This paper examines the potential threat of power restriction legislation on audio power amplifier design. By considering the interaction between the amplitude distribution of audio signals with the efficiency characteristics of the different amplifier classes it shows that some of the linear classes can perform well as regards energy consumption and thus can compete with switching class D systems. Furthermore, it discusses the possibility of optimizing some of the linear amplifier classes in conjunction with the amplitude probabilities of real audio signals to effect a further reduction in average power consumption. Thus resulting in the "greenest possible" amplifier for a given class of power amplification.
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