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Methods and apparatus for variable solid state-to-tube rectification in an amplifier

  • US 8,610,498 B2
  • Filed: 01/12/2010
  • Issued: 12/17/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2010
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An apparatus, comprising:

  • a rectification circuit operating to convert a source of AC power into a final DC power source, the rectification circuit including;

    (i) a solid state rectifier circuit operating to convert the source of AC power into a first DC power source using one or more solid state rectification devices, and (ii) a vacuum tube rectifier circuit operating to convert the source of AC power into a second DC power source using one or more vacuum tube rectification devices;

    a combiner circuit operating to merge the first and second DC power sources to produce the final DC power source;

    a rectification filtering capacitance operating to at least partially smooth a voltage of the final DC power source, which exhibits a voltage sag and recovery characteristic in response to time-variant current drawn therefrom;

    a power amplification circuit drawing power from the final DC power source and producing an output signal, for driving a speaker, having audible characteristics influenced by the voltage sag and recovery characteristic of the final DC power source; and

    a control circuit operating, in response to user input, to selectively change a proportion of the first DC power provided by the solid state rectifier circuit as compared with a proportion of the second DC power provided by the vacuum tube rectifier circuit, that are merged by the combiner circuit to control one or more parameters of the voltage sag and recovery characteristic of the final DC power source.

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