-D amps by nature have amongst the highest audio distortion of any audio amp. Modern amplifiers incorporate internal audio feedback in order to reduce the level of audio distortion. A well-known architecture that employs this kind of feedback is called "class-T". Class-T amps or "t amps" attain audio distortion which compares with the audio distortion of class-A amps while at the same time having the power efficiency of class-D amplifiers. Consequently t amps can be manufactured extremely small and yet attain high audio fidelity.
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