Some of the best amplifiers I have seen were unbalanced input but fully differential and complementary and direct coupled once past the input stage. One of the best I ever heard was a 'build it yourself' kit that was available many years ago thru "popular electronics" magazine. I had a couple of those amps for a while until a loose wire shorted the output and caused a chain reaction that took out every transistor in the chain. I fixed it at an expense greater than was reasonable but moved on pretty quickly to something less inflexible with regard to load impedance. :) Still, that was a fine sounding amp in its day. Today I don't know how well it would hold up against modern designs.
Is a stereo amp, when bridged to mono, by definition differential?
I've been reading about amps and the seemingly endless choices that designers make, and found myself wondering this, but haven't been able to find the answer. It would seem, if I'm correctly understanding the definition of differential, also called push-pull, that bridging the two sides of a stereo amplifier would, by necessity, be creating exactly this topology. Unless I'm missing something, of course, which may well be the case.
Thanks to those who understand such things much better than I for any clarification.
Also, those who'd rush to weigh in about the likely sonic benefits -- or detriments -- of such arrangements needn't bother, as that's not what I'm wondering about.
Thanks.
-- Howard
Thanks to those who understand such things much better than I for any clarification.
Also, those who'd rush to weigh in about the likely sonic benefits -- or detriments -- of such arrangements needn't bother, as that's not what I'm wondering about.
Thanks.
-- Howard