DIYHiFi.org

Hi all,

I'm a lurker to this forum, having joined when I got tired of the pompous BS at the other place.

I'm looking for some advice on a good basic text(s) that I can use to educate myself regarding electronic design.

What I'm specifically seeking to learn about is analog amplification.

My last control theory class was in 1980 so terms like dominant pole, stability and so forth sound familiar but in all honesty I don't know where to begin to relearn this material with respect to electronics. My old EE text books are heavy on transistor models and basic gain/feedback theory but lacking in practical application and examples.

As background, I'm a mechanical engineer working in aerospace fuel control systems for the last 10 years after a 20 year career in automotive fuel injection. I can work a scope, read a schematic, and understand basic circuits. Having built a few things for myself over the last few years I've also gained a little bit of practical experience on how not to blow stuff up (by blowing stuff up!)

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Mike

The university that I attended concentrated on all that control theory crap. I have not used a single bit of it; either in my professional career, or in audio. OK, knowing that having a pole in the right-half plane will cause oscillations means nothing all by itself.

As for texts.................I have no clue. A lot of guys like books by Doug Self, but I am not a big fan of them. Still, if you are starting out in learning, they might be a good place to start. Just don't believe every word.

Analog design is becoming a lost art. Wasn't taught 40 years ago in my case; probably next to zero now. I learned the hard way: blowing stuff up.

Jocko

_________________
"Because, I hate you guys. I hate you guys so very, very much.

Yours,
General Cartman Lee"

The Art of Electronics is a pretty good starting point. And beyond some, too.

http://frank.harvard.edu/aoe/

Another AoE vote here.

There's a bunch of tutorials on nodal and mesh analysis on the web. One of them should successfully get the point across in a way that makes you go "ah-ha!" Remember that old thing, "follow the money?" This is "follow the current." If you really understand this, you'll be ahead of 95% of the authorities on the various audio forums.

Add understanding of electromagnetic fields, and you move up again.

At my kid's school, they actually *do* teach analog electronics, if you're so inclined. They even have courses in RF. Whoda thunk it.

john linsley hood, the art of linear electronics is a good complement to doug self power amplifier design manual.
I also have horwitz & hill, I don't like it, it doesn't join the bits up. The ARRL handbook is better as a reference book.

_________________
regards
Andrew T.

If you're building class A/AB amplifiers, the Randy Slone book has a good bit of theoretical reference, especially on feedback compensation. Just take his "make the GBW product as high as possible" opinion with a grain of salt.

Optimizing Op Amp Performance
Jerald Graeme

Designing With Field Effect Transistors
2nd Edition
Siliconix
Ed Oxner
(This may be tough to find. I consider it the bible when it comes to fet stuff)

Keithley App Notes for Low Current, Low Voltage and High Impedance Measurements

And of course;
IC Op Amp Cookbook
Walt Jung

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. You've given me some direction that I needed.

Mike

Also, the application notes on national.com / analog.com are a goldmine of information.

I know you've asked for books, but if I may also make a suggestion related to learning. There is an excellent simulator named ltspice, free to use from Linear Technology. I found it very useful for learning how certain values/parts/topologies can change the behaviour of a circuit. One just has to keep in mind that simulation is not reality. For anything that's half important I still prototype the real thing, often as an air construction (solder parts to each other without a pcb). Just my 2c

Thanks for the LTspice advice. I'll give it a try but will be a bit leery of the results until (and if) I get a "gut-feel" for the solutions.

I do a lot of finite element simulation for mechanical and magnetic problems and tend to take the results as a qualitative guide rather than gospel.

I had a young engineer model a flow problem once and he came to the conclusion that flow rate was proportional to the pressure drop across an orifice. I asked him if he thought Bernoulli's law might apply to the problem so he went back and reworked his results to make it fit a square root curve (kind of a well known mechanical problem since the 1700's). That taught me the value of understanding what you're doing before you start pushing buttons on a computer!

Mike, you're already far ahead of most people just by understanding that part of engineering.