What is Gain Structure? - Page 12

29th March 2011, 10:57 AM
Pano diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: SW Florida	What is Gain Structure? Gain structure (AKA Gain Staging) is a concept that gets talked about a lot in pro audio, but most home audio folks have never heard of it. Understanding gain structure can help you get the cleanest signal possible out of your system and avoid some nasty things. Things like noise and clipping,... Click here to read the entire article Last edited by Variac; 1st April 2011 at 11:34 PM.

2nd April 2016

bobdoh

diyAudio Member

Hi Guys!

Many thanks for the help!

Andrea Ciuffoli (thanks)

I went to his site and found his paper on his
"Power Follower 99" a solid state class A amp 30wps at 6ohms

He also says

"The presented topology, has NO gain (actually it looses something) and should be preceded by voltage gain stage, with an output swing not lower than 10Vrms and Rout < 1000Ohm. "

This sounds perfect! Can this zero gain amp be implemented DIY or is it too esoteric and should be purchased from a person like Ciuffoli?

2nd April 2016

AndrewT

diyAudio Member

Ciuffoli Power Follower(Buffer) has very few parts and could be done as hardwired.

A gain of 1times is equal to +0dB = -0dB
A gain of 0.99times is equal to -0.09dB

If you preceded the Power Follower with a very low gain pre-amp stage like switchable between +0dB, +6dB and +12dB, you could probably drive the output to maximum power with most of your sources.
Possibly BA 3 pre, or Juma, or many others.

regards Andrew T.
Sent from my desktop computer using a keyboard

2nd April 2016

bobdoh

diyAudio Member

Hi Andrew

Many thanks for your help. I understand conceptually what I need - I just lack any technical ability to build. Are there people that will build these custom for a fee?

If you had a generous budget which of the pre-amps you listed would you recommend (given a zero gain amp)? (should it be dual mono?)

On the zero gain DIY amp - is there a Honey Badger equivalent of a zero gain design out there that can be used?

Thanks again

2nd April 2016

AndrewT

diyAudio Member

If I didn't need pre-amp gain then either a B1 or a DC B1.
If a bit of gain is required, then probably a Juma.

regards Andrew T.
Sent from my desktop computer using a keyboard