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Old October 17th 04, 05:19 AM
Prune
 
Posts: n/a
Default Tube current sink

What's the best tube type to use for a voltage controlled current sink,
with respect to linearity?

I am building plasma tweeters, with a DC glow discharge modulated by audio
(similar to US patent 4,219,705, but I'm using microhollow discharges
(MHCD) as cathodes for the larger discharge to remove cathode fall
instabilities; this technique was unknown during the time of that patent).
My power supply is 2700 V at 400 mA (200 mA for each of two channels for a
stereo setup), ripple filtered to 0.01 V. I'm hoping to have the discharge
drop most of the voltage, and the driving device a lesser portion. The
driver needs to be a voltage controlled current sink at the plasma cathode
(the plasma anode is the high voltage). Since the audio modulation is only
a few percent of the bias, less than 20 mA, essentially I'm concerned with
linearity in a small range around the average operating point. I need to
know what's the best tube type to use in terms of the sound quality, and in
what configuration (grounded cathode or grid, etc.). Most current drives
use pentodes, but I've been told a triode is more linear.