None of latest stereo systems would be feasible without the aid of todays stereo amplifiers which attempt to satisfy higher and higher requirements concerning power and audio fidelity. This article should also help you figure out what topology is perfect for your precise application.<br /><br />Determined by the kind of amp, one of several kinds of elements are utilized in order to amplify the signal including tubes and transistors. Aside from the original audio, there will be overtones or higher harmonics present in the amplified signal. As a result tube amps have rather high distortion. Today, tube amps still have a lot of followers. Also, tubes are rather expensive to produce. Class-A amplifiers, on the other hand, waste the majority of the power as heat. These 2 areas are handled by separate transistors. Each of those transistors operates more efficiently than the single transistor in a class-A amplifier. The higher efficiency of class-AB amplifiers also has two other advantages. For that reason, class-AB amps can be manufactured cheaper than class-A amps. When the signal transitions between the 2 distinct areas, however, some level of distortion is being created, thereby class-AB amplifiers will not achieve the same audio fidelity as class-A amplifiers.<br /><br />Class-D amps are able to achieve power efficiencies above 90% by making use of a switching transistor which is continuously being switched on and off and therefore the transistor itself does not dissipate any heat. Both the pulse-width modulator and the transistor have non-linearities which result in class-D <a href='http://www.amphony.com'>small audio amplifiers</a> exhibiting bigger music distortion than other types of amps. To resolve the problem of high audio distortion, modern switching amp styles incorporate feedback. The amplified signal is compared with the original low-level signal and errors are corrected. "Class-T" amps (also referred to as "t-amplifier") employ this kind of feedback method and for that reason can be made extremely small whilst achieving small music distortion.