27th International AES Conference
 

PAPER SESSION 2: POWER STAGE TOPOLOGIES



2-2 Digital Audio Power Amplifier Based on Multilevel Power Converters


Victor M. E. Antunes(1), Vitor Fernao Pires(2), Jose Fernando Silva(3). (1) Instituto Polit�cnico de Set�bal, Portugal. (2) Instituto Superior T�cnico (IST), UTL, Lisbon, Portugal. (3) Centro Autom�tica Universidade T�cnica Lisboa (CAUTL), Lisbon, Portugal.


The concepts and design aspects of all-digital openloop audio power amplifiers, based on multilevel power converters, are presented. Innovative modulation techniques to reduce harmonic distortion of this type of amplifiers are also presented. A prototype of a digital multilevel audio power amplifier has been developed, implemented, and tested. THD plus noise performance comparisons between some class A, AB, and D amplifiers are presented. Results show that the proposed digital audio power amplifier can be a promising solution for a high-quality digital audio power amplifier.


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