Cascode Linear Voltage Regulator Advantages

Cascode linear Voltage regulator Advantages Each of the power supply components including the AC Mains line filter, Power transformer, rectifiers and certainly the Reservoir capacitors. Voltage Regulators also play a role in the sound of the power supply and this sound is impressed upon the sonic signature of the Amplifier, This happens because the amplifier looks back into the power supply All the way to the AC mains socket, it is easy to grasp the advantages of battery operated equipment when one adds up all the Unknowns found in AC powered Audio Amplifiers. Consider the qualities the amplifier would like to see in it’s power supply, like a pure DC voltage source with zero ohms of Impedance at any frequency within the bandwidth of the Amplifier. The sad reality in most power supplies is that rather than present the amplifier with low and constant impedance over the audio bandwidth most power supplies including regulated types present the amplifier with an impedance curve that varies substantially across the 20-20,000Hz frequency range. The degree that it deviates from flat in many audio circuits is frightening. The impedance variation with frequency from the power supply provides differing damping factors from the Amplifier at different frequencies and if the magnitude of this impedance is a significant portion of the Load’s impedance at that frequency the output voltage from the Amplifier at that frequency will be reduced from its nominal value by the voltage divider effect of the load impedance interacting with the amplifier’s output Impedance. Since the power supply’s output impedance is changing with frequency so will the damping factor, This shows itself as minute changes in the Transducer/Amplifier interface and sonically is heard as subtle colorations similar to a Transducer with an uneven frequency response. Regulators are nothing more than Amplifiers that output DC rather than AC and as such all the qualities that go into good Amplifier design also must be applied to Voltage regulator design if the ultimate in sonic purity is desired. Just like Modern day Amplifier circuits voltage Regulator circuits combine a DC amplifier with lots of negative feedback! This feedback compares the output voltage and to a reference voltage, Should the DC amplifier detect any change at the output via its feedback path, it is designed to restore the desired voltage to its nominal value as quickly as possible. Just like in Audio Amplifiers the application of negative feedback if improperly executed will result in ringing and possible oscillation. The foregoing concerns illustrate the need to design the Voltage regulator carefully and in addition to low noise and stable DC operating voltages and current, the frequency domain performance of the Voltage regulator is of paramount importance if the full potential of a High performance Amplifier powered by it is to be fully realized.