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    Servo Bias

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    dcastrelos2000
    Valve amplifiers require large cathode bypass capacitors to prevent feedback at low frequencies. However, very large capacitors have drawbacks. It is better to use a smaller capacitor and active circuitry to sense the anode current and provide constant bias independent of overload conditions. The Quad II amplifier is an unusual design that combines the input, phase splitter, and driver stages, but it works due to synergy between the design elements.

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    Servo Bias

    Uploaded by

    dcastrelos2000
    178 views3 pages
    Valve amplifiers require large cathode bypass capacitors to prevent feedback at low frequencies. However, very large capacitors have drawbacks. It is better to use a smaller capacitor and active circuitry to sense the anode current and provide constant bias independent of overload conditions. The Quad II amplifier is an unusual design that combines the input, phase splitter, and driver stages, but it works due to synergy between the design elements.

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    Servo Bias

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    Valve amplifiers require large cathode bypass capacitors to prevent feedback at low frequencies. However, very large capacitors have drawbacks. It is better to use a smaller capacitor and active circuitry to sense the anode current and provide constant bias independent of overload conditions. The Quad II amplifier is an unusual design that combines the input, phase splitter, and driver stages, but it works due to synergy between the design elements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    178 views3 pages

    Servo Bias

    Uploaded by

    dcastrelos2000
    Valve amplifiers require large cathode bypass capacitors to prevent feedback at low frequencies. However, very large capacitors have drawbacks. It is better to use a smaller capacitor and active circuitry to sense the anode current and provide constant bias independent of overload conditions. The Quad II amplifier is an unusual design that combines the input, phase splitter, and driver stages, but it works due to synergy between the design elements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Valve Amplifiers

    primary to secondary turns ratio, which makes a high quality design more
    difficult to achieve. Because of this, the cathode bias resistors must be
    bypassed by capacitors, and this is where the problems really begin.
    The capacitor is a short circuit to AC, and so prevents feedback, but its
    reactance rises at very low frequencies, so it is no longer a short circuit, and
    allows feedback. Because the output stage is matched to the load, feedback
    causes an immediate rise in distortion and reduction of output power due to
    the mismatch. The obvious solution is to fit a large enough capacitor to ensure
    that the LF cut-off for this combination is below all frequencies of interest,
    perhaps 1 Hz. Remembering that the resistance that the capacitor sees is Rk
    in parallel with rk, we can easily calculate the value required.
    For a pentode, rk ˆ 1/gm; a typical output pentode has gm ˆ 10 mA/V
    at its working point, so rk  100
    , which is in parallel with a bias resistor of
     300
    , giving a total resistance of 75
    . For 1 Hz, we therefore need
    2000 mF of capacitance.
    2000 mF 50 V capacitors were simply not available at the time, and they
    weren't fitted. They are readily available now, but there are two reasons why
    you might wish to use a smaller value.

    . A 2000 mF capacitor has considerable inductance compared to its capa-


    citance, and therefore allows feedback at HF. However, we can avoid this
    problem by using a low inductance electrolytic designed for use in switch-
    mode power supplies and bypassing it with a smaller capacitor.
    . This reason is rather more subtle. If the output stage is driven into Class B
    by overload, each cathode tries to move more positively than negatively. It
    can't turn off any further, but it can certainly turn on harder. The cathode
    capacitor smooths these changes into a gently rising DC bias voltage, which
    biases the valve further into Class B, and the problem continues. The effect
    of this is that a momentary overload can cause distortion of following
    signals, even though they would normally have been within the capabilities
    of the amplifier. As the cathode bias capacitor becomes larger, the recovery
    time from overload lengthens. Theoretically, we never overload amplifiers,
    and this is not a problem, but occasional overload is inevitable, and the
    effects should be considered.

    The ideal way to deal with all of these problems is to reduce the cathode
    bias resistor to 1
    , so that it no longer causes noticeable feedback, and
    measure the current through it using an operational amplifier. This then feeds
    an asymmetric clipper so that when the valve strays into Class B and clips one
    half cycle, the clipper removes an equal amount from the other half cycle

    418
    Classic power amplifiers

    before feeding the processed signal to an integrator. The integrator can have
    an RC time constant of almost any value we choose, and 10 s is not unusual.
    The output of the integrator is a smoothed DC voltage proportional to anode
    current, which can be compared to a fixed reference, and the difference
    between the two levels drives an amplifier whose output sets the negative grid
    bias for the output valve.
    If the anode current of one valve is set as a reference, then the other valve,
    or valves, can share this reference, which then forces anode currents into
    balance. The increased complexity of this scheme is (partly) offset by its
    improved performance and reduction in HT voltage required, since the
    cathode bias scheme wastes HT. See Fig. 6.25.
    This circuit was designed to sense a 40 mA anode current by developing
    40 mV across the 1
    resistor; the rest of the circuit is based on this 40 mV
    signal, so if a different current is to be sensed, the sense resistor should be
    changed to suit. The 5534 has a gain of 100, and amplifies the mean DC
    level to 4 V, with AC peaks rising to 8 V. Any peak above 8 V is clipped by
    the diode/transistor clamp, since the other half cycle will already have been
    clipped by the valve. The clipped signal is integrated by the 2:2 M
    resistor
    in combination with the 470 nF capacitor, giving tˆ 6:5 s. The 071
    compares this smoothed DC with a reference derived from the potential
    divider chain, and uses this to control the bias transistor. The clamp reference
    voltage set by the 2 k
    variable resistor should be adjusted to achieve constant
    anode current under all conditions of overload. Although this circuit was
    designed to provide 11 V bias, this can easily be changed by returning the
    bias transistor's collector load to a more negative supply as necessary; no
    other changes are required.

    The Quad II
    The Quad II is an unusual design, which at first sight does not look too
    promising, but works because the design is synergetic.
    In this design, not only has the phase splitter been combined with the
    driver stage, but it has also been combined with the input stage. In order to
    achieve the necessary gain, pentodes have been used. Output resistance is
    therefore high, as is input noise. To make matters worse, a variant of the see-
    saw phase splitter has been used. The output stage has local feedback,
    requiring increased drive voltage. See Fig. 6.26.
    The output stage is a pair of KT66 beam tetrodes with anode and cathode
    loads split in the ratio 9.375:1. The cathode connection therefore provides
    little drive to the loudspeaker and may be considered to be series feedback

    419
    + 15V
    Set for constant
    anode current
    2k under all overload
    conditions

    750R
    BC549
    1N4148 +8V

    10k 1k
    40 mV
    + 2M2 +4 V
    5534 +
    +4V
    – 4M7 071
    470k 1k 3n9 –
    4M7 100 p
    1R

    1k 1k 470 n
    10R

    0V

    470 n 3k

    10k –0.6 V

    -11 V
    10k
    4k7

    –15 V

    Fig. 6.25 Principle of output bias servo

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