
Small Signal Audio Design
Douglas Self(Author)
Focal Press
4th Edition
Published on 22. December 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
816 pages
978-1-032-36625-8 (ISBN)
Shipment within 10-20 days
Description
Small Signal Audio Design is a highly practical handbook providing an extensive repertoire of circuits that can be assembled to make almost any type of audio system. This fully revised fourth edition offers wholly new content on internally balanced audio design, electret microphones, emitter-follower stability, microphony in capacitors, and much, much more.
This book continues the engaging prose style familiar to readers as you learn why mercury-filled cables are not a good idea, the pitfalls of plating gold on copper, and what quotes from Star Trek have to do with PCB design.
Learn how to:
make amplifiers with apparently impossibly low noise
design discrete circuitry that can handle enormous signals with vanishingly low distortion
transform the performance of low-cost opamps
build active filters with very low noise and distortion while saving money on expensive capacitors
make incredibly accurate volume controls
make a huge variety of audio equalisers
use load synthesis to make magnetic cartridge preamplifiers that have noise so low it is limited by basic physics
sum, switch, clip, compress, and route audio signals
build simple but ultra-low noise power supplies
be confident that phase perception is not an issue
Including all the crucial theories, but with minimal mathematics, Small Signal Audio Design is the must-have companion for anyone studying, researching, or working in audio engineering and audio electronics.
This book continues the engaging prose style familiar to readers as you learn why mercury-filled cables are not a good idea, the pitfalls of plating gold on copper, and what quotes from Star Trek have to do with PCB design.
Learn how to:
make amplifiers with apparently impossibly low noise
design discrete circuitry that can handle enormous signals with vanishingly low distortion
transform the performance of low-cost opamps
build active filters with very low noise and distortion while saving money on expensive capacitors
make incredibly accurate volume controls
make a huge variety of audio equalisers
use load synthesis to make magnetic cartridge preamplifiers that have noise so low it is limited by basic physics
sum, switch, clip, compress, and route audio signals
build simple but ultra-low noise power supplies
be confident that phase perception is not an issue
Including all the crucial theories, but with minimal mathematics, Small Signal Audio Design is the must-have companion for anyone studying, researching, or working in audio engineering and audio electronics.
Reviews / Votes
"Self provides solid, well-explained technical information throughout the book, all gained from years of experience and a thorough understanding of the entire topic (...) His book exudes skilful engineering on every page, and I found it a very refreshing, enjoyable, and inspirational read (...) If you have the slightest interest in audio circuit design this book has to be considered an essential reference. Very highly recommended."Hugh Robjohns, Sound on Sound Magazine
"This book presents a large body of knowledge and countless insider-tips from an award-winning commercial audio designer (...) Douglas Self dumps a lifetime's worth of thoroughly-tested audio circuit knowledge into one biblical tome."
Joseph Lemmer, Tape Op
More details
Edition
4th edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Postgraduate, Professional Practice & Development, Professional Reference, Undergraduate Advanced, and Undergraduate Core
Illustrations
565 s/w Abbildungen, 217 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 348 s/w Zeichnungen, 128 s/w Tabellen
128 Tables, black and white; 348 Line drawings, black and white; 217 Halftones, black and white; 565 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 188 mm
Width: 233 mm
Thickness: 49 mm
Weight
2179 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-36625-8 (9781032366258)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
Book
approx. 07/2026
5th Edition
Taylor & Francis
€93.00
Not yet published
Additional editions

Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
E-Book
12/2023
4th Edition
Focal Press
€108.99
Available for download

Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
E-Book
12/2023
4th Edition
Focal Press
€108.99
Available for download

Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
Book
12/2023
4th Edition
Focal Press
€184.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Previous edition

Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
Book
04/2020
3rd Edition
CRC Press
€92.84
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Douglas Self studied engineering at Cambridge University then psychoacoustics at Sussex University. He has spent many years working at the top level of design in both the professional audio and hifi industries and has taken out a number of patents in the field of audio technology. He currently acts as a consultant engineer in the field of audio design.
Content
1. The basics; 2. Components; 3. Discrete transistor circuitry; 4. Opamps and their properties; 5. Opamps for low voltages; 6. Filters; 7. Preamp architecture; 8. Variable gain stages; 9. Moving-magnet inputs: levels and RIAA equalisation; 10. Moving-coil head amplifiers; 11. Tape replay; 12. Guitar preamplifiers; 13. Volume controls; 14. Balance controls; 15. Tone controls and equalisers; 16. Mixer architecture; 17. Microphone preamplifiers; 18. Line inputs; 19. Line outputs; 20. Headphone amplifiers; 21. Signal switching; 22. Mixer sub-systems; 23. Level indication and metering; 24. Gain-control elements; 25. Power supplies; 26. Interfacing with the digital domain; 27. Design and experimentation