Tuned amplifiers amplify specific electrical signals while blocking others. They are used in radios, TVs, and other communication equipment, as well as in aircraft, sound systems, and scientific instruments. They use band-pass filtering to allow only specific frequencies to pass through. They can have adjustable or fixed filters and amplifiers, and are found in nearly every sophisticated electronic device.
A tuned amplifier is a type of electronic device designed to amplify specific ranges of electrical signals while ignoring or blocking others. It finds common use in devices that work with radio frequency signals such as radios, televisions, and other types of communications equipment; however, it can be useful in many other applications as well. Tuned amplifiers can be found in aircraft autopilot systems, sound systems, scientific instruments, spacecraft, or anywhere else when specific electronic signals need to be selected and amplified while ignoring others.
The most common tuned amplifiers that the average person interacts with are found in home or portable entertainment equipment, such as stereo FM receivers. An FM radio has a tuned amplifier that allows you to listen to only one radio station at a time. When the knob is turned to change stations, it adjusts a variable capacitor, inductor, or similar device inside the radio, which alters the inductive load of the tuned amplifier circuit. This retunes the amplifier to allow a different specific radio frequency to be amplified so that you can listen to a different radio station.
All radio communication devices, including stereos, televisions and cell phones, simultaneously receive all signals present in a given area. The tuned amplifier inside the device is what allows only a specific frequency to be amplified, through a process called band-pass filtering. In band-pass filtering, the electronics are configured in such a way that only a specific band of frequencies are allowed to pass through the filter. In some devices, such as FM radios, the filter is adjustable. In others, such as cell phones or computer WiFi networks, the filter is fixed to a single specific frequency range.
Fixed frequency tuned amplifiers can also be found in audio processing equipment such as graphic equalizers. For example, in a five band graphic equalizer, there are five separate controls. Each of these controls manipulates a single tuned amplifier. In this case, each of the bandpass filters in the tuned amplifiers is fixed, allowing a distinct range of sound frequencies to pass through each of the controls. Adjusting the control for one of these frequency bands of sound adjusts the amount of boost for the band, not the actual frequency range of the band itself.
Tuned amplifiers can have adjustable bandpass filters, adjustable amplifiers, both, or neither. The function that identifies a tuned amplifier is that the amplified signals are limited, or tuned, to a specific range or band of frequencies. The ability to be configured in so many variations for so many different purposes has made the tuned amplifier a mainstay in nearly every sophisticated electronic device in existence.
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