Valve Amplifiers

Morgan Jones0750656948, 9780750656948

Morgan Jones Valve Amplifiers has been widely recognised as the most complete guide to valve amplifier design, modification, analysis, construction and maintenance written for over 30 years. As such it is unique in presenting the essentials of hollow-state electronics and valve amp design for engineers and enthusiasts in the familiar context of current best practice in electronic design, using only currently available components. The authors straightforward approach, using as little maths as possible, and lots of design knowhow, makes this book ideal for those with a limited knowledge of the field as well as being the standard reference text for experts in valve audio and a wider audience of audio engineers facing design challenges involving valves.

Design principles and construction techniques are provided so readers can devise and build from scratch designs that actually work. Morgan Jones takes the reader through each step in the process of design, starting with a brief review of electronic fundamentals relevant to valve amplifiers, simple stages, compound stages, linking stages together, and finally, complete designs. Practical aspects, including safety, are addressed throughout.

The third edition includes a new chapter on distortion and many further new and expanded sections throughout the book, including: comparison of bias methods, constant current sinks, upper valve choice, buffering and distortion, shunt regulated push-pull (SRPP) amplifier, use of oscilloscopes and spectrum analysers, valve cooling and heatsinks, US envelope nomenclature and suffixes, heater voltage versus applied current, moving coil transformer source and load terminations.

* The practical guide to analysis, modification, design, construction and maintenance of valve amplifiers
* The fully up-to-date approach to valve electronics
* Essential reading for audio designers and music and electronics enthusiasts alike

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Table of contents :
Front Cover……Page 1
Title Page……Page 4
Copyright Page……Page 5
Table of Contents……Page 6
Preface……Page 10
Dedication……Page 12
Acknowledgements……Page 14
Mathematical symbols……Page 16
Electrons and definitions……Page 17
Potential dividers……Page 30
Alternating current……Page 38
Active devices……Page 59
Silicon diodes……Page 60
Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs)……Page 63
Feedback……Page 69
The operational amplifier……Page 72
Further Reading……Page 78
The common cathode triode amplifier……Page 79
The tetrode……Page 101
The beam tetrode and the pentode……Page 103
The cascode……Page 109
The cathode follower……Page 115
Sources and sinks: definitions……Page 119
The common cathode amplifier as a constant current sink……Page 120
The cathode follower with active load……Page 124
The White cathode follower……Page 125
The mu-follower……Page 130
The Shunt Regulated Push-Pull (SRPP) amplifier……Page 135
The beta-follower……Page 140
The differential pair……Page 142
Semiconductor constant current sinks……Page 148
References……Page 155
Further Reading……Page 156
Defining distortion……Page 158
Digital concepts……Page 166
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)……Page 169
AC operating point……Page 172
DC operating point……Page 176
Distortion reduction by parameter restriction……Page 181
Distortion reduction by cancellation……Page 184
DC bias problems……Page 185
Individual valve choice……Page 193
Coupling from one stage to the next……Page 204
References……Page 215
Further Reading……Page 216
Resistors……Page 217
Capacitors……Page 226
Different types of capacitors……Page 229
General considerations in choosing capacitors……Page 240
Inductors……Page 244
Transformers……Page 250
Why should I use a transformer?……Page 262
General considerations in choosing transformers……Page 263
Uses and abuses of audio transformers……Page 268
Thermionic valves……Page 270
Individual elements of the valve structure……Page 274
References……Page 304
Further Reading……Page 305
The major blocks……Page 307
Rectification and smoothing……Page 308
Regulators……Page 343
Specification of the power supply……Page 366
A better power supply……Page 380
Further Reading……Page 391
The output stage……Page 392
Classes of amplifiers……Page 398
The push-pull output stage and the output transformer……Page 401
Output Transformer-Less (OTL) amplifiers……Page 408
The driver stage……Page 409
The phase splitter……Page 411
The input stage……Page 422
Stability……Page 423
Classic power amplifiers……Page 427
New designs……Page 438
The ‘Scrapbox Challenge’ single-ended amplifier……Page 439
HT choke suitability……Page 446
Push-pull sanity……Page 459
The ‘Bevois Valley’ amplifier……Page 460
The author’s prototypes……Page 468
The traditional approach to power > 10 W……Page 470
Driving higher power output stages……Page 473
The ‘Crystal Palace’ amplifier……Page 475
‘Daughter of Beast’……Page 498
References……Page 504
Further Reading……Page 505
The line stage……Page 506
The volume control……Page 515
Input selectors……Page 528
The RIAA disc stage……Page 531
Noise and input capacitance of the input stage……Page 543
Strays and implementing RIAA……Page 552
Basic pre-amplifier compromises……Page 562
A balanced pre-amplifier……Page 563
The perfect line stage……Page 570
The EC8010 RIAA stage……Page 572
Achieving the RIAA equalization……Page 578
Practical RIAA considerations……Page 585
A line stage……Page 587
References……Page 592
Further Reading……Page 593
Valve data……Page 594
Square wave sag and low frequency f-3dB……Page 600
Playing 78s……Page 602
Equalization……Page 604
Standard component values……Page 608
Resistor colour code……Page 609
Sallen & Key filters for active crossovers……Page 611
UK sources of components……Page 615
Bargains and dealing directly……Page 616
References……Page 617
Index……Page 618