Danish startup to launch innovative audio amplifier
Merus raised €1.7m last year in its Series A round of funding to develop its eximo technology. This reduces power losses at typical listening levels by up to a factor of 10 compared to conventional class-D amplifiers and so allows the chip to be 20% of the size of existing devices.
The MA12070 is the first use of eximo by Merus Audio and is aimed at giving manufacturers freedom in designing modern applications with very tough space constraints and is initially aimed at home audio products.
Eximo is a switching amplifier technology that uses a new output stage topology and an associated modulation and power management scheme to achieve very low power losses at any output power level. Several competing attempts to reduce power losses have relied on some type of supply rail variation. However, that involves either a more complex and expensive power supply or a separate boost converter that increases power losses, thereby effectively reducing efficiency at higher power levels in order to gain some at lower levels.
In addition to the power loss advantage, eximo allows a drastic reduction of the need for output filtering, reducing the chip area, as Class-D amplifiers designed for medium to high power levels require large LC reconstruction filters. The eximo technology uses filter inductors with a size of only 1/5th of those used in conventional class-D solutions for the same output power and also allows using small SMD type ceramic filter capacitors instead of large film capacitors. In many cases the filter can even be omitted entirely where other class-D solutions require a filter.
A key point is that the technology does not impose any system alterations in the target application, making the IC design-in effort very smooth for manufacturers. "We are impressed at how quickly Merus Audio has established a close dialogue with global CE manufacturers. In addition to the team’s technical competencies the ability to build unique alliances is crucial in order to exploit the growing demand for high-efficiency audio amplifiers,” says Ulrik Jorring, Senior Vice President at investor VF Venture.
The market for amplifier chips is estimated at $1.4 billion within the next five years, with energy efficient amplifiers expected to experience significant growth. The chip is targeted a wide range of high-volume consumer electronics applications, including soundbars, docking/wireless speakers, surround and stereo systems, TVs, and portable applications.
The Danish audio industry is disproportionate to the size of Denmark, with Danish hearing aids making up close to 50 percent of global production. “Coming out of Denmark right now, we’re seeing world-class research—ranging from human perception of speech and sound, through hearing, loudness, music recognition, and hearing loss to computer aided speech,” said Camilla Rygaard-Hjalsted, Executive Director of Innovation Center Denmark
www.merus-audio.com
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