Audio Power Amplifier Design

A most dedicated, meticulous, rigorous, prolific and stubborn audio engineer, to be counted among the greatest of audio engineering, D. Self has excelled himself in the latest avatar of his Amplifier design book. His lone wolf British approach notwithstanding, this book is the de rigueur for modern amplifier maker. A slightly blinkered approach can be conveniently forgotten for the pearls he offers.

Audio amplifier design became simple because it is a deep clear description in lot of aspects done by Douglas Self. Few math. but enough to get into the core. Useful to fix an amplifier problem, for hobbyist or just for a better understanding.

Amazing book. Expert knowledge. Doug Self possesses great narrative writing skills and his prose proves fun to read and easy to understand. A lovely AF PA design book with concepts you can implement immediately.

I was impressed by the detail in this book. It treats all aspects of power amplifier design to develop a stat of the art low distortion discrete transistor amplifier. It requires a good understanding of electronics and transistor circuit topologies so it is not an introductory text. All of the material presented is backed by explanations and experimentation and measurements! I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to design an amplifier or understand the principals behind amplifier design. There is so much in the HiFi literature written without any supporting theory, this text is the opposite. I am an Electronic Engineer but work mainly at a systems level and not detailed circuit design. I found the text enjoyable to read as a HiFI enthusiast and Engineer.

If your interested in designing / building a power amplifier then this book is an essential and for me has been worth re-buying when a new edition comes out. If you have to pick just one book on amp design, pick this one. For those that remember back to the Electronics World magazine series (in early 90's I think...) there were eight distortion mechanisms identified. The current book has eleven which is indicative of the continued refinement of the subject by Self. Yes the architectures discussed in the book are limited but the rational for the design decisions is well explained. You would not expect a book on engine design to cover everything from a two-stroke to a turbofan and this book covers a huge amount of what you might need for a domestic proportioned amplifier. If you want a 3000W class H PA amp you perhaps need further information but this book would still be a very good starting point. The book covers many topics which apply to almost any amplifier you care to think about which are all analysed with real plots from Audio Precision test equipment and or Spice. Opening the book more or less at random, Zobel network crosstalk for example. As always Self's analysis is pure measurable, repeatable, quantifiable and not subjective.

On ne présente plus Douglas Self, Monsieur D Self. Ce bouquin est une bible de plus de 700pages d'informations pour celui qui veut comprendre le monde de l'amplification audio. ON trouvera moultes chapitres sur l'amplification en général, la distorsion, la contreréaction, les différentes Classes (A......H,XD),les étages d'entrées, de sorties, pushpull, la dissipation, les étages FET et BJT, les contrôles et la protection, les circuits d'alimentations...etc, etc.... Bon, c'est en anglais, mais si on s'intéresse, cela devient passionnant