jeudi 20 mars 2014

Understanding The Frequency Response Expression Of Modern Power Amplifiers

By Marta McBrian


The frequency response is probably the most frequently found parameter to define audio amps. Nevertheless, it can regularly be deceptive and may not necessarily offer a good sign of the audio quality. You might not completely understand how the frequency response is determined. Let me discuss what exactly this specific expression means. I hope you'll be able to make a more well informed buying decision. An amplifier is only able to work within a particular frequency range. Any kind of signals outside of this range will be removed. As such the frequency response gives an important hint regarding if a certain amp could be appropriate for a specific use. This range is specified by showing two frequencies: a lower and also upper frequency. To give an example, the lower frequency could be 20 Hz and the higher frequency 20 kHz. Using this specification it seems like the amp would be able to function as a HIFI amp. It may seem the greater the frequency response the better the amplifier. That, on the other hand, might not necessarily be. You have to consider the specs more carefully in order to correctly interpret these.

An amplifier is able to only work within the particular frequency range. Any kind of signals outside this range will be eliminated. As a result the frequency response provides a significant clue with regards to whether a certain amplifier might be appropriate for a specific use. Typically a lower and upper frequency are provided, for instance 20 Hz - 20 kHz. This particular spec shows that the amp has the ability to amplify audio inside that frequency range. You could think the larger the frequency response the higher quality the amp. That, on the other hand, may not always be the case. You have to consider the specifications far more carefully in order to adequately understand all of them. It appears there are various ways that producers use when specifying the frequency response. The normal convention is to present the frequency range inside which the amplification is going to decrease a maximum of 3 dB from the nominal gain.

On the other hand, the frequency response commonly is used to misinform shoppers by way of stretching out the frequency range far past the range in which the amp still functions effectively and also conceals the reality that the amplifier may not be linear. A full frequency response graph, on the other hand, will demonstrate whether or not there are any peaks and valleys and also show how the frequency response is to be understood. Peaks and valleys could potentially cause colorization of the sound. Ideally the gain of the amplifier should be linear through the entire operating range.

The circumstances under which the frequency response was determined may also be essential to fully understand. Actually amps may have different frequency responses depending on the loudspeaker that is hooked up.

The frequency response of Class-D amplifiers shows the greatest change with various speaker loads due to the built-in lowpass filter which removes switching noise from the amplifier's signal. A changing speaker load will affect the filter response to some amount. Usually the lower the loudspeaker impedance the lower the highest frequency of the amplifier. Also, the linearity of the amplifier gain will depend on the load. Several of the latest digital amps feed back the audio signal after the lowpass filter in order to compensate for this tradeoff and to make the frequency response of the amp independent of the connected load. On the other hand, if the amplifier is not constructed well, this type of feedback could cause instability and result in loud noise being created by the amplifier if certain loudspeakers are attached. Yet another approach makes use of audio transformers between the power stage of the amplifier and various outputs. Every single output was designed to attach a different loudspeaker load. This approach makes sure that the amplifier will be loaded equally and in addition enhances amplifier power efficiency.




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