Designing Audio Circuits

How does speech, music, or, indeed, any sound get from the record, the CD or the cassette tape to the loudspeaker? This is a question that many people keep on asking and to which this book endeavours to give a comprehensible answer. Understanding the background of the process is a first requirement, which is why the author in the description of single components makes clear what exactly happens in the component. An understanding is also engendered of phenomena such as noise, hum, distortion, and others, as well as standards such as the decibel and the RIAA characteristic. Designing circuits is practically impossible without an understanding of the various networks involved in the conversion of the input sound to the sound emanating from a loudspeaker. To this end, the author describes four important basic circuits using an operational amplifier, a component without which modern audio circuits can no longer be imagined. Variants of these four circuits return in many of the other circuits contained in this book. Building circuits, including ancillary and special ones, form the practical parts of this book. These circuits can be applied in audio equipment as well as with certain musical instruments. There are preamplifiers, filters, output stages, power supplies, compandors, mixer panels, level meters, bandwidth limiters, headphone amplifiers, playback stages, as well as tips on construction and faultfinding.

Small Signal Audio Design is a highly practical handbook providing an extensive repertoire of circuits that can be assembled to make almost any type of audio system. The publication of Electronics for Vinyl has freed up space for new material, (though this book still contains a lot on moving-magnet and moving-coil electronics) and this fully revised third edition offers wholly new chapters on tape machines, guitar electronics, and variable-gain amplifiers, plus much more. A major theme is the use of inexpensive and readily available parts to obtain state-of-the-art performance for noise, distortion, crosstalk, frequency response accuracy and other parameters. Virtually every page reveals nuggets of specialized knowledge not found anywhere else. For example, you can improve the offness of a fader simply by adding a resistor in the right place- if you know the right place. Essential points of theory that bear on practical audio performance are lucidly and thoroughly explained, with the mathematics kept to an absolute minimum. Self’s background in design for manufacture ensures he keeps a wary eye on the cost of things. This book features the engaging prose style familiar to readers of his other books. You will learn why mercury-filled cables are not a good idea, the pitfalls of plating gold on copper, and what quotes from Star Trek have to do with PCB design. Learn how to: make amplifiers with apparently impossibly low noise design discrete circuitry that can handle enormous signals with vanishingly low distortion use humble low-gain transistors to make an amplifier with an input impedance of more than 50 megohms transform the performance of low-cost-opamps build active filters with very low noise and distortion make incredibly accurate volume controls make a huge variety of audio equalisers make magnetic cartridge preamplifiers that have noise so low it is limited by basic physics, by using load synthesis sum, switch, clip, compress, and route audio signals be confident that phase perception is not an issue This expanded and updated third edition contains extensive new material on optimising RIAA equalisation, electronics for ribbon microphones, summation of noise sources, defining system frequency response, loudness controls, and much more. Including all the crucial theory, but with minimal mathematics, Small Signal Audio Design is the must-have companion for anyone studying, researching, or working in audio engineering and audio electronics.

This comprehensive book on audio power amplifier design will appeal to members of the professional audio engineering community as well as the student and enthusiast. Designing Audio Power Amplifiersbegins with power amplifier design basics that a novice can understand and moves all the way through to in-depth design techniques for very sophisticated audiophiles and professional audio power amplifiers. This book is the single best source of knowledge for anyone who wishes to design audio power amplifiers. It also provides a detailed introduction to nearly all aspects of analog circuit design, making it an effective educational text. Develop and hone your audio amplifier design skills with in-depth coverage of these and other topics: Basic and advanced audio power amplifier design Low-noise amplifier design Static and dynamic crossover distortion demystified Understanding negative feedback and the controversy surrounding it Advanced NFB compensation techniques, including TPC and TMC Sophisticated DC servo design MOSFET power amplifiers and error correction Audio measurements and instrumentation Overlooked sources of distortion SPICE simulation for audio amplifiers, including a tutorial on LTspice SPICE transistor modeling, including the VDMOS model for power MOSFETs Thermal design and the use of ThermalTrak(tm) transistors Four chapters on class D amplifiers, including measurement techniques Professional power amplifiers Switch-mode power supplies (SMPS). design Static and dynamic crossover distortion demystified Understanding negative feedback and the controversy surrounding it Advanced NFB compensation techniques, including TPC and TMC Sophisticated DC servo design MOSFET power amplifiers and error correction Audio measurements and instrumentation Overlooked sources of distortion SPICE simulation for audio amplifiers, including a tutorial on LTspice SPICE transistor modeling, including the VDMOS model for power MOSFETs Thermal design and the use of ThermalTrak(tm) transistors Four chapters on class D amplifiers, including measurement techniques Professional power amplifiers Switch-mode power supplies (SMPS). the use of ThermalTrak(tm) transistors Four chapters on class D amplifiers, including measurement techniques Professional power amplifiers Switch-mode power supplies (SMPS).

This book is essential for audio power amplifier designers and engineers for one simple reason...it enables you as a professional to develop reliable, high-performance circuits. The Author Douglas Self covers the major issues of distortion and linearity, power supplies, overload, DC-protection and reactive loading. He also tackles unusual forms of compensation and distortion produced by capacitors and fuses. This completely updated fifth edition includes four NEW chapters including one on The XD Principle, invented by the author, and used by Cambridge Audio. Crosstalk, power amplifier input systems, and microcontrollers in amplifiers are also now discussed in this fifth edition, making this book a must-have for audio power amplifier professionals and audiophiles.

Learn to use inexpensive and readily available parts to obtain state-of-the-art performance in all the vital parameters of noise, distortion, crosstalk and so on. With ample coverage of preamplifiers and mixers and a new chapter on headphone amplifiers, this practical handbook provides an extensive repertoire of circuits that can be put together to make almost any type of audio system. A resource packed full of valuable information, with virtually every page revealing nuggets of specialized knowledge not found elsewhere. Essential points of theory that bear on practical performance are lucidly and thoroughly explained, with the mathematics kept to a relative minimum. Douglas' background in design for manufacture ensures he keeps a wary eye on the cost of things. Includes a chapter on power-supplies, full of practical ways to keep both the ripple and the cost down, showing how to power everything. Douglas wears his learning lightly, and this book features the engaging prose style familiar to readers of his other books. You will learn why mercury cables are not a good idea, the pitfalls of plating gold on copper, and what quotes from Star Trek have to do with PCB design. Learn how to: make amplifiers with apparently impossibly low noise design discrete circuitry that can handle enormous signals with vanishingly low distortion use humble low-gain transistors to make an amplifier with an input impedance of more than 50 Megohms transform the performance of low-cost-opamps, how to make filters with very low noise and distortion make incredibly accurate volume controls make a huge variety of audio equalisers make magnetic cartridge preamplifiers that have noise so low it is limited by basic physics sum, switch, clip, compress, and route audio signals The second edition is expanded throughout (with added information on new ADCs and DACs, microcontrollers, more coverage of discrete op amp design, and many other topics), and includes a completely new chapter on headphone amplifiers.

Designing Audio Circuits and Systems is a comprehensive guide to audio circuits and systems design. Beginning with analog audio circuit design basics that a novice can understand, this book offers insight all the way through to in-depth design techniques for many different audiophile and professional audio circuits and functions. Develop and hone your audio design skills with in-depth coverage of these and other topics: Low-noise amplifier design Understanding and applying negative feedback Filter and equalizer design Preamplifiers for moving magnet and moving coil phono cartridges Preamplifiers for dynamic, condenser, electret and ribbon microphones Fader and panning circuit design Balanced line driver and line receiver circuits DC servo design and application Design of headphone amplifiers and crossfeed circuits Self-powered loudspeaker design and active crossovers Digital-to-Analog Converters (DACs) Bridging the analog and digital worlds, Designing Audio Circuits and Systems is essential reading for those in the professional audio engineering community, as well as students and enthusiasts who wish to design audio circuits and functions for pro audio or audiophile applications, and live sound or studio mixing consoles.

Master the art of audio power amplifier design This comprehensive book on audio power amplifier design will appeal to members of the professional audio engineering community as well as the hobbyist. Designing Audio Power Amplifiers begins with power amplifier design basics that a novice can understand and moves all the way through to in-depth design techniques for the very sophisticated audiophile and professional audio power amplifier designer. This is the single best source of knowledge for anyone who wants to design an audio power amplifier, whether for fun or profit. Develop and hone your audio design skills with in-depth coverage of these and other topics: Basics of audio power amplifier design MOSFET power amplifiers and error correction Static and dynamic crossover distortion demystified Understanding negative feedback and the controversy surrounding it Advanced negative feedback compensation techniques Sophisticated DC servo design Audio measurements and instrumentation Overlooked sources of distortion SPICE simulation for audio amplifiers, including a tutorial SPICE transistor modeling, including the EKV model for power MOSFETs Thermal design and the use of ThermalTrak transistors Four chapters devoted to class D amplifiers Supplemental material available at www.cordellaudio.com includes: * Ready-to-run amplifier simulations * Key transistor models * Other bonus materials Make Great Stuff! TAB, an imprint of McGraw-Hill Professional, is a leading publisher of DIY technology books for makers, hackers, and electronics hobbyists.

This book is essential for audio power amplifier designers and engineers for one simple reason...it enables you as a professional to develop reliable, high-performance circuits. The Author Douglas Self covers the major issues of distortion and linearity, power supplies, overload, DC-protection and reactive loading. He also tackles unusual forms of compensation and distortion produced by capacitors and fuses. This completely updated fifth edition includes four NEW chapters including one on The XD Principle, invented by the author, and used by Cambridge Audio. Crosstalk, power amplifier input systems, and microcontrollers in amplifiers are also now discussed in this fifth edition, making this book a must-have for audio power amplifier professionals and audiophiles.