Hi Guys
In the conventional CFA topology, has anyone attempted to isolate the distortion mechanisms for each section?
The topology as we know it:
a - input voltage to current converter - or is it really a voltage comparator with an error current output?
b - TIS stage
c - output buffer
Previously we discussed some options for the input section. In the diamond input, Vbe matching seems critical. It might also be a factor that the collector currents are slightly smaller than the emitter current (alpha) for the devices tied to the feedback node. If this is a factor towards THD, then high-beta devices or composite devices might be worth considering here.
Where cascoding is often used to limit device dissipations, allow a high-beta device as the lower one, and/or to minimise Early effect, it might be effective to bootstrap the cascodes. This would make the resistive CCS look more like an active one. An option mentioned earlier is to bootstrap the input stage to the input signal, as done in the PGA. (Golfers do weird things).
Someone mentioned a CFA without feedback: wouldn't that be more properly a current conveyor?
Have fun
Kevin O'Connor
A CFA (open or closed loop) is already a current conveyor, CCII
Current conveyor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banat,
Would the capacitor in the feedback loop disqualify this as a cfa amplifier as there would be a high impedance in that loop due to the caps? I thought that was one of the requirements for a cfa that there was very low resistance in the feedback loop.
Kindhornman
I don`t think so !
Regards !
Well, the cap will be in the part of the feedback bridge shunting the signal to the ground, for the gain will be 1 at DC. It *increase* the feedback current at DC in the emitter of the input transistor.Would the capacitor in the feedback loop disqualify this as a cfa amplifier as there would be a high impedance in that loop due to the caps?
Not CFA, though still current-mode operation.
It is voltage mode operation , otherwise why the need
of a voltage divider from output to inverting output.?
Do you need two resistors to divide a current ? no , all
you have to do is to increase the FB resistor , the shunt
resistor connected to the inverting intput would have
no role if it was a genuinely current controled input.
This remark, by example, interest-me a lot.
I'm curious to know better what are your feelings, L.C. and the reasons that have led you to this conclusion.
You know how it happens, you try some topology, it don't give you the expected listening results, you don't have the reflex to try it in your next work..
I had a similar listening experience, something empty in the reproduction, like Darlington, sometimes, so i'm not experienced a lot in Diamond buffers. They can measure very good. Where is the problem if any ?
One node in excess ?
The diamond can measure and sound good.
My experience says :
1) that the bias resistors around the buffer should be sub 20 Ohm.
2) bias generator should be low noise and very stable
3) Bias current should be ~1 - 4mA
4) couple the transistors in the diamond buffer very close => SMT
5) The bias generator sets the current in all stages of the amp. Make sure it is ultra stable and does not drift.
6) Avoid the HDAM version (Some calls it a CFP version). It has a peak at ~100MHz. -> affects the stability.
Bonsai said:Wahab, stop calling CFA's wrongly named. There is a whole industry - and I work in it - that generates hundreds of millions of $ from so called wrongly named CFA's.
Oh, and theres probably been dozens or more like hundreds of PhD grads working on these devices over the last 20 years or so. They are correctly named CFA's and that's what the semiconductor engineering community calls them and they are right. Period.
From day #1 when this designation appeared for the scheme which the current discussion refers to, CFA was denounced as incongruous.
It is voltage mode operation , otherwise why the need of a voltage divider from output to inverting output.?
Do you need two resistors to divide a current ? no , all
you have to do is to increase the FB resistor , the shunt
resistor connected to the inverting intput would have
no role if it was a genuinely current controled input.
Well seen (in french, "bien vu").
This goes in parallel with another very convincing argument which is that the difference of a current from a voltage has no meaning.
The Blameless is to some people a hugely compromised design:
For a hugely compromised (let's do not forget : an economical) design, it behaves remarkably well.
For the standard blameless, the usual number quoted is 34 dB at 20 kHz.1. Limited feedback at 20kHz
Can CFAs provide more ?
Is there a fundamental need for having symmetrical maximal slew-rates ? However, if thought to be inadequate, the situation of the standard blameless can be improved, as Samuel Groner has shown.2. Non symmetrical slew rates.
Like point 1.3. Reqiurement for single slope 20 dB/ decade compensation in order to guarantee stability, leading to limited feedback at 20 kHz.
Is there a fundamental need for having symmetrical PSRRs ?4. Non symmetrical PSRR
Are PSRRs of CFAs better with identical supplies ?
My blameless in use since 1994 has no power supply decoupling of the low power stages. It does not output any hum.
At what value does a maximal slew-rate become decent ?5. Difficult to get decent slew rates due to tradeoffs between LTP current, input bias current and Cdom
It is voltage mode operation , otherwise why the need
of a voltage divider from output to inverting output.?
Do you need two resistors to divide a current ? no , all
you have to do is to increase the FB resistor , the shunt
resistor connected to the inverting intput would have
no role if it was a genuinely current controled input.
Lets not get into this again. Easy to explain in a really practical way:
With a VFA, within reason, if you change the total value of the feedback resistor network, but keep the ratio the same, you will not change the fundamental operation of the VFA - response, rise fall time and even distortion will not change.
If you conduct the same experiment with the CFA, the above parameters change, just as theory predicts.
The fact that CFA input is sampling a voltage and that the output voltage is sensed does not make the fundamental operation within the feedback loop voltage controlled, as is the case with a VFA.
Think also about post #57 - the CFA input stage Io is expansive while the LTP is not - it's limited by the tail current.
In their classic guises, you are dealing with two fundamentally different topologies.
its fairly simple but you have to keep the idea that 2 things are being done somewhat "orthogonally" in "CFA" feedback
the feedback divider provides a sample of the output V
and the feedback Z changes the gm of the input stage by adding in series to the -input internal R
changing the gm of the input stage changes the high frequency gain intercept, GBW product - lower feedback Z effectively decompensates the GFA
monolithic VFA op amps today mostly have fixed internal compensation - often for unity gain - only a few fast VFA op amps are offered in internally decompensated versions
the feedback divider provides a sample of the output V
and the feedback Z changes the gm of the input stage by adding in series to the -input internal R
changing the gm of the input stage changes the high frequency gain intercept, GBW product - lower feedback Z effectively decompensates the GFA
monolithic VFA op amps today mostly have fixed internal compensation - often for unity gain - only a few fast VFA op amps are offered in internally decompensated versions
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The need for greater precision operation -
The need for greater precision and predictability (and monitization) quickly lead to the adoption of current-mode operation using current conveyors (mirrors). True compl processes still were in their infancy so matching was still an issue;

Translinear circuits have been developed as a next step. it isnt practcal to match devices and IC processes lacked the ability to make closely matched compliments. However, we (the DIY mob/gangs which roam here) can do it and make extreamly low distortion.


Further developments moved to the MOSFET devices. Without an input current, beta is a non-factor. And, with ever lower voltage operation and higher speeds, cancelling techniques have keep the current-mode performance characteristics while increasing speeds/bandwidth.
Thx-RNMarsh
The need for greater precision and predictability (and monitization) quickly lead to the adoption of current-mode operation using current conveyors (mirrors). True compl processes still were in their infancy so matching was still an issue;

Translinear circuits have been developed as a next step. it isnt practcal to match devices and IC processes lacked the ability to make closely matched compliments. However, we (the DIY mob/gangs which roam here) can do it and make extreamly low distortion.


Further developments moved to the MOSFET devices. Without an input current, beta is a non-factor. And, with ever lower voltage operation and higher speeds, cancelling techniques have keep the current-mode performance characteristics while increasing speeds/bandwidth.
Thx-RNMarsh
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Richard, you asked what kind of PS to use, I suggested what kind I thik it's suitable and you did not comment it. What is your suggestion?
BR Damir
BR Damir
If matching/complementary is such an issue for CFAs, why not try a different solution? Instead of looking for perfectly matched NPN, or perfectly complementary NPN/PNP devices, why not using "compound" transistors that are more perfect by nature? I mean CFP/Sziklai or super-pair transistors.
dadod --
The absolute value of the supply voltages is not important. However, a power supply design which keeps the pos and neg voltages the same/equal value under dynamic loading conditions relaxes the demand on the amp for rejection characteristics; A zero delta between the pos-neg voltage value under dynamic conditions.
See #8,9 of "References and further reading". I introduced the audio community to A Complementary Push-Pull power supply (TAA 1988). This means and perhaps others (Master-Slave et al) works well.
Thx-RNMarsh
The absolute value of the supply voltages is not important. However, a power supply design which keeps the pos and neg voltages the same/equal value under dynamic loading conditions relaxes the demand on the amp for rejection characteristics; A zero delta between the pos-neg voltage value under dynamic conditions.
See #8,9 of "References and further reading". I introduced the audio community to A Complementary Push-Pull power supply (TAA 1988). This means and perhaps others (Master-Slave et al) works well.
Thx-RNMarsh
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If matching/complementary is such an issue for CFAs, why not try a different solution? Instead of looking for perfectly matched NPN, or perfectly complementary NPN/PNP devices, why not using "compound" transistors that are more perfect by nature? I mean CFP/Sziklai or super-pair transistors.
If it makes a better complementary match. try it? Sim?
-RNM
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SMPS. One well known in this forum is not regulated but offers very good symmetry.Richard, you asked what kind of PS to use, I suggested what kind I thik it's suitable and you did not comment it. What is your suggestion?
They always win (i know no opposite opinion from people having made the test) , in listening challenges vs Linear ones, even oversized. May-be the RFI/RMI better rejection too ?
possible and without feedback to the driver with very low distortion. See the attached file. Such a driver is enough to add highly linear output stage, such as is used in some models of Denon amp or error correction distortion (ECH) Hawksford.
RM_2013_07_Superdriver.pdf
best regards
Petr
RM_2013_07_Superdriver.pdf
best regards
Petr
SMPS. One well known in this forum is not regulated but offers very good symmetry.
They always win (i know no opposite opinion from people having made the test) , in listening challenges vs Linear ones, even oversized. May-be the RFI/RMI better rejection too ?
The problem of unequal supply voltages is pronounced with power amps with thier unregulated supplies. Anything which can tend to keep the voltages more equal under dynamic conditions will be a benefit to the amp.
There is always a down side.... emi/rfi from smps can be high and difficult to keep out of the amplifier circuit. CMAmps may be more immune to field-coupled noise because of their low Z circuitry.
THx-RNMarsh
On my (limited) experience, SMPS seems to me more immune to RFI/RMI from AC lines: The switching transistor makes one stage more isolation, and the transformer has less coupling capacitor due to its little size. One of the evils of liner PSU is the switching noise of the rectifier. It seems the FET used to switch the AC behave better on this point too ?emi/rfi from smps can be high and difficult to keep out of the amplifier circuit.
Christophe,
I may be wrong on this point but I think what Richard is saying about the EMI/RFI of a smps is not its own inherent immunity to those things passing through them but to their own tendency to produce those things. The radiation of EMI and RFI that is subsequently picked up by the amplifier circuitry through radiation from the smps itself producing those interferences from their own circuit even with no input from an external source.
Richard correct me if I am wrong on that point.
I may be wrong on this point but I think what Richard is saying about the EMI/RFI of a smps is not its own inherent immunity to those things passing through them but to their own tendency to produce those things. The radiation of EMI and RFI that is subsequently picked up by the amplifier circuitry through radiation from the smps itself producing those interferences from their own circuit even with no input from an external source.
Richard correct me if I am wrong on that point.
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