Chapter 10. Class-A Amplifiers
In the beginning there was Class A, and it was good. It was simple, linear, and had no problem with crossover distortion, switch-off phenomena, nonlinear voltage-amplifier stage (VAS) loading, injection of supply rails, induction from supply currents, erroneous feedback or Beta mismatch in the output devices. OK, so efficiency was horrendous—get a bigger heatsink!—but the sound quality was spectacular, so we learned to live with that.Class A amplifiers will always be around—and they’ll always be a challenge, particularly for battery-powered portable devices. But when your application needs the lowest possible distortion, they’re hard to avoid.In his classic Audio Power Amplifier Design Handbook Douglas Self spends ...