solid state

Audio Aid: Build a One CONTRIBUTORS

Transistor MC Step-up Edward T. Dell, Jr. (“Editorial: Under-

W
tions of the many magazines produced by
ith modern low-noise interference, place a 22nH inductance in Audio Amateur Publications.
t ra nsistors, you ca n series with C1 and a 22pF capacitor in Joe Sousa (“Precise dB Monitoring
build an MC step-up parallel with R4. aX with Eye Tubes,” p. 8) has written three
with only one transistor. design Idea winners with EDN, a feature
The MC step-up is powered by a 12V COMPONENTS article for Radio Electronics, and a design
lead-acid battery. The value of R4 de- C1 2.2µF polypropylene idea article for Electronics World maga-
C2, C3 1µF polypropylene
pends on the hfe of the transistor used. zine. This is his first article in audioXpress.
R1, R2 120Ω wirewound
R3 1200Ω Dennis Colin (“The Venue Loudspeak-
Transistor R4 hfe Relative Noise er,” p. 14) has been a band keyboardist
for transistor
BC 639 Philips 180k 150 126 and a recording engineer, and is a fre-
FIGURE 2: Pinouts for different transistors.
BC 487 Motorola 360k 320 85
Bottom view. quent contributor to audioXpress.
BC 489A Motorola 180k 165 72 Charles Hansen (“A Phase Meter Cali-
BC 637 Siemens 150k 130 80
BC 639 Motorola 150k 125 68 brator,” p. 22) holds five patents in his
MPSA 06 Fairchild 220k 200 118 field of engineering and enjoys modifying
MPSA 42 Motorola 180k 160 74 guitar amplifiers and effects to reduce
2N4401 Motorola 220k 200 136
MPSA 42 Philips 180k 150 250 noise and distortion. With hundreds of
articles to his name, he is a frequent con-
The brand of the transistor is very tributor to the magazines of Audio Ama-
important. I found that Philips MPSA C E E teur Publications.
42 and Philips BC 639 are 5-10dB more B C B Joseph Norwood Still (“Two SE Power
E B C
noisy than Motorola. Distortion of the BC487 BC168C MPSA06 Amps: Triode or Ultralinear,” p. 27), retired
amplifier is low due to local feedback. BC489A BC637 MPSA42 from the electronics industry, designs af-
The gain of the amplifier is 19-20dB. If BC639 2N4401 2SC2240 fordable high-quality audio amplifiers for
you have a problem with radio frequency the dedicated audiophile. He has written
many articles for Audio Amateur through-
out the years.
Daisuke Koya (“Build a Flat Panel
FIGURE 1: Step-up circuit. Speaker,” p. 34) is currently on leave from
his Ph.D. in audio engineering due to
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which has
severely affected his health since 2000.
When his health allows, he works at HSU
Research, a speaker company located
in California. This is his first article for
audioXpress.
Craig Kendrick Sellen (“Improving
The Cross-Coupled Inverter,” p. 40) was
trained in solid-state, but has a side inter-
est in vacuum tube circuits of all types.
He has written dozens of articles on the
field of electronics, in both American and
foreign periodicals, and on the Internet.
Rickard Berglund (“Audio Aid: Build
a One Transistor MC Step-up,” p. 54) has
worked in research in analytical chemistry,
and in industrial electronics design. He is
now engaged in construction and manu-
facturing of tube amplifiers.

54 audioXpress 11/06 www.audioXpress .com

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