I'm building a tiny battery powered mobile amp for a synthesizer keyboard 
. It needs to run off a 9v battery or 7.4 lipo. I've tested the PAM8610 (Drok board from Amazon) and it's a contender, but there is a lot of noise and distortion.
I tested a Sure Electronics TA2024B board for comparison and besides being four times the size (too big for my needs), it doesn't seem to get enough power from a 9v NiMH battery (cuts out). However, when I plug the TA2024B into a 12v DC adapter, it is much quieter and better sounding than the PAM8610 (using either battery or 12v adapter on the PAM8610).
In a perfect world, I'd like the quality of the Sure TA2024B board or better, on a small size board like the Drok or smaller, that can run off 9v NiMH battery.
I'm willing to pay more, and I'm going to design a custom PCB so I will have some control over size if there aren't required components that require the board to be big.
I also tried PAM8406, and it doesn't have enough power (and also too much distortion). I don't want to melt my little 5Watt, 4Ohm speakers with distortion and heat.
Any ideas on a great chip to use?
Thanks for any help or ideas!!
. It needs to run off a 9v battery or 7.4 lipo. I've tested the PAM8610 (Drok board from Amazon) and it's a contender, but there is a lot of noise and distortion. I tested a Sure Electronics TA2024B board for comparison and besides being four times the size (too big for my needs), it doesn't seem to get enough power from a 9v NiMH battery (cuts out). However, when I plug the TA2024B into a 12v DC adapter, it is much quieter and better sounding than the PAM8610 (using either battery or 12v adapter on the PAM8610).
In a perfect world, I'd like the quality of the Sure TA2024B board or better, on a small size board like the Drok or smaller, that can run off 9v NiMH battery.
I'm willing to pay more, and I'm going to design a custom PCB so I will have some control over size if there aren't required components that require the board to be big.
I also tried PAM8406, and it doesn't have enough power (and also too much distortion). I don't want to melt my little 5Watt, 4Ohm speakers with distortion and heat.
Any ideas on a great chip to use?
Thanks for any help or ideas!!
Maybe one of the little blue mono Sanwu TPA3118 PBTL boards (or clones thereof)? Under 2$ a piece straight from China.
The chip's spec'd down to 4.5v, and 9v should be able to provide maybe around 10W into 4ohms, assuming the power supply can provide the current. 6v (the "empty" point of an alkaline / NiMH 9v) should still net you about 4W-ish, according to the graphs in the datasheet.
The chip's spec'd down to 4.5v, and 9v should be able to provide maybe around 10W into 4ohms, assuming the power supply can provide the current. 6v (the "empty" point of an alkaline / NiMH 9v) should still net you about 4W-ish, according to the graphs in the datasheet.
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Thanks for the suggestion Khron!
I ordered two and I'll give it a listen.
Putting cost aside is there anything better out there in terms of clean power at 9v, with small size board?
I ordered two and I'll give it a listen.
Putting cost aside is there anything better out there in terms of clean power at 9v, with small size board?
I have certain doubts, outside those crappy little PAM-equipped boards.
Especially if you'll be running them off battery power, you'll want to remove that protection diode that's in series with the supply input - that thing robbing you of 0.6v is the last thing you need, i would thing 🙂
Especially if you'll be running them off battery power, you'll want to remove that protection diode that's in series with the supply input - that thing robbing you of 0.6v is the last thing you need, i would thing 🙂
The Sanwu TPA3118 PBTL was a big improvement over the PAM8610! To my ears, less noise and less distortion. I like the power limit protection too. Combined with the high gain, it allows me to use a synthesizer keyboard that has a relatively low output or my iPhone that has a high output.
Does anyone know why these boards are mono? Perhaps to allow for their highest power mono mode? I would like to try a stereo version if there is one.
It doesn't sound quite as good (ie. distortion and noise) as the Sure Electronics TA2024B amp to me, but the Sure doesn't work well from a 9v battery so I'm comparing 9v TPA3118 performance with 12v power adapter TA2024B.
Good point about the diode power drain Khron! Although I am building a consumer product so I will need to design it in a way that no one can plug the power in backward or connect the batteries backward.
Does anyone know why these boards are mono? Perhaps to allow for their highest power mono mode? I would like to try a stereo version if there is one.
It doesn't sound quite as good (ie. distortion and noise) as the Sure Electronics TA2024B amp to me, but the Sure doesn't work well from a 9v battery so I'm comparing 9v TPA3118 performance with 12v power adapter TA2024B.
Good point about the diode power drain Khron! Although I am building a consumer product so I will need to design it in a way that no one can plug the power in backward or connect the batteries backward.
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