I recently came across this gem in the X Chapters supplement to the Art of Electronics 3rd edition. (Not reproducing here because of copyright. You need to buy the book anyway, it’s brilliant 😉 )
Of course my first idea was to convert it to dominant pole compensation (C2) and bodge a standard audio power amp output stage onto it.
This worked very nicely in simulation, so the next step was to slap on an opamp front end ala Quad 405 or Cordell Super Gain Clone.
The resulting circuit should give a lot of bang for the buck when used with a good quality FET input opamp. I expect it to outperform the Alexander CFB design in areas that matter, like HF THD, PSRR, playing well with the standard Bailey current limiter circuit, and not depending on an obsolete opamp or catching fire when overdriven.
This is a voltage feedback design, not current feedback, and won’t beat the Alexander’s slew rate without running the transistors at crazy idle currents. Besides being CFB, the Alexander driver circuit operated in Class AB and could call on arbitrary amounts of current when slewing was required. The price it paid for this was catching fire when overdriven 🙂 and also crossover distortion generated in the opamp’s output stage, which is very audible if you use any other opamp than the original SSM2131. (And kind of audible even with the SSM2131 imo…)
So overall I am happy with this set of compromises and looking forward to trying it out in real life.