LSK489 Symmetric 20 Watt, John Curl style

John Curl preamplifier JC-2 is a classic.
Here I use something like it for a power amplifier.
THD 0.0020% in simulation.
More than 20 Watt max.

LSK489 Symmetric Single Supply 48V_02.jpg
 
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I looked at JFET recently. I found LSJ689 is miles better than LSJ74.
The difference is on its input capacitance. LSJ74 has about 100pf input capacitance comparing to 8pf with LSJ689. 100pf is big enough to create an extra pole in the bode plot.
 
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I haven't tried these JFETs yet. How big is the transconductance difference between N & P parts? I'm a little surprised lineup did not use EUVL's suggestion for adding degeneration resistors in the source of one polarity to help. I think Bob Cordell also used this trick in his Hafler 220C.
 
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Using oscilloscope squarewave in SPICE I discovered that I needed to increase compensation.
Now there are two capacitors 150pF.
This makes the upper frequency is 150kHz.
THD is now 0.0019%
This can be seen in first post.
 
Which again explains my preference for the Toshibas.

How can it be that after all these years Linear T still can’t manage better spec and consistency.

I also questions the absence of source resistors. The matching process needed would demand a huge number to choose from.

R
 
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In the real world you will have a lot of problems to solve before you reach such distortion levels with a single supply. The lower output transistor takes its half period current from the ground. A lot of distortion is build in.
And you need to have most of the signal feedback after the output capacitor to avoid the distortion from it. In the simulation the capacitor is ideal. In the real world far from that.
C10 makes nothing and you can save some money at the input if you use 3 x 100k resistors and a 100uF is probably enough.
What are C9 and R18 doing? Do you have different grounds?
 
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This amp is essentially the Ultra amp with a few minor tweaks. With BD139/139, the miller caps C2/C7 can be eliminated. You'll still have a ULGF of 500kHz and 29db/79 degrees of margin. A healthy stability margin.

However, the design won't work in practice as currently shown in Post #1. I can say this with absolute certainty. The variation of Idss in ACTUAL LSK489/LSJ689 devices is broad. Simulations won't reflect this. You MUST use source resistors (ideally in the form of a trimmer) to allow the JFET currents to be set to a defined level. @mlloyd1, @RM, and @PMA have all expressed the same concern.

In addition, I'm not sure why you have the VAS devices so heavily degenerated. They look to be running around 5mA. 47R should be fine. Performance will likely improve and you'll still have plenty of loop gain margin. You'll seem more improvement if you up the VAS current to 10mA to 12mA.