Audio power amplifier inside the chassis of the main product. The audio amplifier was invented around 1912 by Lee De Forest, made possible by his invention of the first practical amplifying electrical component, the triode vacuum tube (or "valve" in British English) in 1907. The triode was a three terminal device with a control grid that can modulate the flow of electrons from the filament to the plate. The triode vacuum amplifier was used to make the first AM radio. Early audio power amplifiers were based on vacuum tubes and some of these achieved notably high audio quality (e.g., the Williamson amplifier of
955 acorn triode current is 4.5 mA at a voltage of 180 V with an anode load of 20 kilohm. The 955 is designed to be used in the frequency range of 60–600 MHz (5-0.5 metres wavelength). The amplification factor obtained is between 20 and 25 depending on details of the specific stage design and operating voltage. 955 acorn triode The type 955 triode "acorn tube" is a small triode thermionic valve (vacuum tube in USA) designed primarily to operate at high frequency. Although data books specify an upper limit of 400–600 MHz, some circuits may obtain gain up to about 900 MHz.