Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Uncovering The Truth About Recent Power Amplifiers

By Marta McBrian


The frequency response is quite possibly the most commonly found parameter in order to define power amplifiers. Having said that, it may often be confusing and might not always provide a good indication of the sound quality. I am going to make clear the meaning of this term and also give some recommendations on how to interpret it whilst looking for an amp. An amp will magnify a sound signal that is inside the frequency response range. This range is specified by listing two frequencies: a lower and also upper frequency. For example, the lower frequency may be 20 Hz and the higher frequency 20 kHz. Using this specification it seems like the amp could work as a HIFI amplifier. You could think the greater the frequency response the higher quality the amp. That, however, may not necessarily be. You have to evaluate the specs far more carefully to be able to correctly understand all of them.

An amp is able to only work within a particular frequency range. Any kind of signals outside this range will be removed. As such the frequency response offers an essential clue pertaining to whether a specific amp may be well suited for a particular use. If the frequency range is 20 Hz to 20 kHz for example, the amplifier can amplify all signals with a frequency higher than 20 Hz and less than 20 kHz. Then again, there is far more to understanding the amplifier's functionality than simply reviewing these figures.

However, the frequency response quite often is used to mislead consumers by way of stretching the frequency range a good deal beyond the range where the amp still operates properly and in addition hides the fact that the amp may not be linear. A full frequency response chart, on the other hand, will demonstrate if there are any kind of peaks or valleys and also show the way the frequency response is to be understood. Peaks and valleys could cause colorization of the audio. If at all possible the gain of the amp needs to be linear through the entire operating range.

The frequency response of Class-D amplifiers shows the biggest change with different speaker loads due to the integrated lowpass filter that eliminates switching noise from the amplifier's signal. Then again, the frequency response of the amp now will depend on the speaker load since the behavior of this lowpass filter is affected by the load impedance. Commonly the lower the speaker load impedance the lower the upper cut-off frequency of the amplifier

This change is most obvious with many digital amplifiers, also known as Class-D amps. Class-D amplifiers employ a lowpass filter in their output to be able to reduce the switching components that are created by the internal power FETs. Yet, the frequency response of the amp now varies according to the loudspeaker load because the behavior of this lowpass filter is influenced by the load impedance. Normally the lower the loudspeaker load impedance the lower the upper cut-off frequency of the amplifier A number of amplifier topologies offer a way to compensate for variations in the amplifier gain with various speaker loads. One of those approaches uses feedback. The amplifier output signal after the interior lowpass is input to the amplifier input for comparison. If not created correctly, this method could cause instability of the amplifier though. One more approach uses audio transformers between the power stage of the amplifier and various outputs. Every single output was designed to attach a different speaker load. This approach makes certain that the amplifier is going to be loaded equally and in addition improves amplifier efficiency.




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