High Performance Audio Power Amplifiers

5

Features of the power stage

5.1 Overview

This section considers the more nitty-gritty details of the power stages introduced in chapter 4.

The power stage is what sets power amplifiers apart from the more lightweight electronics in the remainder of the audio path. Today, the historically gross physical differences of size and particularly weight may have been ameliorated, but the fact remains that whether solid-state or valve, power stages built to drive practical loudspeakers always involve the delivery of higher voltages, far higher currents, and also high temperatures.

In transistor amplifiers, these quantities can range up to and over 300 Volts, 100 Amperes and 150 degrees Celsius (°c). In valve equipment, such temperatures are unremarkable ...