Table of Contents

Introduction
2
Solution Figure 1
3
Resistance Calculations
3
Voltage Comparison

PCB Layout

Solution Figure 2
6
Voltage Gain Calculations
6
Input Resistance Calculations
12
Significance of Potentiometer and Capacitor
14

Solution Figure 3
15
Significance of diodes
15
Efficiency Calculations
16
Effect of change in R1 and R2
18

Solution Figure 4
19

Calculation of Input Resistance

19
Maximum Power Calculations
19
Purpose of Q5 and R1
19

Conclusions

20

Applications
21
Bibliography
22

Introduction:
An audio power amplifier is an electronic amplifier that amplifies
low-power audio signals (signals composed primarily of
frequencies between 20 - 20 000 Hz, the human range of hearing)
to a level suitable for driving loudspeakers. It is the final
electronic stage in a typical audio playback chain.
The preceding stages in such a chain are low power audio
amplifiers which perform tasks like pre-amplification (this is
particularly associated with record turntable signals),
equalization, tone controls, mixing/effects, or audio sources like
record players, CD players, and cassette players. Most audio
power amplifiers require these low-level inputs to adhere to line
levels.

The system shown above is a generic model of a Public

addressing system. This report includes the detailed analysis of
the electronic system behind above model. It has four stages.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Common Emitter Amplifier

Pre-Amplifier
Power Amplifier 1
Power Amplifier 2

The report includes the detailed analysis of the complete 4 stages

in term. The National Instrument Multisim Version 13 is used as
simulation tool.

Solution:

Figure 1:
a)

Calculation of all the resistance:

Rc =

V CC
2 Ic

12
2 x (2 x 2 x 103 )

Av=

Rc

=> 9=

3000

= 3000
=> Re=

3000
9

=333.33

VB=VE+VBE
And,

VE=ICRC= (2x10-3) (333.33ohm)

VE=0.67V
VB=0.67V+0.7V
VB=1.367V

IC
IB

Hfe=

=> IB=

I c 2 x 103
=
Hfe
200

=1x10-5 A

IBB=10xIB=10x10x10-5=10-4 A
R2=
R1=
b)

V CCV
I BB + I B

1.367
4
1 x 10

= 13670ohm

121.367
4
5
1 x 10 +1 x 10

= 96663.6 ohm

Simulation of the Circuit in MultiSim

Results:

Comparison of the Gains:

The calculations of the resistances in the CE circuit shown above
were according to the Gain of 9. There were a minor changing in
the resistance values to make them like the resistance values
available in the market. The simulation results give the gain of
8.618 V and that can be easily seen from the graph shown above.
The output signal is shown in blue color while the input signal is in
red color. The difference in the gain is due to the rounding off the
resistance values.

c)PCB Design in the Ultiboard:

Solution of Figure 2(Pre-Amplifier Circuit)

a) Compare the voltage gain of the first
and second stages with and without
loading effect.(Use 45mV peak
Voltage as input signal )
Gain of the First stage: (With Load)

Figure above shows the MultiSim schematics of the first stage of

the Preamplifier with load. Resistance of 1K is included as the

load. The waveforms of the input and output voltages obtained

from the oscilloscope are shown below.
The gain can be calculated using the relation as
Gain = Output/Input
As an input we have applied a signal of 45mV peak and the
output voltage measure using the oscilloscope are (-39.264 mV)
thus the gain comes out to be
Gain = (-39.264) / 45 = (-0.8725)
Similarly the gain obtained from the practical results is
Gain = (-36.8) / 44.23 = (- 0.83)

Without Loading Effect:

Figure above shows the MultiSim schematics of the first stage of

the Preamplifier without load.. The waveforms of the input and
output voltages obtained from the oscilloscope are shown below

10

The gain can be calculated using the relation as

Gain = Output/Input
As an input we have applied a signal of 45mV peak and the
output voltage measure using the oscilloscope are (--911.732 mV)
thus the gain comes out to be
Gain = (--911.732) / 45 = (-20.26)
Similarly the gain obtained from the practical results is
Gain = (-899.8) / 44.23 = (- 20.34)

Gain of the Second stage (Without Load):

Figure above shows the MultiSim schematics of the second stage
of the Preamplifier without load.The waveforms of the input and
output
voltages
obtained
from the

oscilloscope are shown below

11

The gain can be calculated using the relation as

Gain = Output/Input
As an input we have applied a signal of 45mV peak and the
output voltage measure using the oscilloscope are (-112.48 mV)
thus the gain comes out to be
Gain = (-112.48) / 45 = (-2.5)
Similarly the gain obtained from the practical results is
Gain = (-110.4) / 44.23 = (- 2.48)

12

Gain of the Second stage (With Load):

13

Figure above shows the MultiSim schematics of the first stage of

the Preamplifier with load. Resistance of 1K is included as the
load. The waveforms of the input and output voltages obtained
from the oscilloscope are shown below.
The gain can be calculated using the relation as
Gain = Output/Input
As an input we have applied a signal of 45mV peak and the
output voltage measure using the oscilloscope are (-15.629 mV)
thus the gain comes out to be
Gain = (-15.629) / 45 = (-0.3473)
Similarly the gain obtained from the practical results is
Gain = (-14.77) / 44.23 = (- 0.339)

Comparison of the Gains (With and Without Load):

The voltage gains of the both stages were calculated using the
simulation and practical of the circuit given. The gain of second
stage is lower than the gain of the gain of the first stage. The both

14

stages have the negative gains. With the introduction of the load
the gain of the both stages are reduced. The higher the loading
effect will be, higher will be the reduction in the gain voltages.

b)

Comparison of the Simulated and Practical

Results:
The stimulated results are more ideal to the nature as there is no
line resistance, capacitance or inductance when we simulated the
results. The second reason of the more ideal nature of the results
obtained from the simulation is , the values of the components
used to draw the circuit are very accurate and have very low
tolerance in both negative and positive sides. The practical results
are relatively low than the simulated results reason have been
discussed before.
c) If ac =150 then calculate the theoretical input
resistance of the both stages.

Input resistance of the stage 1:

As we know that =150
To find the input resistance all the voltage sources and capacitors
are short circuited. The circuit we have is a common emitter
amplifier the input resistance as seen by the source is given by
Where

Rin=(R1||R2) ||(Rib)
R ib=re + (1+) R4

R3 is not taken into account as the capacitor attached in parallel

will provide a current path to ground.
re is 50 ohm in our case =150 and R4 is 1k
Rib =50 + (1+150)1x10-3
15

Rib= 151.05k
Now Calculating Rin=(330k||330k)||(151.05k)
Rin=(165k||151.05k)=24923.25\316.05
Rin=78.85k

Input Resistance of the second stage:

To find the input resistance all the voltage sources and capacitors
are short circuited. The circuit we have is a common emitter
amplifier the input resistance as seen by the source is given by
Rin=(R6||R7) ||(Rib2)
R ib=re + (1+) R11

Where

R11 is not taken into account as the capacitor attached in parallel

will provide a current path to ground as its is short circuited in the
small signal model.
re is 50 ohm in our case =150 and R11 is 130
Rib =50 + (1+150)130
Rib= 19.68k
Now Calculating Rin=(47k||22k)||(19.68k)
Rin=((1034\69)||19.68k)=(14.98||19.76)
Rin=8.52k
Comments about the Rin:
The input resistance of an ideal amplifier should be infinite but as
its a characteristics that the common emitter amplifier has a
relatively low input impedance but can provide a high voltage and
current gain. Thus our calculation verifies the characteristics of a
common emitter amplifier circuit.

16

d)

Significance of R10(Swamped Resister) and

C2(Bypass Capacitor)
Swamped Resistor R10 is basically used to provide high DC gain stability, while
Bypass Capacitor C2 is providing high AC voltage gain as explained below.

Swamping is a method used to minimize the effect of r e without reducing the

voltage gain to its minimum value. This method swamps out the effect of r e

on the voltage gain. Actually, swamping is a compromise between having a bypass

capacitor C2 across emitter resistance RE (where RE = R10 + R11) and having no
Bypass Capacitor C2 at all. In a swamped amplifier, RE is partially bypassed to
r
e

achieve gain stability, and the effect of

on the gain is greatly reduced or

eliminated. The total external emitter resistance RE, is formed with two separate
emitter resistors R10 and R11 as shown in Fig 2. One of the resistors i.e. R11 is
bypassed and the other is not. Both resistors R10 and R11 affect the dc bias while
only R10 affects the ac voltage gain as shown below in the AC gain formula;
AV

R9

= r + R 10

If R10 is at least ten times larger than r e

then the effect of r e is minimized

and the approximate voltage gain for the swamped amplifier is;
AV

R9
R 10

The aim of an AC signal amplifier circuit is to stabilize the DC biased input

voltage to the amplifier so that only required AC signal can be amplified. This
stabilization is achieved by the use of an Emitter Resistance which provides the
required amount of automatic biasing needed for a common emitter amplifier.
Stability is a measure of how well an amplifier maintains its design values over
17

changes in temperature or for a transistor with a different . Although bypassing RE

produces the maximum voltage gain, there is a stability problem because the ac
voltage gain is dependent on

re

and also,

re

depends on IE and on

temperature. This causes the gain to be unstable over changes in temperature

because when r e increases, the gain decreases and vice versa.

Figure 3 (Power Amplifier Circuit 1)

a)

What is the significance of the diodes?

We know that we need the base-emitter voltage to be greater

than 0.7v for a silicon bipolar transistor to start conducting, so
if we were to replace the two voltage divider biasing resistors
connected to the base terminals of the transistors with two
silicon Diodes, the biasing voltage applied to the transistors
would now be equal to the forward voltage drop of the diode.
These two diodes are generally called Biasing Diodes or
18

Compensating

Diodes

and

are

chosen

to

match

the

characteristics of the matching transistors.

The second feature of the diodes is to avoid the temperature
runaway and thus avoiding the increase in collector current
with the change in Vbe due to temperature change.

b)

Calculate the efficiency:

The maximum peak output voltage is;

Vout(peak) = VCEQ =

V CC
2

15
2

= 7.5 V

The maximum output current is;

Iout(peak) = Ic(sat) =

V CEQ
RL

7.5
10

= 0.75 A

The AC output power and the dc input power are;

Pout = 0.25 Ic(sat) VCC = 0.25 0.75 15 = 2.8125 W
PDC =
max

19

I c(sat ) V CC

Pout
P DC

=
2.8125
3.58

0.75 15

= 3.58 W

= 0.7856 = 78.56%

Explanation from the Graph:

Using above graph the operation of Class B Push-Pull Amplifier is explained
below as
During the positive half cycle of input, Transistor Q1is on while transistor Q2 is
off, while for negative half cycle it is reverse case. As it can be verified from the
graph that there is no cross over distortion because of diodes D1 and D2, because
these diodes have voltage drop of 0.7 Volt across their terminals which keep the
base emitter junction of both the transistor in forward bias mode even if there is no
input signal available for amplification. In this way cross over distortion is
avoided. It is clearly shown in above graph that the input voltage signal is
amplified by the complementary pairs of transistors. Maximum swing in the output
voltage in the positive half cycle is 0 to Vcc and in the negative half cycle is 0 to

V
EE

20

c) Effects of changing the values of R1 and R2

The R1 and R2 are used here as biasing resistors. The class B amplifier
conducts only the 180o of the AC cycle. Ideally this topology is desired to be
biased such that the Q point lies exactly at the cutoff so that the complete 180o
conduction is achieved. Thus by changing the resistor value the Q point will
move. If we increase the values of the R1 and R2 the conduction will decrease
from 180o and thus the gain will also be disturbed accordingly.

Figure 4 (Power Amplifier Circuit 2)

a)

Input

Resistance
21

Ignoring the feedback resistance R1, the input resistance is found by short
circuiting the all power sources and the capacitors. Thus the input resistance
seen by the source will be

Rin= (+1)R3
Rin=(1+150)220
Rin=33.2k
b) Maximum Power :
Maximum Input power is:

2( V CC )2
RL

Pi(dc) =
2

Pi(dc) =
Maximum Output power is:

2(15)
( 8.2)

Po(ac) =

= 17.47 W
V CC 2
2 RL

Po(ac) =

(15)
2( 8.2)

= 13.71 W

c) Purpose and operation of R1 and Q5:

The output circuit shown in Figure 4 includes a class AB output stage having
transistors Q2 and Q4 and a class A voltage amplifier Q5 along with resistor
R1. The R1 and Q5 in the circuit provide both AC negative feedback to
reduce distortion and noise, and widen bandwidth, as well as DC negative
feedback to stabilize the DC biasing. R1 can be adjusted to provide to set
bias condition in such a way that there is minimum cross over distortion in
the circuit.
The biasing point of the transistor Q5 is being controlled using the R1 which
in connected in negative series feedback from the output. Thus any change
in the output directly affects the current through the Q5

Conclusion
All stages of the public addressing system has been successfully
implemented in NI multisim. The results of the calculations, simulations and
22

practical are correct to our expectations. The design of the amplifier is

clearer now after the implementation of its different stages. The report also
covers the detailed study of a basic audio amplifier with all logical reasoning
of the components included in the design of the amplifier stages.

Applications of the Audio Amplifiers:

Important applications include public address systems, theatrical and concert
sound reinforcement systems, and domestic systems such as a stereo or
home-theatre system. Instrument amplifiers including guitar amplifiers and
electric keyboard amplifiers also use audio power amplifiers. In some cases,
the power amplifier for an instrument is integrated into a single amplifier
"head" which contains a preamplifier, tone controls, and electronic effects.
In other cases, musicians may create a setup with separate rack mount
preamplifiers, equalizers, and a power amplifier in a separate chassis.

23

The use of the audio amplifier in our lives is now inevitable. We use in
almost every entertainment gadget we own from the simple mobile phone to
the big TV screens.

Bibliography
1. Electronics Fundamentals: Circuits, Devices & Applications (8th
Edition) by Thomas L. Floyd
2. Multisim User Guide National Instruments
(www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/374483a.pdf)
3. Microelectronics Circuits (5th edition) by Sedra & Smith
4. Circuit Design Modifications for Pre-amplifier Design

in Audio

Amplifiers", Matti Otala, Journal of Audio Engineering Society, Vol

20 # 5, June 1972
5. "Audio power amplifier design", Peter Baxandall. Wireless World
magazine, February 1979

24