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Category: Technical
Low Cost Isolation Amplifier for Industrial Applications
A Design Idea of mine that appeared in EDN around 2000. The article appeared with the title ‘Lost Cost . . . ‘ – seems someone got a bit mixed up. The idea has been referenced in a few papers on the web – always good to see! Low_cost_isolation_amplifier_suits_industrial_applications Here’s another one using a delta…
Hifisonix UBx Universal JFET Buffer
A while back, one of the diyAudio forum members who was building the nx-Amp (here’s the thread on DIYaudio.com) enquired about either reducing the amplifier’s overall gain, or providing a volume control facility. Since both the 15 W class A sx-Amplifier and its bigger 100W sibling the nx-Amplifier, are Current Feedback Amplifiers, performance is quite…
OPEX-1: A Discrete OPAMP for Audio
This design showcases a discrete opamp for audio applications. It features very low noise, low distortion and a class A output stage that will deliver 1ppm distortion into a 600 Ohm load at 12 V peak. OPEX-1-Discrete-Opamp
Solid State Relay with PCB Layout
A complete relay that is smaller than a Tyco RT series EMR Simple_solid_state_relay_Updated . This design uses a small double sided PCB and some SMD components. Here are the Gerber files SSLR. The recomended mosfets for this design are the PSMN4R3-100PS[1] for supply rails of up to +-50 V absolute maximum, and for supply rails of up…
Augmented Feedback Error Correction (AFEC)
AFEC is a simple technique that augments the feedback of an amplifier to dramatically improve the Large Signal Non-linearity (LSN) distortion performance by up to 20 dB across the audio band. Additionally, AFEC acts to remove any DC offsets and also improve PSRR significantly. Augmenting the feedback in a manner similar to that described in…
Output Coupling Inductors
Inductors on the output of an amplifer are used to isolate the amplifer from capacitive loads at HF and ensure stability. There has been quite some debate on DIYaudio.com as to whether they are audible, necessary, or just the result of designers being overly cautious. Some very well known designers in the field have decided against using…
Oscillation Sniffer
No ‘scope? This simple circuit can help you quickly see if you have any oscillation problems on your opamp or amplifer circuit. Note, its NOT designed to be connected to high impedance nodes. Oscillation Sniffer by Bonsai
H.S. Black: Feedback
Feedback, or its application by humans as control theory, despite the protestations of audio designers that eschew its use, is an entirely natural phenomena. Every time you reach out to pick up an object, get up and walk around, or write something on a piece of paper, feedback data from multiple body sensors are being…
Measuring TIM
This paper by Leinonen, Otala and Curl investigates the measurement of TIM, a hot topic in the 1970’s and early ’80’s after its potential to cause sonic degradation by the incorrect application of feedback around high loop gain solid state amplifiers. Now days (2017), there is a very complete and thoroughly in-depth understanding of TIM…
A Concise Overview of TIM by Bob Cordell
This set of articles was written in the early 1980’s by Bob Cordell, a few years after Matti Otala identified TIM (Transient Inter-Modulation) as the probable cause of sonic imperfections in high feedback solid state amplifiers in the 1970’s. Otala’s paper sent shock waves through the amplifier design community but sadly it ended up ‘subjectivizing’…