D Class IC amps, are they safe without a heat sink?

Hi,
I'm new to this so please forgive my noob questions



I'm building a ported boombox style speaker from ply with all my components boxed in. I've had a D Class IC amp in the past with a heat sink, it was only 15W per channel but it got really hot! I placed it near the ports so it got good air movement and everything seems fine.


But for this project I'd like to build something 50W per channel with D class IC amp but a lot of the suppliers don't have a heat sink attached and I'm wondering if I need to attach my own? Can I place it near the ports without a heat sink? Or is it just fine to box it in a separate compartment and forget about thermal management all together?

Thoughts?


Thanks 🙂