Self on Audio

Whether you are a dedicated audiophile who wants to gain a more complete understanding of the design issues behind a truly great amp, or a professional electronic designer seeking to learn more about the art of amplifier design, there can be no better place to start than with the 35 classic magazine articles collected together in this book.Douglas Self offers a tried and tested method for designing audio amplifiers in a way that improves performance at every point in the circuit where distortion can creep in - without significantly increasing cost. Through the articles in this book, he takes readers through the causes of distortion, measurement techniques, and design solutions to minimise distortion and efficiency. Most of the articles are based round the design of a specific amplifier, making this book especially valuable for anyone considering building a Self amplifier from scratch.Self is senior designer with a high-end audio manufacturer, as well as a prolific and highly respected writer. His career in audio design is reflected in the articles in this book, originally published in the pages of Electronics World and Wireless World over a 25 year period. - An audio amp design cookbook, comprising 35 of Douglas Self's definitive audio design articles
- Complete designs for readers to build and adapt
- An anthology of classic designs for electronics enthusiasts, Hi-Fi devotees and professional designers alike

Douglas Self has a worldwide reputation as a leading authority on audio amplifier design, but it is perhaps less well known that he has devoted a good deal of study to small-signal circuitry, including many years as the chief design engineer at one of the major mixing console manufacturers, where his achievements included winning a Design Council Award. His rigorous, skeptical, and thoroughly practical approach to design has been applied to the small signal area as well, and some of the results to be found in this book.Senior designer of high-end audio amplifiers and contributor to Electronics World magazine, Douglas has worked with many top audio names, including Cambridge Audio, TAG-McLaren Audio, and Soundcraft Electronics.

1: Advanced preamplifier design 2: High-performance preamplifier 3: Precision preamplifier 4: Design of moving-coil head amplifiers 5: Precision preamplifier '96, Part I 6: Precision preamplifier '96, Part II 7: Overload matters 8: A balanced view, Part I 9: A balanced view, Part II 10: High-quality compressor/limiter 11: Inside mixers 12: Electronic analogue switching, Part I: CMOS gates 13: Electronic analogue switching, Part II: discrete FETs Power Amplifiers 14: Sound mosfet design 15: FETs versus BJTs: the linearity competition 16: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part I: the sources of distortion 17: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part II: the input stage 18: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part III: the voltage-amplifier stage 19: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part IV: the power amplifier stages 20: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part V: output stages 21: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part VI: the remaining distortions 22: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part VII: frequency compensation and real designs 23: Distortion in power amplifiers, Part VIII: Class A amplifiers 24: Power amplifier input currents and their troubles 25: Diagnosing distortions 26: Trimodal audio power, Part I 27: Trimodal audio power, Part II 28: Load-invariant audio power 29: Common-emitter power amplifiers: a different perception? 30: Few compliments for non-complements 31: Loudspeaker undercurrents 32: Class distinction 33: Muting relays 34: Cool audio power 35: Audio power analysis