Gainclones in car amp

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Has anyone tried building gainclones as car amp? I tried searching and didnt really find anything. I just thought that with gainclones it would be relatively easy and cheap design. Only tricky part is psu.

Im thinking building one, but the psu desing is open? Are there suitable desings for psu?

All comments are welcome.
 
Actually, chipamps and gainclones aren't one and the same. A chipamp is any amplfier built around a power opamp (LM1875/3875/3886/4780, OPA541, TDAXXXX, etc.).

Gainclones are an attempt to clone the Gaincard from 47 labs. The idea is to use the minimum number of components possible to make a stable LM1875/3875 amplifier.

Since 47 labs only uses the LM1875/3875, I would say that only amps utilizing those chips, along with the minimal external components clause above, qualify as gainclones.

Anything else is a different take (most people say "improvement") over the original gainclone idea.

As far as usinga gainclone in a car, I think you would definitely be better off going with a LM3886 or paralleled LM4780 chip for your amplifier channels. Car speakers tend to be in the 2 to 4 ohm load range, and the 1875/3875 aren't really as suited for driving those loads as the 3886 and 4780 are. A paralleled 4780 driving by a quality SMPS could easily put out 70 or so watts into a 4 ohm load, or 140 into a 2 ohm load.
 
Follow the link above, read the posts and lo and behold the full schematics are there.

I have made a slight but very important change to the amplifier module schematic tho - I had originally wired it up so that STBY came high with the rail voltages. BAD idea. chips sometimes blow or go into full protection mode if you do this. I have implemented a 2-way R-C-D delay (very similar to the datasheet) so that the power rails stabilise, then stby is pulled high and then mute, and the reverse happens when the amp is powered off.

I will update the schematic with my bugfixes when I have some time but as no one seems even slightly interested in the design now that it is done (pictures and all) I dont know whether i will bother posting it.

If anyone is interested, PM or email me and I will give u all the data, PCB, etc.

BTW the switchmode works beautifully. Best part of the whole design.
Gareth
 
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