#Linear power amplifier series#
There are three commonly used types, each targeting one of the above characteristics:ġ) for signals with a known nonlinearity, such as a thermocouple, the amplifier is designed with a corresponding curve or a series of “breakpoints” at which is gain factor is changed this is discussed here and here.Ģ) for the signal with an amplitude which may exceed the range of the channel, a limiting amplifier is used. What are the types of nonlinear amplifiers? This is often the case an RF wireless, radar, or optical signals, which often range over 100 dB and more, but also applies to some test and measurement instrumentation signals. In extreme cases, there may even be permanent physical damage to channel front end due to the signal overload ģ) finally, the signal naturally spans a very wide dynamic amplitude range. The resulting amplifier must then have a recovery time during as it comes out of saturation, during which no signal-handling is possible. There are three primary reasons for needing a non-linear amplifier:ġ) the signal of interest has a known, unavoidable curve or nonlinearity of its own, so the amplifier must compensate for it Ģ) or, the signal may sometimes become so large that it overloads the input of the next stage. Even the outputs of amplifiers with internal topologies which are inherently nonlinear, such as Class AB, B, C, and D, are filtered and compensated to drive their nonlinearity down to single-digit percentages and sometimes lower. Audio amplifiers, for example, are quoted with many linearity specifications, such as total harmonic distortion (THD) or 1%, 0.1% or even less. As you can see by the results, this amp is well suited for subwoofers or mid-basses as it has a nice amount of dynamic headroom for those transient peaks.Users normally place a great deal of value in the high linearity of an amplifier and its corresponding low distortion. Here are the results from my test with the SMD/D'Amore Engineering AD-1 Amp Dyno:Ĩ ohms mono - 8 ohms - Amp is rated at 800W at 12VĨ ohms - Certified 1% THD - 818W at 13.99VĤ ohms mono - 4 ohms - Amp is rated 800W at 12VĤ ohms - Certified 1% THD - 824W at 13.5VĪll tests above were at 40Hz.
Watch the video and see the results obtained from this 20yr old car audio amplifier. Quite an impressive feat, considering the competition! It may or may not surprise you, but the Linear Power came out on top. Other challengers were the Rockford Fosgate Power 1000 Mosfet, Precision Power 2350DM, Orion GS500 and HiFonics Colossus VII.quite a group of large, powerful, Class AB amplifiers! Since the 8002SW is a mono amplifier, the tester used 2 of these amps in the comparison. The Linear Power 8002 was also in a battle of "monster" amplifiers in the October 1991 Car Audio & Electronics magazine.
Features biwired output terminals for feedback loop, which keeps speaker wire DC resistance from reducing damping factor defeatable subsonic filter soft turn-on/off fan cooling metal shroud. Specifications according to the 1991 Car Stereo Review Directory (July/Aug 1991): Linear Power 8002SW's Guts - TO-3 Transistors It is quite evident these amps are overbuilt and are more than capable of handling the additional load without breaking a sweat! If you read the original Linear Power manual, they caution against running the amp in 8 ohm mode powering 4 ohm speakers. After a call with Linear Power, it was suggested I set the amp to the 8 ohm taps to run the 8 and 4 ohm Dyno tests. Amp is less efficient in this mode and also produced less power. We initially ran all of the tests using the 4 ohm power supply taps, which lowered rail voltage and increased current. Unlike most of the mono amplifiers of today, this 8002 is capable of reproducing the entire 20Hz - 20kHz frequency range. It was available from 1991-1997 and sold at a MSRP of $1599. The Linear Power 8002 was an 800 Watt single channel amplifier optimized for 8 and 4 ohm loads. Early 90's Linear Power 8002SW 800W Mono Amplifier