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