CONVERSION OF AMPLITUDE NONLINEARITIES TO PHASE NONLINEARITIES

IN FEEDBACK AUDIO AMPLIFIERS

Ilatti Otala

Herman Kardon, Inc., Plainview, Hew York .Z1803, USA

(on leave of absence from the Technical Research
Centre of Finland, SF—90l01 Oulu 10, Finland

ABSTRACT

It is shown that by the application of The total open-loop transfer equation

feedback, an arbitrary open-loop amplitude then becomes
nonlinearity of an audio amplifier is con-
verted into a corresponding closed—loop
phase nonlinearity. This effect manifests
itself by the amplitude of the audio signal
F(x,s)= [i e.(x.)] A. (4)

phase-modulating the high-frequency com- This model is sufficiently general to cover

ponents of the signal. most cases of practical interest, yet suf-
ficiently simple to allow explicit illus-
tration of the effect to be discussed.

INTRODUCTION ANALYSIS
The feedback path is assumed to be purely
An idealized theoretical model of a feed- resistive, time—invariant, perfectly linear,
back audio amplifier is assumed to have
and to have a gain of . By denoting
the following characteristics:
1. The forward path has perfectly linear,
E(x) =
e.(x,) , (5)
time-invariant, frequency—independent, the closed-loop transfer equation becomes
inemoryless open-loop gain

A = r. A. (1)
Fc (x,s)= , (6)

which is the product of n arbitrarily

which can be factored into
distributed individual stage gains A.. Fc (x,s)= A[1÷(x)] ___________ ____
2. Associated with the amplifier stages I+A[1±e(xfl
are k arbitrarily nonlinear but con-
tinuous, memoryless, frequency-inde- The first part is the conventional form
of the time-independent feedback equation
pendent nonlinearities e.(x.), arbi-
trarily distributed in the amplifier and describes the low-frequency closed-
circuitry, and dependent on signal loop gain of the amplifier. It illustrates
amplitude x1 only. The open-loop how feedback reduces nonlinearity at
transfer characteristic can then be frequencies below the dominant pole w0
written as The second part is complex and describes
k
the closed—loop frequency response of the
F(x) = A [1÷ 7Te.x. (2)
i=I amplifier. The closed-loop cut-off frequency
of the amplifier is seen to be
3. The feedback stability constraints w=wo+[+E(X)]} . (8)
require that the forward path has a It is important to notice that this band-
single, time-invariant, signal-indepen-
dent pole wo situated anywhere in width is a function of the signal amplitude
through the open-loop nonlinearity
,
E(x)
the forward path. The open-loop transfer
function of the amplifier is then
CLOSED—LOOP PHASE CHARACTERISTIC
F(s) A , (3)
where s is the Laplace operator. Replacing s=jw , and assuming that the

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open-loop nonlinearity is small, Equation (13) is seen to be the classical
and that the feedback is large, representation of a phase-modulated wave
the phase angle of Eq.(7) is with carrier frequency W2 and sidebands
w2±kw1 . Feedback has thus converted the
(x,s) = -arctan( —_[1-c(x)]} (9) open—loop amplitude modulation described
by Eq.(Ll) into corresponding phase modu-
where w0 wo(1+A) the steady-
,

state closed-loop cut-off frequency when

i.e., lation described by Eq.(13).

Subtracting Eq.(9) from the fixed part of DiSCUSSION

the phase response, i.e., Eq.(9) at c(x)=0,
and by denoting
K (10)
as a frequency-dependent scalar coefficient,
the characteristic amplitude-to-phase trans-
form equation can be found to be
(x) = —arctan K(X)
As can be seen from Eq.(ll), any open-loop
amplitude nonlinearity 6(x) will by the
application of feedback be directly trans-
formed into a corresponding phase nonline-
arity —arctan Ks(x) . It
can also be noted
that the law of nonlinearity 6(x) is
preserved in this mapping.
The above analysis has concentrated on the
phase nonlinearity only. As is evident from
Eq.(7), also amplitude nonlinearity is
present. However, since it has extensively
been discussed in classical feedback theory,
it will not be analyzed here.
PHASE MODULATION
To crudely illustrate the effect discussed
in the previous Chapters, the amplifier is
subjected to a two-tone SMPTE-type inter-
modulation test signal, consisting of a
low-frequency signal Bisin(uit) and a
high—frequency signal B2sin(w2t). Assuming
B1 >> ,2W >> W1 1+A >> 1 ,
Wo >> Wj ,
W0>> W2 , E(B)<<
It has been shown that
the application of feedback, while
performing as advertised in reducing
amplitude nonlinearities, also maps
any open-loop amplitude nonlinearity
into a corresponding phase nonlinearity.
It has also been illustrated that
this transformation converts any open-
(11) loop amplitude intermodulation distortion
into equivalent closed-loop phase inter-
modulation distortion.
The analysis has been derived under the
assumption that the open-loop nonlinearity
is small. In many practical high-feedback
amplifiers this assumption is not necessa-
rily valid, and the transform equation (11)
cannot be obtained in closed form.
The assumption that the dominant pole w0
is signal-independent may also not be true
in many high—feedback amplifier topologies.
However, in both of the above cases, the
effect discussed can be expected to be
aggravated from the results obtained here.
It should be noted that TIM (transient
intermodulation distortion, also known as
SD, slewing-induced distortion) can be
considered as a limit case of this effect,
as discussed elsewhere [i]
By the very nature of the effect, it is
understandable that many of the present
measurement methods, notably the SI'IPTE-IM
and the TI-ID, are incapable of detecting
it.
1

The audibility of this effect, a measurement

Eq.(7) gives the w2 component of the method for it , and the ways to eliminate
output signal as or to minimize it, will be sub3ects to
later papers. Based on preliminary results,
B= A1B2sin{wzt___[1_c(BlsinwIt)]} ,(12) the effect seems to be particularly annoying
in amplifiers using large values of feed-
where A1 is
the amplifier closed-loop back to suppress cross-over distortion,
gain, i.e., the first part of Eq.(7). which causes relatively large and abrupt
For illustration, assume that c(x)= x momentary changes in the open-loop transfer
i.e., the distortion is of pure second characteristic.
order. Eq.(12) can then be developed to
B= A1B2{ n(w2t)[Jo(zn) ÷2J2k(m)cos(2kwjt)] H eference

[1.1
M. Otala and 6. Leinonen,"Possible
Methods for the measurement of Tran-
+2cos(w2t)J2k÷I(m)smm[(2k÷1)wLt]} (3) sient Inter-modulation Distortions'.
53rd Convention of the Audio Eng.
where k(m) is a Bessel function of integer Soc., ZUrich, Switzerland, March
1976. Preprint available from the
ordsr k , and m= W2 B1 is
the modulation Technical Research Centre of Finland,
Wco Report 16/1976, Electrical and Nu-
index.
clear Technology Series, 16 p.

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