Bob Cordell's Power amplifier book

There is not very many errors, I found the odd one but if you understand what he is writing, you can figure them out. I recall something in the ltspice section that differed when I was running the sim stuff. The beauty of this stuff is that you can sim the circuits yourself and measure the performance differences.
 
I've tried borrowing it through inter-library loan. No dice.

I suppose then that hoping you might bring a couple of first edition copies to BA2017 for sale is out of the question?

Thanks and regards,

Rob

Hi Rob,

Unfortunately I will not make it to BA this year. Too much to do with the town home and the move. Spent most of the day today painting before I move in this Saturday. I've only got about 4 copies left myself.

Cheers,
Bob
 
I'm wrestling with the thought of buying the new release when it's out. The first book was excellent (and used as a reference). I strongly prefer paper material.

Bob, are there any cases where information has been updated due to insights made after the publishing of that first book? Anything where you may have been mistaken? Please don't read into that more than I asked. Everyone makes mistakes now and again.

-Chris

There are always mistakes or explanations that could have been more clear. Many of the folks here have helped me greatly by pointing out these sorts of things. I have indeed learned a lot since the first edition came out in 2010, and, to the extent possible, have incorporated that into the original 31 chapters. There are also 5 or 6 new chapters, leading to a chapter count of 36 or 37, and from 600 pages to 750 pages. One of the new chapters is on switching power supplies and another is devoted to professional power amplifiers. The topic of noise has its own chapter now.

Cheers,
Bob
 
I think I have 2 of the first edition.... would sell one.

I wont buy the 2nd ed if it sells for anything near the prices being discussed here. Doesn't matter if I can afford it.... no book is worth that much even if the last standing tree was felled for it.


THx-RNMarsh

The second edition will sell for a very nominal price, probably in the $60 - $70 range.

Cheers,
Bob
 
Member
Joined 2011
Paid Member
If my arithmetic is correct, $19.67 per copy. I suspect that "bookbaby.com" is neither the least expensive, nor the highest quality, custom printer in the USA.

_
 

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One thing to know: the percentage Bob gets of the sales price is absurdly low!
He told me once, and I forget the amount but it was a very very small percentage.

I get about 10% of the price that they sell it to Amazon for. That's on the order of $3 on a good day. Don't quit your day job to be an author :). You pretty much have to do it out of a love of doing it. Technical books like these are a completely different paradigm from selling millions of copies of a romance novel.

Cheers,
Bob
 
diyAudio Editor
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Simple solution, add more drama to the book!

At that moment Cruxor was distracted by high IM distortion as the club's sound system blasted out the final chorus of "Highway to Hell”.... Bob stabbed him in the heart, and then pulled the bag from his cold dead fingers "Hmmm, genuine Toshiba JFETs" he mused...these are worth a fortune since they were discontinued, and everyone knows that they have excellent overload characteristics. Plus if you use a pair on the input you can double the S/N".

or

She ran across the lab and thrust her heaving breast against his manly chest.
"Take me now” she panted...

"Erm.., don't trip over the power cord to that Agilent Sr-500 distortion meter" he cautioned,
"I'd have to get it recalibrated if it falls...but they really are an excellent addition to any lab.."
 
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AX tech editor
Joined 2002
Paid Member
Simple solution, add more drama to the book! !

At that moment Cruxor was distracted by high IM distortion as the club's sound system blasted out the final chorus of "Highway to Hell..." . Bob stabbed him in the heart, and then pulled the bag from his cold dead fingers. "Hmmm genuine Toshiba JFETs" he mused "...these are worth a fortune since they were discontinued, and everyone knows that they have excellent overload characteristics. Plus if you use a pair on the input you can double the S/N".

or

She ran across the lab and thrust her heaving breast against his manly chest.
"Take me now she panted"

"Erm.., don't trip over the power cord to that Agillent Sr-500 distortion meter" he cautioned,
"I'd have to get it recalibrated if it falls...but they really are an excellent addition to any lab.."

Mark there's an author hidden in you, stuggling to get out!

Jan
 
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Question about input current distortion

Maybe Bob Cordell has something to say, too, if he is watching this this thread...

A few years ago I read D. Self's Audio Power Amplifier Design Handbook Fifth Edition, and in pages 96 through 104 the author details the theme of "input current distortion" supported by many measurements that show how this kind of distortion can undermine the distortion performance of an otherwise low distortion amp. Significant worsening of a 0.001% THD at 1kHz were shown with source resistors bigger than a few hundred Ohms.

A few months ago I started to "design" (if I may say so) an 150W/8Ohm amplifier with two pairs of NJL3281/NJL1302 output transistors that evolved from D. Self's "blameless" amp and some ideas from this forum (mainly dadod's).
The input stage is the usual LTP with 10:1 degenerated BJT's that uses a 3mA current source, and a simple current mirror.
I simulated my circuit it in LTSpice, and was surprised that the effect of input current distortion was much much lower in the simulation than what is found in Self's book.
Well, I thought at that time, perhaps LTSpice doesn't account for something that plays a significant role in this distortion.

Now lately I also got Bob Cordell's book Designing Audio Power Amplifiers (2011 edition).
And wow, it's a really in-depth book on the subject, but I found no reference to input current distortion whatsoever.

So then I was thinking again: Self says that it is the nonlinear Ib (base current) that creates this distortion as it flows through the serial input resisitor (or the feedback network). Now LTSpice MUST account for that, don't you think? Isn't the exponential Ib-Vbe curve the basic equation of a BJT?

So this would be my question. Is it possible that the simulation is right that input current distortion is really not of major concern as long as I don't aim for ultra low distortion? But then what did Mr. Self measure in his book?

A nice puzzle to be solved. At least for me. I hope someone knows the answer, because I made the input transistors into two CFP's in my amp circuit to lessen the supposed effect of input curent distortion. But I would like to go back to the simple input pair, if the CFP input is not necessary. I would like a decently low distortion amp, but not an ultra low distortion one. Below 0.001% THD at 1kHz and below 0.01% THD at 20kHz would be fine by me... (I wouldn't like to leave out the RC filter at the input which has a 470R serial resisitor in it. That resistor would be able to raise the THD above 0.001% at 1kHz if Self's measurements are correct.)