someone please explain direct coupled amps


Hello,
Would someone please explain what a direct coupled amp is, and what are advantages or disadvantages to it?? I am mainly refering to direct coupled solid state amps. What are other options and their advantages or disadvantages.

I tried to do a bunch of searches, and found a bunch of direct coupled amps, but nothing really explaining it.

Thanks,
Bob
bob243
Clueless got it right...we are talking about interstage coupling capacitors being eliminated. A Direct coupled amp has response down to DC: which means that if you put a constant 1 volt on the input you will get a constant 25 volts (or so) at the output.

The idea of a using a direct coupled amp for music is not entirely logical, since the music only goes down to 20 Hz or so. Coupling capacitors large enough to pass 10 Hz or so should suffice. However, there is a certain elegance in following the input signal precisely, even down to dc, and some amps made this way sound good, although that might be for different reasons.

A dc coupled audio amp is really a controllable dc power supply, such as might be used in an electonics lab. In fact, some years before dc coupled audio amps were marketed one manufacturer of power supplies was demonstrating the high slew rate of his product by playing music through it.
Thanks for the info.. That makes sense now : )

So its pretty safe to assume the most SS amps are going to be direct coupled?

Thanks Again
Bob
Clueless and Eldartford got carried away on tube amps but in response to your question, yes indeed, nearly all SS amps are direct coupled (except McIntosh, as I said).