Favorite low power chip amps

[pacificblue]

It will be difficult to get 5 W from 9 V. With a BTL amplifier you may get near to that with a 4 Ohm load, e. g. using the TDA7266 which also has good THD specs.

In one of the older datashets for the TBA820 there is a graph on distortion. According to that you get 2 W into 8 Ohm from 12 V with 10 % THD. 9 V and 4 Ohm lead to 1,6 W at 10 % THD. 9 V and 8 Ohm give 1,2 W at 10% THD.

[AndrewT]

How often do I come back to my thought "why did we link Audio volume (SPL) to Watts?"

Using Watts rather than Volts seems to have complicated the SPL of Audio for those that can't/won't do the sums.

Watts is for those that never grow up. It suits car audio for bragging rights only.

Thinkers, builders and designers of Audio do not need Watts for SPL.
Volts and Amperes are good enough.

[pacificblue]

The reason is probably convenience. With Watts being Volts times Amperes, you express two things in one number.

Bragging rights about Watts are a strong factor in audio in general, not only in car audio. I could spontaneously name several afflicted members from the Solid State and Class D sections. And of course all the newbies whose first (and often last) thread usually comes with a title like "Need help to build xxxx W amp."

When it comes to cars there is indeed a need for extreme amounts of power. It comes from very big woofers having to work in very small enclosures. The result is extremely low efficiency hence high power demand. It also comes from having to drown out the car's driving noises which leads to considerably higher SPL compared to home audio.