class A means that the signal is amplified on the linear part of the transistors operation curve..
this means that the input signal is reproduced with almost 100 percent purity
this type of amplifier is used for low power applications such as pre amps where less amplification is needed but the signal has to be reproduced with as few defects as possible..
generally the load line is used for this If memory serves..
............c...........o
..........c
........c
......c...........o.........o,,,,,,,,,,,o
....c
..c...the o's represent output signal
c....................................o
........i
............i
........i......i's represent input signal
....i
........i
............i
this diagram is only crude to show what I mean by whole signal is amplfied
here is a more specific article on class A amps
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/audio/part2/page1.html
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Class B are more efficient power wise amps but they use the 0 voltage point as the Q point and have 2 transistors .. one transistor amplifies one half of the signal.... one transistor amplifies the other half..
the problem occurs when its switching polarity it doesnt always create a true reproduction of the signal and thus create DISTORTION..
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/audio/part2/page2.html
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Class C is power amplifier operation..
basically it is biased so that only a portion of the curve is accurately reproduced.. and it drives the transistor far into cutoff for the other half of the signal.
with a Class C only half of the signal is amplified and thus more power can be used in amplification getting higher amplification
then at the end of the amplification circuit the other half of the signal is reproduced with the use of a TUNED circuit ..
this means that Class C amplifiers have a more limited band width than Class A because they require a Tuned circuit to reproduce the second half of the signal
this also means that the signal is NOT A TRUE REPRODUCTION OF THE INPUT signal
THIS MAY sound like a Class B but that is not true ... because Class B uses 2 transistors one to amplify the signal where Class A only amplifies less than ONE HALF of the signal..
Hope that helps you a bit ... email me if you need some type of clarification