Single Ended Class A — Nelson Pass / 1995

Single-Ended Class A amplifiers have certainly hit it big in the four years since we began testing the first Aleph 0. So is this just another audio fad, or is there something fundamental about this kind of design, justifying a revival of the old approaches to amplification? When I started designing amplifiers twenty-five years ago, solid state amplifiers had just achieved a firm grasp on the market. Power and harmonic distortion numbers were the important thing, and the largest audio magazine said that amplifiers with the same specs sounded the same. We have heard Triodes, Pentodes, Bipolar, VFET, Mosfet, TFET… More...

Soldering Tips — Karen Douglass / 2004

PCBoard Soldering can be a kind of art form, when done properly. The result should be a perfect physical and electrical connection, between the part lead and the solder pad on the board. I recommend that you find some solder with low lead content, and rosin core. This can help reduce the amount of lead being dumped into our landfills. You should also have a good soldering iron. Be sure the tip size is appropriate for the job. I suggest a 1/8” 3mm screwdriver tip. Hold the iron tip on one side of the joint (where the part lead and… More...