Are all amps being built wrong?


The power amplifiers that drive our loudspeakers are mostly built as a low impedance voltage source. They have always been ... but why?

Loudspeakers have a (greatly) varying impedance over the frequency range. A current drive amplifier would eliminate the issues that stem from this varying impedance, and at the same time make discussions about esoteric speaker cables that strive for optimal R, C, L superfluous. Although there still would be these un-measurable ’this (very expensive) cable sounds better’ debates and opinions ... and that’s OK, that’s part of the fun. :)

So ... why are amplifiers not built as a high impedance current source?

This is an interesting read: https://www.current-drive.info/
rudyb

Showing 3 responses by rudyb

@erik_squires "Because, for the most part, most speaker drivers are linear to voltage, not current."

Unless I misunderstood what you tried to say ... I thought linear with current.

The loudspeaker uses a moving cone to create air vibrations. The cone is put in motion via a coil (wire length L) inside a magnetic field (strength B). The force (F) that moves the cone is created by the current (I) that flows through the coil, with the linear equation F=BIL. From this it seems only logical to drive the coil with a current source, making the current independent on the loudspeaker impedance? Apparently there are other parameters and phenomenon in play that made/make amp designers choose for voltage output, which does make the current that flows dependent on speaker and cable impedance.
This is an interesting article on the subject, © 2019, Rod Elliott (ESP)
https://sound-au.com/articles/current-drive.htm#s1

One of the conclusions (scroll to the bottom of the long article):
"There have been many claims over the years that current drive is the best, and some may claim it's the only) way to drive loudspeakers, as it reduces distortion and allows the speaker to work the "way it was intended". While there is some discussion of this on the Net (see [ 2 ] as an example), there is little real evidence that the benefits are anywhere near as great as claimed. Tests I've run have shown little improvement, and this is expected given that loudspeaker systems and the drivers used therein are designed specifically with the understanding that they will be driven with a voltage amplifier. By definition, that means the output impedance is low, always below 0.2Ω, and often much less."
This is an interesting statement: " Tests I’ve run have shown little improvement, and this is expected given that loudspeaker systems and the drivers used therein are designed specifically with the understanding that they will be driven with a voltage amplifier."

However small, apparently there is an inprovement with current drive. Which could grow larger when speakers would be specifically designed for current drive. One can wonder why it is not used more often ... any improvement is good, even more so knowing people are willing to spend thousands on their (power, speaker, interconnect) cables alone to gain just a very minute improvement.