The design of audio amplifiers share 3 common building blocks.

Designers optimize the gain, linearity or power in various stages

depending on the requirements - from a cheap headphone amplifier to a
high performance 100W sound system. And this gives rise to the vast
number of different types of audio amplifiers and op amps running
around the universe today. We'll build an audio amplifier and follow the
signal through the structure.

THREE BUILDING BLOCKS

In a nutshell, here's the three fundamental building blocks of audio
amplifiers (and op amps).

Sta
ge

AC Signal
Equation
Differential
Input Stage

Description

ic1 =
1/2

(vin+ - vin-) gm

Q1,Q2

A differential input is
required. Why? We use
feedback to control the
amp's gain. The term
"feedback" implies we drive
the positive input vin+ and
feedback some of the
output (using RF1, RF2) to
the negative input vin-.
This is also a transconductance stage: voltage
in, current out. The
transconductance gm1 of
Q1, Q2 set the gain of this
stage. Unfortunately, the
output is a current! No
problem, the next stage
gets us back to voltage.

Gain Stage
Q3

vc3 =
ic1

Ki beta3 RC3

This is a trans-impedance
stage: current in, voltage
out. Most of our voltage
gain happens here. And we
need a huge overall voltage
gain (>1000) if we expect
the amplifier to have an
accurate signal gain (+10)
and low distortion when we
close the loop by installing
feedback components RF2
and RF1.
We also place an important
component here - the
dominant pole capacitor

CC. It determines the main

pole (low-pass filter) of the
amplifier. Why is CC
needed? It keeps the
amplifier from oscillating,
helps present a low
impedance to the next
stage and linearizes this
stage (reduces distortion)
with its local feedback.
The Gain Stage also shifts
the signal from the negative
rail up to the the next stage
- the output buffer.
Output Buffer
Stage
Q4,Q5

Vo = 1

vc3

The Output Buffer Stage

has a gain of 1. So why
include it? It let's you drive
relatively low-impedance
loads without effecting the
gain.
Hanging a load directly on
RC3 would kill its voltage
gain. The buffer transfers
the output voltage to the
load while delivering as
much current as needed. It
isolates, as much as
possible, the load from the
gain stage.

For each stage we'll first look at its DC bias and then see how it
determines its AC gain.

DIFFERENTIAL INPUT STAGE

Q1 and Q2 are your basic differential amplifier (long tail pair). The tail
RE, sets the DC collector bias current for both transistors
Ic1 = Ic2 = Ie / 2 = (VCC - Vbe) / RE 1/2
Ic1 sets Q1's gain (or transconductance - voltage in, current out) for an
AC signal.
gm1 = Ic1 / VT
where VT = 26 mV. This gives Q1's output current of
ic1 = vin 1/2 gm1
Why the factor of 1/2? The input vin = (vin+ - vin-) divides equally
between vbe1 and vbe2.
Finally, why include RC1? For DC bias purposes, RC1 helps set Ic1
equal to Ic2. Your first guess at this value is RC1 = vbe3 / Ic1. For
example, if the desired Ic1 = 0.5 mA, then RC1 = 0.7V / 0.5 mA = 1.4
k. You might have to tweak this value to get Ic1 ~ Ic2. Although RC1 is
our friend in balancing collector currents, it also robs us of signal gain
by diverting some of ic1 away from the base of Q3.

GAIN STAGE
This amplifier looks like your basic common emitter amplifier. Its DC
collector current can be calculated with Vo = 0V, placing the Q3's
collect 0.7V above that through Q4's Vbe.
Ic3 = (VCC - Vbe4) / RC3

Let's follow the AC signal. Q1's collector current ic1 divides between
RC1 and the base of Q3.
Ki = ib3 / ic1 = RC1 / (RC1 + rin3)
where rin3 = Ic3 / VT. Then, ib3 gets multiplied by the current gain of
Q3 and converted back to voltage by RC3. The voltage becomes vc3 =
ib3 x beta3 x RC3. Using Ki from above, we get
vc3 = ic1 Ki beta3 RC3
Diodes D1 and D2 help drive the output stage Q4 and Q5. These diodes
reduce the deadzone from vc3 to vo when the output crosses over from
positive to negative output, or vise versa. This cross-over distortion is
corrected mostly by feedback, but the less you start with, the better.

OUTPUT BUFFER STAGE

Q4 and Q5 make up the push-pull output stage. They are simple emitter
followers - one for the positive output swings (NPN) and one for the
negative output (PNP).
Vo = vc3 1
As their namesake implies, the emitter follows the base (unity gain),
except for a constant 0.7V base to emitter drop. That's why D1 and D2
are included, to make up 0.7V drop in each half.
The base of emitter followers present a high impedance to RC3, having
little effect on gain. On the other hand, the emitter presents a low
impedance to RL so it can deliver big currents if needed. However, as
RL gets lower, the input impedance of Q4 and Q5 also lowers. This
reduced impedance is in parallel with RC3, reducing the gain of the
amplifier.

OVERALL GAIN AND FEEDBACK

Putting it all together, the overall internal gain of the amplifier is
from the differential input to the output.
Aol = Vo / (vin+ - vin-) = 1/2 gm1 Ki beta3 RC3
Aol defines the open-loop gain of the amplifier because we've done our
analysis with RF2 and RF1 not connected.

Aol is typically over 1000 V/V! But wait you say - I only need a gain of
10 V/V. Yes that may be true, your actual signal gain (Vo/vin+), from
the single-ended input to the output, is defined by feedback components
RF2 and RF1.
Acl = Vo / vin+ = RF2 / RF1 + 1
Acl defines the the closed-loop gain because RF2 and RF1 essentially
close the loop (feed back the output to the negative input)

But, here's a big point regarding Aol and Acl

The closed loop gain, Acl = RF2/RF1 + 1, is only valid when the openloop gain Aol is much larger than Acl. That's why designers lose much
blood, sweat and tears getting Aol as big as they can. The benefits are
huge - more accurate closed-loop gain, lower distortion and lower
output impedance.

Advanced Audio Amplifier

CIRCUIT
THE IMPROVEMENTS
Here's a quick tour of design improvements of the audio amplifier.
There's an enhancement for each of the three stages: Differential,
Voltage Gain, Output Buffer. Why bother messing with the design?
Higher gain and better output drive lead to a lower distortion
performance. Click on the links below to find out more.

Current
Mirror

The Current Mirror (Q8,Q9) doubles the gain of your differential

amplifier. It also balances the current in each transistor (Q1,
Q2) nicely. Both high gain and balancing helps lower the overall
distortion.
Active Load
Replacing the
collector resistor
of the gain stage
(Q3) with anActive
Load (Q10) raises
the voltage gain
and provides
better current
drive to the
positive half of the
output buffer.
Driving a low
Darlington
impedance like 8
Output
ohms demands a
Buffer
lot of current from
the output buffer.
A Darlington
Output
Buffer helps
deliver the current
and minimize the
load on the gain
stage. This keeps
the overall gain
high and the
distortion low.

Diff Amp with Current Mirror

CIRCUIT

In an audio input differential stage, you often see the simple collector
resistor replaced with a current mirror. Why bother? The payoff is two
fold. First, you get twice the gain and current output, typically a good
thing for an audio amp. And second, the current mirror nicely balances
the current between Q1 and Q2, (a feat not so easily accomplished with
resistors at the collectors.). What's all the fuss about balance? You'll see

below that even a small imbalance can kill your best efforts at low
distortion.

WASTED CURRENT
We already discovered how the input differential stage works in
the basic audio amplifier. The input voltage V(2,3) causes a change in
Q1's collector current Ic1 which gets passed on to the next stage. But
what about Q2's collector current? In a sense, it gets wasted. Wouldn't it
be loverly if Ic2 could be mirrored and summed with Ic1?

CURRENT MIRROR
The secret of the current mirror is in the set of twin transistors wired
back to back.

Notice, how the circuit forces their Vbe's to be equal. Now, having
matched characteristics forces both emitter currents Ie to be equal.
Starting with Kirchoff's current laws you get some simple equations
Iin = Ie /( + 1) + 2 Ie / ( + 1)
Io = Ie /( + 1)
Then rearrange each equation to
Iin / Ie = ( + 2) / ( + 1)
Io / Ie = /( + 1)
Finally, take the ratio of the two equations and simplify to get
Io / Iin = / ( + 2)
= 1 / ( 1 + 2/)
Beastly! The gain from input to output is approximately unity. For a
reasonable beta (>100), the mirrored current should be within a few
percent of the input!

TWICE THE JUICE

Let's put the current mirror to good use. Q8 and Q9 take the once
wasted Ic2, mirror it and sum it with Ic1. In the previous design, the diff
amp with resistor load produced an output ic1 = vin1/2gm1 where vin
= V(2) - V(3). But, with the help of the twins (Q8,Q9), the total output
current fed to the next stage becomes
ic1 = vin gm1

You've just doubled your open-loop gain. This also doubles the current
output to next stage allowing twice the slew rate for a given
compensation cap CC. Life is good.
Output Stage
CIRCUIT
What makes a good output stage for an audio amplifier? Here are some
desirables
1. Deliver large amounts of current into RL without self destructing.
2. Provide a high input impedance at the base of Q4, Q5.
3. Minimize distortion when transitioning between positive and
negative output currents.

OUTPUT STAGE BASICS

Your basic output stage is the double emitter follower - a NPN pair (Q4,
Q6) for positive output currents and a a PNP pair (Q5,Q7) for negative
output currents. Also called a Darlington configuration, emitter
followers have a gain of unity. The Darlington pair creates a super beta
transistor. This means you can deliver a lot of amps to the outside world
with small amounts of base current into Q4, Q5.

DELIVERING THE POWER

Here's a big job for a big transistor: deliver large currents without
sending up smoke signals. These transistors, Q6 and Q7, need large die
sizes to dissipate the heat as they pass beefy currents. This also means
large packages to transfer the heat to PCBs and heatsinks. On the down
side, big die sizes also mean large base capacitance that could slow
down the output devices. (See distortion below)

HIGH INPUT Z
Unfortunately, high power transistors, Q6 and Q7, have low current
gains (50 -100). This would require a lot of current from the previous
stage. In other words, it presents a low impedance load to the previous
stage, knocking down its precious voltage gain. So you can think of the
drive devices, Q4 and Q5, as beta enhancers. These lower power drive
transistors have current gains of 100 to 200 or more. Together they
make up a Darlington configuration with a combined current gain of
2000+.
You can also think of emitter followers as load impedance multipliers.
For example, for an 8 ohm load, the input resistance at Q4 looks like
Rin = RL (4 4)
= 8 (100 200)
= 16,000 ohms
Way cool! 16k presents a much lighter load to the previous stage.

MINIMAL DISTORTION

The output stages has two unfortunate characteristics: cross-over

distortion and switching distortion. Cross-over distortion happens
because the drive signal must reach 2 x Vbe before the NPN pair turn
on. Likewise, the drive signal must swing 2 x -Vbe to turn on the PNP
pair. What happens to Vo while Vin is in the deadzone of 4 * Vbe? Vo
just sits there at 0V. Our beautiful input sine wave gets hit with the ugly
stick due to this cross-over distortion. What is the fix? A small bias
voltage between Q4 and Q5, usually just a bit smaller than 4*Vbe,
minimizes the deadzone.
What is switching distortion? Suppose Q6 is delivering a large positive
current into RL. This power transistor also has a huge base capacitance
that is charged up at this time. Now suppose, the output rapidly swings
negative, requiring Q6 to turn off quickly and Q7 to turn on. Not so
fast! The charge on the base capacitance needs to be pulled out of Q6
first. If Q6 does not turn off quickly enough, it may be still conducting
when Q7 turns on! Bad situation. You may be allowing large destructive
currents to flow while both Q6 and Q7 remain ON between the supply
rails! Later we'll see how RE1 and RE2 may rescue this situation.

DRIVING AN 8 OHM LOAD

Let's run a SPICE simulation to see how this output stage operates. The
voltage source VBIAS (initially set to 0V) will let you vary the drive
bias to see its effect on cross-over distortion. (In a real audio amp, this
bias is accomplished by diodes or a Vbe multiplier.) To test the stage
we'll drive it with a 1 kHz sine wave.
VSIG 14 0 AC 1 SIN(-0.0V 10V 1KHZ)

To keep the output symmetrical, set the DC OFFSET of the sinewave (0.0V initially) to negative half of the VBIAS voltage.