DESIGN SCHOOL

Radiant Thermionics - An odyssey of sound

External to the Faculty

Joseph Rosen explores the relationship between noise-floor resolution and the absolute sound. Specializing in mu-follower circuit design, Rosen's amplifiers serve as a baseline in threshold resolution that illuminates differences between signal devices that generate threshold distortions. The low level resolution capabilities of these devices make it possible to evaluate different noise reduction schemes that are utilized widely today in digital audio.

Radiant Thermionics attains high performance by employing polypropylene capacitors in the power supply. Along with other strategies that are circuit-specific, this alone assures a vanishingly quiet noise floor that can be heard into, when the high-gain, low impedance mu-follower pre-amplifier is used in conjunction with a sensitive amplifier and efficient loudspeakers. Tubes that exhibit the correct balance between low microphony and good audio performance produce the result: Useful dynamic range in excess of 100 dB, with a noise floor free of grain and smear.

Joe Rosen's take on SETS