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This Issue
Since 3/23/99
In This Issue
1 Ultra-Linear Output Stages
3 Line Stage Amplifier
4 The Ultra-Linear Cascode
4 OTL Power Amplifiers
6 Headphone Amplifier
9 Differential Input HP Amplifier
13 Extracting Extra PS Voltages
16 Ultra-Linear OTL Power Amplifiers
17 Heater Concerns
17 Output Stage Design
19 The Feedback Loop
E-mail
Publishing Information
611676 Glossary of Audio Terms
Glass-Ware.com Articles
Classic Magazine articles
Pentode connected
Triode connected
substantially
different
bandwidth
and
waveform fidelity than its plate leads.
Transformers are the loose cannons of an
amplifier's design.
On the other hand, if the transformer is
removed from the circuit, but the ultra-linear
mode is retained, we could more fairly judge
the ultra-linear topology. Because grid 2 is at a
more positive voltage than the cathode, it
receives some of the electron flow from the
cathode. Consequently this grid requires a low
impedance source no matter how it is
configured in a circuit. In other words, because
it is conducting current, a simple two resistor
voltage divider will not work, as the current
flow into the resistor would shift the grid 2
voltage too low. No, what is needed,
unfortunately, is a more complex circuit.
An ultra-linear line
stage amplifier that
uses a
potentiometer to
set the ultra-linear
ratio for grid 2 of
the input tube.
Ultra-linear
Cascode gain
stage. The two
100k resistors
return 50% of
the output
signal to the top
triode's grid and
provide a DC
bias voltage for
the top triode.
Headphone Amplifiers
A tube amplifier for dynamic headphone
serves two purposes. The first, obviously, is for
driving high quality headphones, such as those
from Grado and Sennheiser. The second is that
a small headphone amplifier can be viewed as
a test run for a large power amplifier for
loudspeakers.
Differential Input
Headphone Amplifier
The problems of how avoid phase
inversion and how to easily apply
feedback can be overcome by switching
to a differential input stage and a bipolar
power supply. At first glance, the input
stage looks as if it functions just a
Differential
amplifier,
but
closer
inspection shows that it work more like a
Common Cathode amplifier in that the
plate of the first triode does not swing as
great a voltage as the second triode. This
is the result of feeding the output of the
amplifier back into the first triode's plate
resistor. It is this arrangement that both
equalizes the voltage swings of the
output tubes and allows both top and
bottom output tubes function as Cathode
Followers, i.e. unity gain and low Zo.
To get the logic behind this circuit, working
backwards may help. If a positive going pulse
is applied to the output of the amplifier, this
pulse will be transmitted to the top of the first
triode's plate resistor. Since the very little
voltage
Tubes
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Extracting Extra
Power Supply Voltages
I know that many readers will balk at the need
for an extra power supply voltage. Part of their
distaste comes from the need for an extra
transformer (or at the very least an extra
transformer winding that this extra voltage
seems to entail.) The other part is that many
find the extra power supply voltage
intellectually dishonest or at least clumsy.
"One power supply voltage is best," they tell
me. "Really, why?" is my usual response, but it
is never satisfactorily answered. Let's look into
this a little more deeply.
Well, the first half of their dislike is plain
wrong: an extra transformer or even additional
secondary winding is not needed, as the extra
power supply voltage can be derived by
voltage doubling the existing power supply (as
long as there is a center tap). The second
part...what can I say about the second part,
other than to say that the reason this Webzine
exists is to lessen the sway of things like the
second part.
Full-wave
voltage doubler
circuit
Full-wave
bridge
rectifier
Half-wave
rectifier
circuit
Heater Concerns
Now, where you live might help you decide
on how many output tubes to use. In Japan, 8
would be a good choice; but in the United
States, 10 would be the better choice. Why?
These numbers lend themselves to a nice
trick. One of the problems with any power
amplifier is having to feed the heater string.
The EL509 heater draws 2.5 amps. which
means given 10 tube output stage, we will
need a 25 amp at 6.3 volt tap on the power
transformer. They make such transformers, but
they are huge and the wire coming out of them
is usually something like 10 solid-core
(definitely a headache to work with).
Now, if all 10 tubes heaters are placed in
series, the total voltage requirement would be
63 volts and the current draw per heater string
would be only 2.5 amps. If the heater string
from one channel is placed in series with the
other channel's string the current draw would
still be 2.5 amps, but the total voltage
requirement for the string would be 126 volts.
126 volts is very close to the 120 volts we
have coming out of our wall sockets in the
United States. But if 8 output tubes are used
per channel, then the total series requirement
for this heater string would be 100.8 volts,
which is very close to the 100 volts wall
voltage in Japan. (Understand that running the
heaters directly off the wall voltage is not the
same thing as running the amplifier's rail
voltage directly of the wall voltage as in some
of the Futterman amplifier and many cheap
tabletop radios from the 1950s.)
Power supply used
in the some of the
Futterman OTL
amplifiers, which
used no power
supply transformer.
NOT
RECOMENDED
An ultra-linear
power amplifier
output stage
with individual
coupling
capacitors per
output tube.
The signal
relationships
are shown at
the left of the
schematic.
//JRB