Self on Audio, 3rd Edition

Chapter 27Distortion in power amplifiers

Part VI: the remaining distortions (Electronics World, January 1994)

The first part of the article dealt with the vital matter of control of the quiescent conditions in a Class-B output stage. This is a big subject and only the briefest of summaries was possible; it was much expanded into an entire chapter called ‘Thermal Dynamics’ in Audio Power Amplifier Design. The two most important issues described were firstly, the almost constant dissipation and hence temperature of the drivers in the EF output stage, making its quiescent conditions more stable than would otherwise be the case. Secondly, the most useful and perhaps non-intuitive finding that the top of an output transistor package gets hotter than ...