An active filter is a type of
analog electronic filter, distinguished by the use of one or more
active components i.e. voltage
amplifiers or
buffer amplifiers. Typically this will be a
vacuum tube,
transistor or
operational amplifier.There are two principal reasons for the use of active filters. The first is that the amplifier powering the filter can be used to shape the filter's response, e.g., how quickly and how steeply it moves from its
passband into its
stopband. (To do this passively, one must use inductors, which tend to pick up surrounding electromagnetic signals and are often quite physically large.) The second is that the amplifier powering the filter can be used to buffer the filter from the electronic components it drives. This is often necessary so that they do not affect the filter's actions.
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