Polytechnic of Namibia

School of Engineering
Electrical engineering department

Analogue electronics semester project

report
Title: A 2 stage audio amplifier

By: Hiskiel Stephanus [201082616]

Mentor: Mr KV Munthali
Abstract
An audio amplifier is an amplifier that is used to amplify the audio input that is
inputted into the circuit. Different designs are usually used to make up this
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amplifier. These are usually ranging from integrated circuit amplifiers to those using
discrete components.
This project therefore requested for the students to design an audio amplifier with
at least two stages that will be able to amplify audio input to at least be heard
within the classroom range. The design was then limited to have an output of 0.5W
and a load resistance of about 8. This typical circuit was therefore built by the
students using only discrete components and was fully operable.

Acknowledgements
The students would like to dedicate a special vote of thanks to their lecturer mr KV
Muntahli for always being there when they needed help on how to design their
2

project. They would also like to thank him for all the very necessary knowledge he
has passed on to them in order to help them theoretically understand their projects.
On a very serious note, the students also wish to extend their gratitude to their very
qualified store manager and lab technician for always being there when they
needed advice on the practicality of the components they have to use in their
project. You guys have done a very good job and we see ourselves as very well
polished diamonds.

Table of contents

Content
#

page

1. Introduction
5
2. Arrival upon the design of the
project.5
3. Calculations

7
4. Deviations and the practical values
chosen11
5. Operation of the
circuit
.12
6. Precautions during
operation.
. 13
7. Conclusions
..14
8. References

..15

1.Introduction
An audio amplifier is a very important device in the advancing world of technology.
It is the device that is used to amplify and hence enlarge the input audio signal in
order to output the desired output audio signal. The output signal is than supplied to
necessary devices that output sound. These devices can be speakers or sometimes
loudspeakers. These audio amplifiers are used mostly in entertainment facilities
such as clubs,in shows and also in official meetings.
They can also be used in other devices such as cellphones to amplify the music in
music players and in large conferences where one may not always hear what the
main presenter at the conference is talking about.
In our project, the output of the amplifier was to be outputted by an 8 speaker.
This implies that the amplifier we are dealing with is an ideal situation of an audio
amplifier and larger ones may exist.
The following are therefore considered as aims and objectives of this experiment:

To help the students to understand about the different classes of amplifiers

and how the outputs of these amplifiers should be.
It also aims at giving an insight of what the students should expect as the
efficiencies of the different classes of amplifiers.
In a more practical sense, the students also got an enhancement on their
practical abilities and were able to understand the difference between ideal
and practical applications of different components.
The project experiment also aimed at creating a broader understanding in the
students so that they know the difference between the calculated values and
the usually available practical values of components that can be used in
electronics circuits.
Because a transistor was to be used as one of the very basic components in
the project, the project hence also aimed at creating understating on how
transistors operate and their power dissipation capabilities as one of the
basic properties to be considered for power amplifiers.

Overally, the project aimed at exposing the students to the ins and outs of
designing a project that happens in the engineering industry where they are
going to be employed once they have obtained their qualifications.

2. Arrival upon the design of the project

Before I arrived at my design, I have considered the following underlying facts about
audio amplifiers with reference to the provided output conditions.
1. I firstly considered the number of stages that my audio amplifier is going to
have and I decided that it is going to have two stages. This was for reasons
because; as the stages of an amplifier circuit increase so does the power
dissipated by the amplifier circuit. This in a way therefore decreases the
efficiency of the amplifier circuit, therefore I opted not to use as many stages.
2. I than considered the components that I was going to use as amplifying
devices and have chosen transistors because transistors usually have high
input impedance and they have a high bandwidth and sometimes power
conversion efficiency. This are the traits usually needed in a good audio
amplifying device and hence the characteristics of a good transistor.
3. I than also thought of the class of my amplifier that I was going to use. I than
decided to use a class A amplifier due to its practicality and due to the fact
that it has output signal for 360 degrees of the input signal. I also chose it
because class B amplifiers which were my next available option has only an
output signal for 180 degrees of the input signal and the class A-B amplifier
has distortions such as the frequency distortion, amplitude distortion and
crossover distortion that may affect my output audio signal even if they have
really good efficiencies compared to class A.
4. I than thought for a while and decided to DC isolate the two stages of the
audio amplifiers and decided to connect the two stages of the amplifier circuit
using a coupling capacitor. This was done to ensure that the DC voltage from
the first stage does not affect the biasing of the transistor in the second
stage.
5. I than again also considered the coupling method that I am going to use and
have decided to use capacitor coupling because this type of coupling does
not only couple the signals into the two transistors in the two stages but also
blocks the DC voltage (available in the audio signal) from the two transistors
as to keep the biasing technique of the two transistors as intact as possible.
6. I also thought of the type of biasing technique that I was going to use to bias
the transistors. I have decided to use common emitter biasing because this
type of biasing has the following benefits.
This type of biasing produces a gain that is positive
The gain produced using this type of biasing is also greater than unity.
This type of biasing also produces excellent signal characteristics when
operated accordingly.
This type of biasing provides pre-amplification of weak input signals and
makes them stronger and therefore finds very useful applications in audio
amplifiers.
6

Comparing this type of biasing with other types of biasing, this type of biasing has
more positive and useful characteristics for audio amplifiers and is therefore the one
I picked.
7. I than considered the stability of the circuit and hence its ability to withstand
oscillation. For this application I have decided the capacitors I use in this
experiment be large enough to withstand this effects.
8. I also considered the fact that since the amplifier is an audio amplifier, it
must be prone noise and there must be an available mechanism to filter out
this noise. I have decided that the coupling capacitor at the input stage will
be large enough as to act as a filter capacitor to filter out the noise at 50Hz of
the input audio signal.
9. Another important consideration that I thought of was how I was going to
switch on and off my circuit and how I was going to vary the volume of my
amplification. I then decided to use a digital switch to switch the transistors
on and off and I used a relatively small variable resistor to vary the volume of
my amplified signal. This will be varied to increase and decrease the output
signal flowing through it and hence controls the volume.
10.The final consideration was therefore the input DC voltage which was the
most difficult decision I have made in this project. I finally decided that I will
use Vcc=10V because considering that I will use common emitter biasing I will
have to consider the voltage drop across the biasing network resistors which
is equal to the voltage driving the base of the transistors to be more than
0.7V( the cut in voltage for a silicon transistor).
With these in mind, I than drew up a picture of an approximate circuit of how my
audio amplifier will look like. This is shown in the figure1 below:

Figure 1 [showing an approximate picture of how my circuit design will look like]
After having a clear picture in mind of how my circuit will look like, I then
calculated the values of my components.
3. Calculations
When calculating the values of the components one always starts with the
output stage. In my amplifier circuit my output stage was stage two and is the
stage with transistor T1. Hence there follows my calculations below:
Stage 2
1. Vcc=10V (the reasons for choosing this voltage are explained briefly in the
previous sections of this report.
2. R9=8.2( this is because this resistance must be roughly equal to the
load resistance and because there is no 8 available in the laboratory
shop, I could only pick the 8.2 to be my R 9)
3. VR9 =40% of the VCC. (This is a standard condition for the operation of a
class A amplifier operating at saturation).
=0.410V
=4V
4. IC1(the current through the collector of transistor T1)=

4V

= 8.2
=0.488A
5. IE1(emitter current for transistor T1)= IC1+IB1
8

Vr 9
R9

But since IC1>>IB1

IE1 IC1=0.488A

6. The power dissipated by the transistor T1=PT1=IC1VR9

=0.488A4V
=1.95Watts
7. VR8=10% of Vcc (a standard assumption that is taken for a class A transistor
at saturation)
=0.110V
=1V
8. R8=

VR 8
IE 1

1V

= 0.488 A
=2.05
9.

|Xc 1| =
C 1 2 F

where in Namibia F=50Hz

|Xc 1| =R8
1

C1= 2 50 Hz 2.05
=1553.4F

10. |Xc 2| = C 2 2 F

where in Namibia F=50Hz

|Xc 1| =R9
1

C1= 2 50 Hz 8.2
=388.17F

Ic 1
11.Hfe=100 for the transistor I have decided to use, hence I B= Hfe
=

0.488 A
100

=4.88mA
12.IR6=11IB (This is also a standard assumption for class A amplifiers)
=114.88mA
=53.68mA
13.IR7=10IB (This is also a standard assumption for class A amplifiers)
=104.88mA
=48.8mA
14.By kirchoffs voltage law,VR7=VBE+VR8
=0.7V+1V
9

=1.7V

VR 7
IR 7

15.R7=

1.7 V

= 48.8 mA
=34.84
16.VCC=VR7+VR6
VR6=VCC- VR7
=10V-1.7V
=8.3V

VR 6
17.R6= IR 6
8.3V

= 53.68 mA
=154.6
18.Hence it was time calculate the input resistance to the second stage of
the amplifier circuit

1
1
1
1
RIN1=
+
+
R 7 R 6 Hie

Where Hie for the transistor T1 is assumed to be 1000.

1
RIN1=

1
1
1
+
+
34.84 154.66 1000

=27.65
19.R5=RL=8 (but because of availability, I have used it to be 8.2)
Stage 1
1. R4=RIN1=24.65
2. VR4= 40% of VCC
=0.410V
=4V
3. IC2=

VR 4
R4

4V

= 24.65
=162.27mA
4. IE2=IC2+IB2
But IC2>>IB2

10

Hence IE2

IC2

=162.27mA
5. The power dissipated by transistor T2 is given the equation= IC2VR4
=4V162.27mA
=0.64908W
6. VR3=10% of VCC
=0.110V
=1V
7. R3=

VR 3
IE 2
1V

= 162.27 mA
=6.163

8. C4= 2 50 Hz R 3

= 2 50 Hz 6.613
=516.49 F

9. C5= 2 50 Hz RIN 1

= 2 50 Hz 2765
=115.12 F
10.IB2=

IC 2
Hfe

Where Hfe=100 for the transistor that I have chosen.

162.27 mA
=IB2=
100
=1.623mA
11.IR1=11IB2
=111.623mA
=17.85mA
12.IR2=10IB2
=101.623mA
=16.23mA
13.R2=

VR 2
IR 2

11

1.7 V

= 16.23 mA
=104.75
14.VCC=VR2+VR1
VR1= VCC- VR2
=10V-1.7V
=8.3V
15.R1=

VR 1
IR 1

8.3V

= 17.85 mA
=464.99

1
16.RIN2= 1 + 1 + 1
R 1 R 2 Hie
1
1
1
1
RIN2=
+
+
464.99 104.75 1000
=78.76

17.C3= 2 F RIN 2

1
C3= 2 50 Hz 78.76
=40.4F

18.C6= 2 50 Hz R 5

= 2 50 Hz 8.2
=388.18F
4. Deviations and the practical values chosen
The values that I calculated above are theoretical values and may not always be
available practically. Considering that our lab store is a very small store and may
not always be equipped with all the demanded components, the table below
therefore shows the list of calculated values and the corresponding values as
advisable by the store manager.
Resistance values

12

Resist
or
R1

Calculated values
464.99

Values obtained from the

store
470

R2

104.75

100

R3

6.613

4.7

R4

24.65

20

R5

8.2

R6

154.6

160

R7

34.84

30

R8

2.05

1.8

R9

8.2

Table1 [calculated and used values of resistances]

Also there were deviations in the values of the capacitors used as shown in the
table that follows. Please also note that the input capacitor C3 was made very large
as to eliminate noise and did not follow the calculated value.
Capacitor values
Capacitor

Calculated values

Values obtained from the

store
C1
1553.4 F
2200 F
C2
388.18 F
470 F
C3
40.4 F
2200 F
C4
516.49 F
680 F
C5
115.12 F
220 F
C6
388.18 F
470F
Table 2 [calculated and used capacitance values]
5. Operation of the circuit
The operation of this circuit is explained using the statements below.

This circuit has two stages namely the input stage (stage 1) and the output
stage (stage2). All the two stages each has a single transistor (BD243C) that
acts as the amplifying device in the circuit.
Each of these transistors is supplied with dc current so that their base emitter
junctions will be forward biased. This is supplied as V CC in the circuit.

13

When the base emitter junctions of the two npn transistors is forward
biased,a supply voice signal is than supplied through the microphone or
appropriately an audio jack for constant supply of voice signals.( advantages
of the audio jack lie in the fact that it allows for power measurements when a
constant value of input signal is applied to the circuit.)
The input signal is than filtered for any DC voltage and noise outside the
bandwidth that capacitor C3 is operating. It is than supplied to transistor T 2.
Since transistor T2 is forward biased, it will amplify this input signal by a
certain constant and the amplified signal is than filtered by the output
capacitor of STAGE 1 for any DC components and is than coupled to the base
of transistor T1.
The already initially amplified signal from the first stage of the circuit is
amplified again by the transistor T1 which is already turned on by the
common emitter voltage across its base and is coupled to the output by
capacitor C2 which also filters the DC component of this secondly amplified
signal out.
The output signal is hence fed into the speaker which converts the electrical
energy of the signal into sound energy so that it will be heard by the
audience.
To add more functionality to the circuit, a switch is added so that it will be
able to cut-off the supply of VCC to the transistors and hence the base emitter
junction of the transistors will not be forward biased anymore and hence no
amplification takes place and hence no output signal since the transistors will
not conduct.
The circuit also has a volume control option whereby a small variable resistor
is connected in parallel with resistor R9 in order to control the output signal
that reaches the loudspeaker and hence also loudness of the output sound
waves.

During the operation of this circuit, a multimeter was also used to measure the
values of currents and voltage and hence calculations were made for the power
dissipation for the transistors. This are all shown in the table below

value
VR9
IC1
IE1
PT1
IB1
IR6
IR7
VR4
IC2
IE2

Calculated
4V
0.488A
0.488A
1.95W
4.88mA
53.68mA
48.8mA
4V
162.27mA
162.27mA

Measured
3.90V
0.402A
0.414A
1.9W
4mA
43mA
38mA
3.81V
190.2mA
192.1mA
14

PT2
0.64908
IR1
17.85mA
IB2
1.623mA
IR2
16.23mA
Table 3 [showing the measured and calculated values of

0.742W
20.9mA
1.9mA
19.04mA
the currents and voltages]

From this values one can hence calculate the overall power conversion efficiency of
the amplifier

0.5W

Theoretical efficiency= 4.88 W 100%

=10.3%
Practical efficiency=

0.5W
4 W 100%

=12.5%
6. Precautions during operation
The following were taken as precautions during the operation of the amplifier so
that the operation of the circuit will not cause inconveniences.

The current of the power supply was kept to a maximum of 0.4A as to

prevent the excess heating up of the resistors and transistors that will cause
internal damage of the components.
Due to the fact that transistor T2 is suppose to dissipate large amounts of
power, a heat sink was loaded onto this transistor as to conduct away the
heat produced due to the power dissipated by this very device.
Short circuits were thoroughly avoided as they cause instant burning of the
resistors and other components.
Due to the fact that the students wanted to have a constant voice signal
being produced at the output, the students thus used an audio jack that
should be connected to a smartphone. Care was thus take an to reduce the
noise in the output signal by replacing the calculated value of capacitor C 3 by
2200F.

7. Conclusion
Applications of audio amplifiers are very wide with the developing world of
today. For example people would want to make life easier for themselves
and would not want to talk long speeches loudly using so much effort but
would use audio amplifiers to simply amplify their voice and a little
whisper will be heard out loudly.
15

Audio amplifiers hence are considered a very effective invention as they

make life easier for human beings in almost all walks of life.
With focus on the particular one that I have just designed, it has the
following advantages due to the chosen method of operation
For this amplifier, the output DC offset is always zero (unless the
output capacitor is leaky).
This type of amplifier is very simple to design and understand and
may be applied in industries for a variety of useful applications.
Since this amplifier is RC coupled, there will hardly be any need for
protection against the DC faults because the filter capacitors will
have to do what they do best.
This makes this type of amplifier cheap compared to DC amplifiers
because costs for DC faults protection are cut short.
Through the use of the capacitors used in the coupling of signals,
the amplifier is very easy to make short circuit proof.
AC coupled amplifiers circuits also do not require output inductors
for stability as they already give good stability output.
Even though the class of amplifier used only has a maximum efficiency of 25%, this
amplifier has the best practicability compared to other types of amplifiers and I very
suited for applications in audio power amplifiers. The circuit I designed therefore
worked according to the requested specifications.

8. References
1. Newnes ; Audio engineering,1st edition; amsterdan ,London.
16

2. Douglas self;audio amplifier design handbook;second edition;oxford,

boston.
3. Lecture notes by mr Munthali;updated 2012;

17