Abstract: An audio amplifier including a non-inverting amplifier stage that provides linear amplification without loop feedback for low distortion audio systems. The amplifier stage includes a triode vacuum tube or a triode connected pentode vacuum tube and a P channel field effect transistor (FET). The vacuum tube and the FET are connected in a series combination in which the source of the FET is connected to the cathode of the tube through a suitable resistance. The drain of the FET is connected to a negative voltage and both the gate of the FET and the grid of the tube are at DC ground potential. The input signal to be amplified is fed into the gate of the FET and the output is taken from the plate of the tube which is supplied with a positive voltage through a suitable load. In most applications the grid of the tube is connected to ground, however in some applications the grid may serve as an extra inverting input.

Abstract: An audio amplifier in which an output stage is coupled by a driver stage to an input stage which includes two antiphased sources of alternating current. The output stage includes two pentode vacuum tubes each having a cathode, a plate and a screen grid located between the cathode and the plate. Each tube has a control grid connected between the cathode and the screen grid and a suppressor grid connected between the screen grid and the plate, with the control grid and the suppressor grid being shunted to their respective cathodes. The driver stage includes a pair of transistors connected in a push-pull configuration with their emitters connected to the screen grids of said tubes to supply a relatively high value of alternating current to the screen grids which function as control grids for their respective tubes.