Using LTSpice To Measure Total Harmonic Distortion

September 7, 2015 by Al Williams 7 Comments

Audiophiles spend a lot of time and effort worrying about audio specs like Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). Makes sense, because THD affects the quality of audio reproduction. However, THD can also affect interference from radio signals and even losses in power transfer systems. A simplified definition is the THD is the ratio of the sum of the power of all harmonic frequencies to the power of the fundamental frequency.

If a circuit produced a perfect sine wave, there would be no harmonics. There are many ways to measure THD in practice, but [Michael Jackson] has an interesting video showing how he easily visualizes THD using LTSpice. Assuming you already have the system in question in LTSpice (or you could use another simulation tool, if you prefer) it is fairly straightforward.

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Cheap Guitar Amp Repaired By Replacing The Distortion Circuit

September 6, 2013 by Mike Szczys 7 Comments

cheap-amp-distortion-repair

It’s an understatement that [Troy] is not impressed with the distortion circuitry built into this guitar amp. He picked it up for $40 on Kijiji (basically local classified ads run by eBay) so he wasn’t afraid to get elbow deep in its inner workings to see what was going on. It only took him a few minutes to solder together the distortion circuitry that fixed it. Figuring out what needed fixing is another story.

[Troy] uses some colorful language and metaphors to illustrate his disdain for the sound of the overdrive option. He hooked it up to an oscilloscope and his trained eye immediately tells him that it’s not working as it should. After studying the PCB and working out a schematic he reworked the circuit with this pair of diodes and a resistor. It still uses a bit of filtering on the board, but does away with all of the other cruft. What remains is a cheap amp, but one that actually functions.

Bubble Wrap Cure For Nexus 7 Speaker Distortion

January 7, 2013 by Mike Szczys 40 Comments

nexus-7-bubble-wrap-fix

[Home Brand Cola] is quite happy with his Nexus 7 with the exception of the built-in speaker. It produces fairly good audio quality until he reaches about 50% volume level. Anything above that produces distortion. He figured out how to fix it using a small piece of bubble wrap.

The eureka moment came when he was using his Nexus 7 and discovered he could fix the distortion by gripping the top and bottom parts of the case strongly between his finger and thumb. This led him to realize that the speaker unit is a bit loose and the unwanted noise is produced when it vibrates against the case. The video after the break shows the fix, which places a strip of bubble wrap (looks to be about 1″ by 3″) on top of that speaker unit. When the case is snapped back together the packing material helps hold everything in place and now he can use his tablet at full volume without any problems. One of the comments on the Reddit thread asks about heat problems with the addition of this plastic. He’s been using it for a few weeks and so far no issues there.

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