Bob Cordell's Power amplifier book

@Markw4 Let me see if I get this straight or if I am following correctly. Are you saying that Routledge gave you a preorder price, you paid for the book at the price that it was listed, and after you paid for the book they changed the price and asked you to pay the difference or something like that? If that is the case, is that even legal?
 
No. It was more like false advertising. Routledge said the book would be available for preorder at something like 20% off the regular price, but there was no way to preorder. They said preorders would be available at a later date, and the date was given by them. They changed the preorder date a few times, so I waited to get the 20% off offer. When I went back to see if I could finally preorder, the answer was yes, but only at full price.
 
P.S. I bought the hardback version. I won't buy a paperback from Routledge ever again, I recently bought Doug Self's book in paperback, and, after a couple openings, the spine almost cracked and there is a line all along the spine of the book. Publishers are not even trying any more to offer a quality product. The hardback is not that good either, it is the same as the paperback but glued to a hard cover, don't even think you will be getting a sewn book. My sewn books from the 50s and 60s are still as strong as they were when new, a lot more yellowish, though.
 
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I do not see any difference between the construction of the power amp book and this new book. I’ve been through the PA book quiet a bit and it’s held together. I’ve been through the new book over the last few days since I received it, so far so good. Time will tell however. Hopefully it holds up for us. Need to treat it with care :)

So, who’s going to start a new thread for this new book rather than using the power amp book thread?
 
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Since I don't own the paperback edition, I cannot really tell. Routledge is using some sort of ultrathin and flexible glue for the spine of paperbacks, at least that is the one they used in Douglas Self's book, and it also appears to be the same one used in Bob's hardback version. Sorry for bringing back Doug's book again and again, but it is the most recent Routledge book I have bought previous to Bob's book. Anyway, back to the glue. It gives the impression of being a good thing because it allows for the paperback book to open flat on a table, but it also looks extremely brittle and appears like it will crack in no time, it even looks like some pages are about to fall out. The spine looks cracked and several thick lines started appearing all along the spine.

Regarding the hardback version of Bob's book, which I do have, it is also not very good quality (the book itself, not the content). If you try to open the book flat on a table, you'll start hearing cracking noises and the spine starts ungluing from the hardcover. It is a scam (by Routledge, not Bob), really, so I have to treat it with upmost care and try not to open the book flat, but rather open it partially on my left hand. As an irrelevant note: I am not sure why Routledge hardback versions have some generic blue cover rather than the cover used for the paperback. I also think they might be using Amazon's printing services in TX.

Sorry if all of this sounds obnoxious or picky to you. I own an extremely large book collection (great to have, painful to move) and I have spent a considerable amount of my hard-earned money on books. I am tired of paying for books with a price tag over the hundred dollar mark that end up cracking, ungluing, or that are just subpar in terms of construction quality. I believe publishers are getting more and more greedy each passing day, and that they are taking far more advantage of their authors and buyers than they used to. Although I also must admit that they are still a necessary evil, since I always frown upon any book on Amazon labeled as "Independently Published".
 
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Paperback book construction hasn't changed, its how to make books more cheaply than hardback at the expense of durability. Paperback's aren't really designed to lie flat either. Both my Doug Self paperbacks are Focal Press (one Routledge and one not) and have survived heavy use, the newly arrived Bob Cordell book looks the same construction (but they are all UK printed I suspect).
 
Paperback book construction hasn't changed, its how to make books more cheaply than hardback at the expense of durability. Paperback's aren't really designed to lie flat either. Both my Doug Self paperbacks are Focal Press (one Routledge and one not) and have survived heavy use, the newly arrived Bob Cordell book looks the same construction (but they are all UK printed I suspect).
This is not entirely true. The construction might be the same, but the glue and other things have changed. I have read enough books and I am old enough to know that one shouldn't open a paperback flat on a table. With the new edition of Self's book (at least with my copy) there is no option, it just happens whether you like it or not, you open the book and it just goes all the way. Some paperbacks are stiff and you can't really open them beyond a certain point at which you can certainly tell that, if you go over that point, you will damage the book. This is not what happens with many of the new paperbacks. They have some sort of flexible and very thin glue, and these books get wasted in no time.
 
My hardcover version of Bobs book from Routledge also has poor binding. The first blank page inside the cover is becoming detached from the spine and it was like this from new. I wasn't impressed at the time since I paid a fortune for the hardcover version. If I was buying again I think I'd buy the eBook version since it's cheaper and easier to search through the text that way.
 
I try to avoid anything that has the prefix "e-" attached to it, and not only because I truly dislike e-books. A couple of months ago a big tech company decided to cancel my account without a warning, along with all my past purchases, subscriptions, etc... without a possibility for recovery. When I asked why they cancelled my account they couldn't give me an explanation and just blamed their system for not giving out more information. To add insult to injury, they kept charging my credit card for a service that I no longer had access to, their recommendation: cancel the credit card. I realized at that moment that I do not own anything that these companies provide, and just like that they can leave you without anything. Since then I don't buy any more apps or digital goods, basically I don't buy anything that I cannot wrap my hands around it, unless it is a software license or something like that.
 
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@Bob Cordell
I've been digging into the second edition of your book and I notice on pg. 293 Section 13.2
that you mention the first use of a CFP output stage being by Dan Meyer in the Universal
Tiger 1970. That amp was not a traditional CFP but rather it had gain. The NPN device made
to act like a PNP in a quasi-comp output stage is CFP and those were common in the mid to
late 1960s. Any reference to the Universal Tiger should go in your section 13.3 on "CFP Output
Stages With Gain" in my opinion. It is clear that the Bryston borrowed a lot from the Tigersaurus,
yes with many improvements.
I was the one to discover the reverse Vbe voltage problem in 2011 as documented in this post:
And in both the Tiger and the Bryston.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...r-improved-and-simulation.93637/#post-2585028

After a lot of suggestions regarding how to fix the reverse Vbe problem I came up with the
"Basel diode" lol in 2020, two diodes completely fix the problem as shown here:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...oved-and-simulation.93637/page-5#post-6041249

I think that it is important to mention the reverse Vbe issue and a good correction.

In your list of references #5 is to the Tigersaurus and you refer to it under "CFP Triple With Gain"
on page 297. That amp is not a triple, but it does have stacked outputs to tolerate the 75V rails.
The Tiger .01 had an output stage triple.