Amplifier having maximum summed power output from a plurality of devices having limited current sinking capability

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the FIGURE, a television signal is received at a broadcast receiving antenna 10 or from another suitable source such as a cable system, VCR, or the like, is processed in tuner 12 where the desired signal is selected and converted to an IF frequency signal for processing by IF section 14.
A composite video signal is derived from the IF signal by a detector 16 and is fed to video and chroma sections 18 and deflection processing sections 20.
An intercarrier sound signal is processed and detected by sound IF and detector 22 to produce an audio signal which is in turn processed by audio processor 24.
Audio processor 24 derives left and right stereophonic signals which are each amplified in order to drive a respective transducer such as a loudspeaker, headphone, or earphone.
In the exemplary embodiment, only the left channel is shown.
However, the right channel is identical, and therefore will not be further discussed.
In many television sets a headphone jack is provided for permitting private listening by viewers or, if desired, connection to an accessory such as a tape recorder.
Head and earphones require substantially less power than loudspeakers but still require a substantial amount of drive power relative to a low power operational amplifier.
Integrated circuits are extensively used in television receivers and operational amplifier integrated circuits are particularly useful for such purpose.
However, the more economical integrated circuits do not, by themselves, have sufficient power to drive even a pair of headphones to a sufficient volume level.
Since operational amplifier integrated circuits typically have four operational amplifiers on a chip, pairing amplifiers in parallel for each channel provides a desirable approach for driving relatively low power devices such as head and earphones.
The drive circuit as discussed hereinafter is such an arrangement, and particularly is directed at overcoming the matching problems associated with external circuit components for the operational amplifiers as discussed hereinabove