John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yes after the L.

More likely rise time.

(Bandwidth [GHz])*(Rise Time [nS]) =0.35. Assuming the bandwidth is good enough for audio, the rise time doesn't mean ****. It is what it is, according to the corresponding bandwidth. You can rather say that the output inductor may lower the amplifier's closed loop bandwidth, but for all practical purposes this is irrelevant.

Damping factor could be an issue in extreme cases (large inductor, amortized for stability reason with a rather large resistor, and a difficult speaker load, that drops it's impedance to absurdly low values, like 1 ohm).
 
NVA's Richard Dunn also leaves out the inductor for sonic quality reasons but he insists customers use his own low capacitance speaker cables to maintain the warranty.

NVA Hi-Fi ? High quality British Hi-Fi | Monoblock / Stereo / Integrated Amplifiers | Phono | Cables

I removed them from an EL84 amp i built once and it sounded better for it. A chipamp LM3886 kit also sounded a bit better without an inductor, obviously not big differences but noticeable. I didn't fit them to my current power amps either. I don't want to guess at a scientific explanation so i'll leave that to others.
 
As an aside, does anyone know at what point people started calling the series L||R a Zobel rather than Thiele network?

It's an imperfect nomenclature across the board. A number of other folks (ST Micro for one) call the series L||R a Boucherot cell. For what little it's worth, I'll be sure to call whatever HF-loading stability circuits by their topology rather than Thiele, Zobel, or Boucherot for clarity purposes. :)

As to whether or not such circuitry is audible or not, I don't know and would be definitely reluctant to state in any sort of general catch-all language, as that need be assessed on a case-by-case basis. My "design conservatively" mindset likes them though. Especially in light that many DIY designs will be poorly characterized, especially in terms of board and chassis layout. Magic smoke is not fun.
 
I can only recommend, not PROVE that an output coil is audible to people who don't really listen seriously anyway.
I first heard the idea about not using an output coil from Nelson Pass, back in the 1970's. Then I heard the Julian V. of NAIM took it out of his amps. Later, when I started with Parasound, the engineers in Taiwan were already leaving out the output coil, and I have kept the tradition. However, I do believe that it is audible with the best listening playback equipment. Perhaps some of you should try and find out for yourself, rather than heckle me.
 
Bill, I thnk there's more to it than just good marketing.

When I heard their small integrated amp in the mid 80-ies for the first time, I was very pleasantlxy surprised by how clean and clear the sound was. That was no marketing, that was some excellent design concept at work. At that time, few could keep up that level of sound quality without an astronomical price tag attached.
 
If output inductor is not in your toolbox then there should be other means. And I like amplifiers that can get away without Miller caps.

sans the output inductor, the received wisdom is that the amp *may* be susceptible to oscillation under some conditions. Anyone know of a real world severe test to prove an amplifiers stability without this 'protection' ?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.