Current aumping audio amplifier Output power transistors’ non-linearity amplifier transfer characteristic by P. J. Walker Acoustical Manufacturing Co. Ltd. If Harold Black did not actually invent negative feedback, he was certai famous patent of 1937. Nine years earlier he took out a patent on feed-forward error correction’. Relatively sm: nearly 50 year old concept have led to the development of a new type of audio a comprehensive understane g of the subject does not appear in ly the first to show I variations output circuit with attractive properties. The circuit was the subject of a paper presented to the 50th convention of the A.E.S.by M. P. Albinson and the writer e: An audio power amplifier is required to produce an output signal that differs from the input signal in magnitude only. It must therefore have occurred to every circuit designer that it should be a simple matter to take a portion of the output, compare it with the input to derive an error signal. It is then only necessary to amplify this error signal ‘and add it to the output in the correct amplitude and phase to cancel comple. tely the distortion of the primary amplifier. Of course, one is left with distortion of the error amplifier but being of very low power this can be made negligibly small without much difficulty, There is a special appeal in feed forward error correction for transistor power circuits. Because of thermal limitations, the output transistors in the majority of audio amplifiers operate in r class B, in which alternate output transistors handle the negative and positive signal excursions. The output transistors are carefully biased to obtain reasonably smooth transition. from fone to the other. If the bias is insufficient there will be a discontinuity in the transfer characteristic. Ifthe bias is too great, there will be a region of overlap when the mutual conductance will be doubled. The curvature of the characteristic near cut-off precludes there being a perfect bias condition and this is further aggravated by the fact that the junction temperature and hence the bias is a varying factor depending upon both the long term and. Immediate past history of the pro: gramme dynamics. A compromise is Fig. 1. Basic circuit parameters. selected and overall feedback is applied to obtain an acceptably linear charac- teristic. Excellent amplifiers have been produced along these lines. Neverthe- less, whereas feedback reduces distor- tion to a small and no doubt negligible amount, feed-forward carries the promise of reducing to zero the distor Gon of that part of the amplifier over which itis applied. If this is the class B stage, then not only does the distortion itself disappear but all the parapherna- lia of quiescent current adjustment, "® thermal tracking disappears with it Feed-forward has only really flout ished in areas where stability problems prohibit the use of feedback’. In the field fof domestic audio amplifiers, it has failed to fire the imagination of all but a few; presumably due to the extra complications and the undoubted prac- tical problems of adding the error channel to the main ‘stiff output in an ‘elegant manner. If feed-forward is applied within the loop of a feedback amplifier, its stability advantage is necessarily forfeit. Ne- vertheless, in return, the need for a separate error amplifier can disappear and mutual loading problems disappear with it, A circuit developed on these lines carries an error component bypassing the main output transistors and so largely releasing them of linear ity requirements. This technique has become known as “current dumping’ since this is descriptive of the rather mundane functions they are called upon to perform. The basis of the new approach is shown in Fig. 1. Amplifier A is a small class A amplifier capable of providing the total required output voltage swing but with limited output current capabj Aity. Tr, and Tr, are current dumpi transistors which supply the major pare ‘of the load current.er It will help in visualising the opera tion ifthe impedances are assumed to be resistors of values Z,=1k ohm: Z,= 100k obmy; Z,= 100 ohm; and Z,=1 ‘ohm, In the interest of siinplicity’ we have assumed Z, to be negligibly small compared to Z,, and for the time being ‘we will assume that the voltage output of amplifier A is completely defined by the external impedances. With ‘Tr and Tr, turned off, amplifier will deliver current to the load via Z, rhe current with the values suggested will be LOL amps/volt because the second term in the brackets is zero (no 1 current from the dumpers). When half a volt or thereabouts appears across Z,, one or other of the dumpers Tr, or Tr, will begin to turn on and pass some current I, into the load, We have selected fesistor values such that ZLi2,2, 1s unity so that the second term in the expression for the I, current is exactly equal and opposite to 1, (this second term is the feed-forward error correction component). Currents fy and J add in the load so that no matter what the magnitude of 1, the overall mutual conductance remains constant, We can say that any distortion in Try and Try produces perturbations in the current I, and since this causes exactly equal and ‘opposite perturbations in 1, no dis- tortion appears in the load, ‘Tr, and Te,have only one function to perform and that is to dump current into the load sufficiently accurately and sufficiently fast to come to the rescue of the class A amplifier and prevent it from overloading, If this is achieved then the class A amplifier, although it may have considerable gymnastics to perform, ill be in complete control of the load feurvent at all times. Fig. 1 does not look like a practical hi-fi amplifier since its output is con: stant current and the input is floating relative to the power supply. Neverth Jess it is obvious that if the input is returned to the other end of the load all the unique properties of Fig. 1 will still apply though perhaps a litle less simple to visualise. This done, we have an amplifier whose output source impe- dance is Z, and Z, in parallel. _ Wo ces are desirabic. A Yrs the ca P'iccke and ‘Two further Manges are desirable. A Vint the clagf A Stage and whilst the practical amplifier is required to have fn internal impedance small compared to the load at audio frequencies and stability requires that the internal loop gain falls with frequency. Both these conditions are met by the use of an inductor for 2, a capacitor for Z; and resistors for Z, and Z,. The requirement {or zero distortion from the dumpers is that Z,2,/Z,Z, is unity at all frequencies of interest. This is achieved if L=RRC. Fig. 2 shows the circuit with the ‘modifications carried out, (In order to keep the system operating at all fre quencies it is necessary for a resistor in series with the inductor to have a conjugate match with a parallel resistor across the capacitor. This has been ‘omitted for simplicity.) Fig. 2 begins to look very familiar, in fact just like a conventional amplifier with the biasing removed and a small inductor added. Is this really all that is necessary to produce the perfect amplifier? The answer, of course, is no, not quite; the circuit is over-simplified, We have pushed all the problems back Fig. 2. Basic diagram of principal elements Fig. 3. Simplified diagram showing, Class A stage, current dumpers and bridge components. distortion would indeed be zero if the class A stage were perfect, this cannot be completely so in practice. We assumed in our analysis that amplifier A ‘was completely controlled by the exter nal impedances, that it had a perfect virtual earth at its input which implied perfect regulation at its output. The effect of departure from this ideal ean be assessed by calculation from a deliber ate unbalance of the four component bridge, whether this is due to tolerances of any of the components or to inade quate ‘stiffness’ at the output of ampli- fier A, With the values shown in Fig. 2a 5% error in any component value will produce maximum intermodulation products of around SpV at IkHz; maximum possible im. of 0.01%, the ‘maximum absolute level of these com- ponents being some 140dB below full power. Although frequency dependent, iis clear that balance is by no means critical and standard tolerance fixed components can be used without adjusting facilities. We have said that the dumpers haveto be sufficiently fast to come to the rescue of the class A amplifier to prevent its overloading. Clearly they ‘must be sufficiently fast to achieve this, fover the audio spectrum of the pro- gramme. There is, however, nothing ‘whatever to say that they must do so at frequencies outside the audio range provided that steps are taken in the design of the whole amplifier to ensure that any such frequencies that may be present do not embarrass the amplifier performance within the audio range. If the system is properly designed it is possible to use relatively slow devices — inherently more rugged than fast devices ~ and to show in theory and Fig. 4 Full circuit diagram. Resistor R isa protective connection provided to ensure earth continuity in the event that Tr and its associated component panel are disconnected from the common earth chassis, Fig. 5. The Quad 405, a commercial realization of the circuit design. Sow = MPSUbO is 92e= te gor? 27d tovcnpsure References, Tr Black US Pat, 1,686,792. 9th Qt, 1929, 2, Feedforward ‘error control” Wir World May 1972, p23 2 Sandman, A." M. Reducing amplitie distortion. Wireless) World October 1974, ps6 OPE Barnes Pre Printed by H.E. Warne Ltd. London and St. Austellee Packing The amplifier is supplied with an input lead. mains connector, tne Soltage limiting resistors, and a spare mains fuse. The yo eg material comprises @ two part expanded polystyrene: eae gad a cardboard carton and should be retained for re-use wn case the unit has to be returned at any time. Service If servicing is required the amplifies may be returned to The Manufacturing Co. Lid, Huntingdon, or to the purchase. suthout prior not fication. foms and the address for with the amplifier. Acoust agent for the count A brick note giving details uf any the unit should he #nc Guarantee Sralifier «6 guaranteed agains’ any defect in material and the date of heenanship for a period of hwelve months ourchas Within this period we undertake to Supply replacement parts free of charge provided that fulure -ras not =casioned by SIMPLIFIED SCHEMATIC OF 405 AMPLIFIER SHOWING CLASS A, DUMPERS & BRIDGE COMPONENTS SEE Description The Quad 405 1s a two channel power amplifier primarily intended for use in high quality sound reproducing systems. The ‘impfier is usually used wich the Quad 33 control unit though Other signal sources can readhly be accommodated The amplifier uses a curent dumoing output circuit, a Quad Invention which eliminates many of the problems associated ‘with transistor amplifiers In a curtent dumping amphi er there 1s in effect both a low powered very hgh quality amplifier and a high powered heavy Bary ampliier. The low power amplifier controls tie loudspeakers sen times. calling upon the high power section to provide most gf the muscle. The small amplifier 's so arranged ~ it carries an Gor signal = that provided ‘he lerger power transistors (the dumpers} get within the target area of the required output Current rt will ll n tne remainder accurately and completely, The reproduced quality 's sofely dependent on the small amplifier which because of 1s low power can be made very ‘good indeed. Problems of crossover. crossover distortion, quiescent current sjustment, thermal rackine. eransistor matching, all disappear See tie no interna’ adjustments or alignments and the choice of power transistor types 15 less 1QUAD 405 SPECIFICATION ——— Measurements apply to either channel, with or without the other channel operating Power Output The amplifier is intended for use with loudspeakers of 4-160 nominal impedance Power and distortion for various frequencies Continuous sine wave nto 21 resistive load 100 Hz any level up 72 100 watts <001% D tot 1000 Hz any level up t© 100 watts <0:01% D tot 10,000 H2 any level up te 100 watts <0-06% D tot For other impedances and frequencies see graphs. Notes 1. In addition to the performance into a resistive load R, the amplifier will maintain full voltage within the same distortion rating into a load R - |X where X is any value from zero to infinity. 2. With the additional power limiter inserted the max.cnum, output voltage is limried to 20V rms ~ 10% (50 watts 812) all other performance figures unchanged Output Internal Impedance and Offset 3-3yH in series with 00 Offset <7mv Frequency Response Ref. 1 kHz Low frequency —1dB at 20 Hz. Filter attenuation as curve. High frequency 0 dB 20 kHz - 348 50 kHz Signal Input Level . 0-5V rms +} 0:5d8 for 100 watts into 822, Amplifier Icaos the input by 20k# in paralle\ with 220pF Signal input Slew Rate O1W/us Provided the rate of chi it nge of input voltages does net exceed total of all distortions appearing in the audio range (20-20,000 Hz) due to transient or repetitive waveforms with frequency components inside or outside the audio range will be at least 8048 below full -ated power. f the major portion of the input | energy is wanted signal then —-80dB (0-01%) represents the maximum possibie distortion on programme. 4 rowen warts PP i : : 2 WITH MITER Hi Maxiwumourrurrowen ourrur| © as Looe ToT pa “a 3 ve ougvonTion tr bots onTORVON oe itt owen nl ecinei as fonction or Facouewcy | rah Papen Beenie cu itSignal Input Overload Instantaneous recovery 22 i +20dB overload. Crosstalk (Input loaded by 1k) 80¢B @ 100 Hz 7002 @ 1 kHz 2008 @ 10 kHz, Hum and Noise ‘A weighted —95d8 Unweighted —90¢8 ref fl! power (18:7 kHz measurement bandwi Protection ‘The amplifier is suitabie ‘2° use under the most arduous music conditions and is electr IZ" “ToT ane 8 Wie : | ~ 9.6 Tunes reTAG GE / CAKE? ewricesae -fyef 4.2" Comer a arenRENSERTEEETE = Te Oe Paes | ge" Blas