
Small Signal Audio Design
Douglas Self(Author)
Focal Press
5th Edition
Will be published approx. on 10. July 2026
842 pages
978-1-040-85628-4 (ISBN)
System requirements
for ePUB without DRM
E-Book Single Licence
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Available for download
Description
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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 updated fifth edition offers new content on recent opamps, electrolytic distortion, noise in MM RIAA preamplifiers, reducing the noise in tone-control stages, balanced line inputs, and 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
make magnetic cartridge preamplifiers that have noise so low it is limited by basic physics, by using load synthesis
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 theory 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
make magnetic cartridge preamplifiers that have noise so low it is limited by basic physics, by using load synthesis
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 theory 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 magazine
More details
Edition
5th edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Reflowable
Illustrations
147 Tables, black and white; 609 Line drawings, black and white; 2 Halftones, black and white; 611 Illustrations, black and white
File size
126,32 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-85628-4 (9781040856284)
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
Additional editions
Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
Book
approx. 07/2026
5th Edition
Taylor & Francis
€179.50
Not yet published
Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
Book
approx. 07/2026
5th Edition
Taylor & Francis
€93.00
Not yet published
Previous edition

Douglas Self
Small Signal Audio Design
E-Book
12/2023
4th Edition
Focal Press
€108.99
Available for download
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 hi-fi 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. Passive components 3. Designing with discrete transistors 4. Opamps and their properties 5. Opamps for low voltages 6. Filters 7. Preamplifier architectures 8. Variable gain stages 9. Moving-magnet inputs: levels and RIAA equalisation 10. Moving-coil phono amplifiers 11. Tape replay amps 12. Guitar preamplifiers 13. Volume controls 14. Balance controls 15. Tone controls and equalisers 16. Mixer architectures 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. Level control and special circuits 25. Power supplies 26. Interfacing with the digital domain 27. Design and experimentation
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