Last updated A rebuild Stereo Mullard 5-10 amplifier without power supply unit
The Mullard 5-10 was a circuit for a valve amplifier designed by the British valve company, Mullard in 1954 at the Mullard Applications Research Laboratory (ARL) in Mitcham Surrey UK, part of the New Road factory complex, to take advantage of their particular products. The circuit was first published in Practical Wireless magazine.
The amplifier featured five valves and an output of 10 watts - hence '5-10'. Of those valves, one was a full-wave rectifier (an EZ80 or EZ81), one was a pre-amplifier pentodeEF86 and one a double-triode ECC83 as phase splitter. The power amplification was handled by a pair of EL84 working in push-pull configuration.
The frequency response of the circuit was from 40Hz to 20,000Hz with less than 0.2% THD.
In 1959 Mullard published its famous booklet "Mullard Circuits for Audio Amplifiers" covering a range of amplifier and pre-amplifier circuits using valves developed within the Receiving Valve Development Department at the New Road factory.
The circuit design of the Mullard 5-10, together with the recommended Partridge output transformers, was famous for its unique sound reproduction and many variations of this amplifier (including Mullard's own 20-watt version, the Mullard 5-20 using the EL34) were in widespread use until the end of the valve era; similar designs are still manufactured as expensive equipment for valve audiophiles[citation needed].
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the power of a signal. It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power supply to increase the amplitude of a signal applied to its input terminals, producing a proportionally greater amplitude signal at its output. The amount of amplification provided by an amplifier is measured by its gain: the ratio of output voltage, current, or power to input. An amplifier is a circuit that has a power gain greater than one.
An audio power amplifier is an electronic amplifier that amplifies low-power electronic audio signals such as the signal from radio receiver or electric guitar pickup to a level that is high enough for driving loudspeakers or headphones. Audio power amplifiers are found in all manner of sound systems including sound reinforcement, public address and home audio systems and musical instrument amplifiers like guitar amplifiers. It is the final electronic stage in a typical audio playback chain before the signal is sent to the loudspeakers.
The Williamson amplifier is a four-stage, push-pull, Class A triode-output valve audio power amplifier designed by D. T. N. Williamson during World War II. The original circuit, published in 1947 and addressed to the worldwide do it yourself community, set the standard of high fidelity sound reproduction and served a benchmark or reference amplifier design throughout the 1950s. The original circuit was copied by hundreds of thousands amateurs worldwide. It was an absolute favourite on the DIY scene of the 1950s, and in the beginning of the decade also dominated British and North American markets for factory-assembled amplifiers.
Orange Music Electronic Company is an English amplifier manufacturing company, famous for its distinctive sound and bright orange Tolex-like covering on amplifier heads and speaker cabinets. Orange also manufactures amplifiers for bass guitar, speaker cabinets for instrument amplifiers and combination amplifiers.
Marshall Amplification is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, speaker cabinets, brands personal headphones and earphones, a record label and, having acquired Natal Drums, drums and bongos. It was founded by drum shop owner and drummer Jim Marshall, and is now based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
A beam tetrode, sometimes called a "beam power tube", is a type of tetrode vacuum tube with auxiliary beam-focusing plates designed to augment power-handling capability and help reduce unwanted emission effects. These tubes are usually used for power amplification, especially at audio-frequency.
Founded by David Hafler and Ed Laurent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1955, Dynaco was an American hi-fi audio system manufacturer popular in the 1960s and 1970s for its wide range of affordable, yet high quality audio components.. Its best known product was the ST-70 tube stereo amplifier. They also manufactured other tube and solid state amplifiers, preamplifiers, radio tuners and bookshelf loudspeakers. Dynaco was liquidated in 1980, and the trademark is now owned by Radial Engineering Ltd.
Hiwatt is a British company that manufactures amplifiers for electric guitars and electric basses. Starting in the late 1960s, together with Marshall and Vox, Hiwatt contributed to the sonic image popularly termed "British sound".
A single-ended triode (SET) is a vacuum tube electronic amplifier that uses a single triode to produce an output, in contrast to a push-pull amplifier which uses a pair of devices with antiphase inputs to generate an output with the wanted signals added and the distortion components subtracted. Single-ended amplifiers normally operate in Class A; push-pull amplifiers can also operate in Classes AB or B without excessive net distortion, due to cancellation.
A radio transmitter is an electronic device which, when connected to an antenna, produces an electromagnetic signal such as in radio and television broadcasting, two way communications or radar. Heating devices, such as a microwave oven, although of similar design, are not usually called transmitters, in that they use the electromagnetic energy locally rather than transmitting it to another location.
A valve audio amplifier (UK) or vacuum tube audio amplifier is a valve amplifier used for sound reinforcement, sound recording and reproduction.
The Vox AC30 is a guitar amplifier manufactured by Vox. It was introduced in 1958 to meet the growing demand for louder amplifiers. Characterised by its "jangly" high-end sound it has become widely recognized by British musicians and others.
The KT88 is a beam tetrode/kinkless tetrode vacuum tube for audio amplification.
Ultra-linear electronic circuits are those used to couple a tetrode or pentode vacuum-tube to a load.
Technical specifications and detailed information on the valve audio amplifier, including its development history.
In electronics, the NORBIT family of modules is a very early form of digital logic developed by Philips that uses modules containing discrete components to build logic function blocks in resistor–transistor logic (RTL) or diode–transistor logic (DTL) technology.
Tube sound is the characteristic sound associated with a vacuum tube amplifier, a vacuum tube-based audio amplifier. At first, the concept of tube sound did not exist, because practically all electronic amplification of audio signals was done with vacuum tubes and other comparable methods were not known or used. After introduction of solid state amplifiers, tube sound appeared as the logical complement of transistor sound, which had some negative connotations due to crossover distortion in early transistor amplifiers. The audible significance of tube amplification on audio signals is a subject of continuing debate among audio enthusiasts.
Electronics World is a technical magazine in electronics and RF engineering aimed at professional design engineers. It is produced monthly in print and digital formats.
Mullard Circuits for Audio Amplifiers is a famous book by the Technical Services Department of Mullard Ltd, a British valve manufacturing company. First published in 1959 and then reprinted several times it contained a number of designs by Mullard engineers for high quality audio amplifiers, which were to be used by amateur constructors as well as by manufacturers as the basis for many products that formed part of the high fidelity audio movement in Britain in the 1960s.
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