None of today's stereo systems would be doable lacking the help of today's music amps which try to satisfy higher and higher demands regarding power and music fidelity. There is a large amount of amplifier designs and types. All of these vary regarding performance. I will describe a few of the most widespread amp terms like "class-A", "class-D" and "t amps" to help you figure out which of these amps is best for your application. In addition, after reading this guide you should be able to understand the amp specifications which suppliers issue.
An audio amp will convert a low-level music signal which often comes from a high-impedance source into a high-level signal which can drive a speaker with a low impedance. Depending on the kind of amp, one of several types of elements are utilized in order to amplify the signal including tubes in addition to transistors.
Furthermore, tube amplifiers have rather low power efficiency and as a result radiate a lot of power as heat. Yet another drawback is the high price tag of tubes. This has put tube amplifiers out of the ballpark for the majority of consumer products. As a result, the majority of audio products today employs solid state amplifiers. I will explain solid state amps in the next paragraphs.
Furthermore, tube amps have rather low power efficiency and thus dissipate much power as heat. Tube amps, however, a fairly expensive to produce and for that reason tube amps have by and large been replaced with amps making use of transistor elements which are less costly to make.
Solid state amplifiers replace the tube with semiconductor elements, usually bipolar transistors or FETs. The first type of solid-state amps is called class-A amplifiers. In class-A amps a transistor controls the current flow according to a small-level signal. A few amps employ a feedback mechanism to minimize the harmonic distortion. In terms of harmonic distortion, class-A amps rank highest amongst all types of audio amplifiers. These amplifiers also typically exhibit very low noise. As such class-A amplifiers are ideal for very demanding applications in which low distortion and low noise are crucial. Class-A amps, however, waste most of the power as heat. For that reason they frequently have big heat sinks and are fairly heavy.
By using a number of transistors, class-AB amplifiers improve on the small power efficiency of class-A amplifiers. The operating area is divided into two separate areas. These two areas are handled by separate transistors. Each of those transistors works more efficiently than the single transistor in a class-A amp. As such, class-AB amplifiers are usually smaller than class-A amps. However, this topology adds some non-linearity or distortion in the region where the signal switches between those areas. As such class-AB amps typically have larger distortion than class-A amplifiers.
To resolve the problem of large audio distortion, newer switching amp designs incorporate feedback. The amplified signal is compared with the original low-level signal and errors are corrected. One type of audio amps that employs this type of feedback is called "class-T" or "t amplifier". Class-T amplifiers feed back the high-level switching signal to the audio signal processor for comparison. These amplifiers have small audio distortion and can be manufactured extremely small.
An audio amp will convert a low-level music signal which often comes from a high-impedance source into a high-level signal which can drive a speaker with a low impedance. Depending on the kind of amp, one of several types of elements are utilized in order to amplify the signal including tubes in addition to transistors.
Furthermore, tube amplifiers have rather low power efficiency and as a result radiate a lot of power as heat. Yet another drawback is the high price tag of tubes. This has put tube amplifiers out of the ballpark for the majority of consumer products. As a result, the majority of audio products today employs solid state amplifiers. I will explain solid state amps in the next paragraphs.
Furthermore, tube amps have rather low power efficiency and thus dissipate much power as heat. Tube amps, however, a fairly expensive to produce and for that reason tube amps have by and large been replaced with amps making use of transistor elements which are less costly to make.
Solid state amplifiers replace the tube with semiconductor elements, usually bipolar transistors or FETs. The first type of solid-state amps is called class-A amplifiers. In class-A amps a transistor controls the current flow according to a small-level signal. A few amps employ a feedback mechanism to minimize the harmonic distortion. In terms of harmonic distortion, class-A amps rank highest amongst all types of audio amplifiers. These amplifiers also typically exhibit very low noise. As such class-A amplifiers are ideal for very demanding applications in which low distortion and low noise are crucial. Class-A amps, however, waste most of the power as heat. For that reason they frequently have big heat sinks and are fairly heavy.
By using a number of transistors, class-AB amplifiers improve on the small power efficiency of class-A amplifiers. The operating area is divided into two separate areas. These two areas are handled by separate transistors. Each of those transistors works more efficiently than the single transistor in a class-A amp. As such, class-AB amplifiers are usually smaller than class-A amps. However, this topology adds some non-linearity or distortion in the region where the signal switches between those areas. As such class-AB amps typically have larger distortion than class-A amplifiers.
To resolve the problem of large audio distortion, newer switching amp designs incorporate feedback. The amplified signal is compared with the original low-level signal and errors are corrected. One type of audio amps that employs this type of feedback is called "class-T" or "t amplifier". Class-T amplifiers feed back the high-level switching signal to the audio signal processor for comparison. These amplifiers have small audio distortion and can be manufactured extremely small.
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