LM3886 availability

Apologies in advance if this has been discussed elsewhere. If so, I wasn't able to find it.

Owing to the the Great Pandemic Availability Void, we're all used to parts being hard to find. But some things are faring far worse than others, and the LM3886 seems to be among those. The distributors I checked that have expected shipment dates don't show them being available again until around this time next year.

So, two questions:

  • Am I right in assuming that the LM3886 won't be available again for about a year, or does someone know something different?
  • Does anyone know why this part is being affected harder than most? This is mostly to satisfy personal curiosity.
 
It seems a lot of workers went home in the lock down, and found other work.
A lot of factories simply do not have the people in place, so priority is for bulk orders on contract, like auto components.
Maybe the volumes are not high enough for immediate production.

This is happening in all sectors, not just electronics.

I am facing a pickle shortage....one particular variety of mango pickle, made by a business known for its traditional quality, and I can get only 250 and not 500 gram packs.
And my pigment supplier in Mumbai has disappeared, no phones are working. No trace at all.
So grab what you can get, or find a substitute like the 7293/94 series, provided those are available...
You need new PCBs of course, it is not a direct replacement IIRC.
Or find an old second hand amp on sale.
 
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Try Panasonic chip amps, Philips used those in Indian sets.
Or ST, and others.
But trend is away from analog towards digital in the long term.
Substitute chips from branded sources work OK, but I would not know who will sell those to somebody in the USA, because of legal issues, they may not be fully legit.
Here in India Salcon is selling a complete 3886 stereo board ( no transformer ) for 1920 Rupees, $27 or so...
 
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How many do you need, of what model? I'll look through a junk bin and see if there's anything with one. Anything else as an alternative you're ok with?

Ordering on LCSC soon for the H2. If you're willing to cover the cost & effort, I can see what they have in bulk!

Thanks for the offer, but I think the availability Dxvideo pointed out is all I need short-term. :)

Longer term however I may pitch a design using the part to a company I provide consulting to. So, I'm more concerned about the stability of supply than immediate need. (I'll be reaching out to TI directly as things evolve.) The only suitable part I've found so far for the application is the LM3886.

LCSC was one of the vendors I checked, and I wasn't able to find availability there.
 
Very much available:) I believe it'll a decade or more to discontinue this excellent product.

I too am reasonably confident that the part won't be discontinued soon. I'm also confident that once the supply chain issues that are currently plaguing the industry have been resolved, the part will have good availability. However, its availability for the next year from all appearances is terrible at best. It's this time frame that I'm concerned with.
 
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Right when I received this email from TI.com yesterday I went and checked if indeed the chips are in stock, but nothing... maybe it was a prank .
Anyway , I have some lm3886T(not insolated) if anyone needs some.
 

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Reading multiple news/business articles, it would seem that all semiconductor companies, and electronics companies in general, are running flat out. It is the demand that is through the roof, I think a whiplash effect of the pandemic. Companies, I'm sure, are giving priority to their big customers who are generally not buying LM3886 in massive quantities. I've read that 'greymarket' sellers are buying up the small amounts of distributor inventory as fast as it hits Digi-Key, Mouser or the companies' own web stores.
 
Sağol, Ozgur! I either missed these or they were recently added. TFs aren't RoHS, but I can certainly use them for design and development.

Longer term however I may pitch a design using the part to a company I provide consulting to. So, I'm more concerned about the stability of supply than immediate need. (I'll be reaching out to TI directly as things evolve.) The only suitable part I've found so far for the application is the LM3886.
From designer to designer with real commercial production needs, search for *guaranteed* available alternatives, including Class D

Apparently even TI is having suply problems, that´s a red flag coming from such a large Company.
If anything, what do they have currently avilable and/or is a fresh design (yes, Class D)?

Your Customers are launching a new product, they "should" have at least 5 years guaranteed supply or more, not sure at all with a bipolar analog Class AB chip amp, which, *excellent* as it is, is getting long on the tooth.
FWIW I see TDA729* in the same situation.

Very much available I believe it'll a decade or more to discontinue this excellent product.
I love your optimism but very much doubt it lasts that much.
Hey, we are having problems *today*

How many new Home Theater, large TVs, powered Monitors, etc. are being issued with LM3886?

I my own field: how many Guitar/Bass/KB, small PA amps are being issued with it? NONE I know of.

I have been burnt with dissapeared in a flash and smoke cloud excellent and useful TDA2050, one week Mouser anounced "last 1000 remaining", I ordered 200 .... my order bounced back , and they were never ever available again.
Only Fakes of course.

So, for a *Commercial* design I would stay away from LM3886, doubly so if as a Consultant.

For own use, worst case you blame yourself and redesign, a Customer won´t take it lightly.

Suggestion in good faith, of course.

PS: for my own use and Guitar Amp servicing I designed and made a *discrete* :eek: 50W amp, go figure, with side by side TIP121/126 outputs and a stamp sized PCB (I had made it to replace TDA154 much used in Marshall Guitar amps) with about the same foot print as an LM3886, go figure, but you "can´t" suggest that to a commercial Customer. :eek:
 
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I believe you and that's why i'm collecting through whole components since 3-4yrs. I hate class-d amps; not bcoz it's bad but it's destroying DIY thing. Today it's super simple to build a 300watt so called "hi-end" amp with class-d boards available everywhere & the price is negligible, not much fun! :no:
 
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So, for a *Commercial* design I would stay away from LM3886, doubly so if as a Consultant.
Thanks for mentioning this. Every project is unique, including its development timeline, production life, production scale, etc. In this case, we are talking about production potentially spanning a couple years. It doesn't need a 10-year guarantee. :D

The LM3886's current wait times provide TI with a perfect excuse to retire the LM3886. Imagine the pressure they're under to have as much of their fab working to produce high-demand/high-profit parts as possible in the shortest time frame. The fact that the LM3886 hasn't been obsoleted and that they are projecting new product within about 12 months makes me think they are committed to it for at least a few more years.

Also, TI has historically been pretty good about last-time-buy warnings. I think the main issue is whether there will be enough parts in the marketplace to buy once the part does go into LTB. This could be the case if it happens before things have fully recovered (by which I mean have settled into whatever the new normal looks like).

So, yes, without a better understanding of the dynamics, there's elevated risk in making hard plans around the LM3886. Whether it's a higher or lower risk than designing with anything else these days though I'm not prepared to say.
 

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....Does anyone know why this part is being affected harder than most? ...

Is it?

Both GM and Ford are reducing production, allegedly b/c they can't get chips. (And surely not the '3886.)

General Motors Co. said it would idle key truck plants for a second time in a month on semiconductor shortages, echoing moves by Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV as the global chip crisis continues to drain cars from U.S. dealer lots.
GM said eight of its 14 North American assembly plants will experience shutdowns this month because of chip shortages, including production of the lucrative Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. Ford said Wednesday it would halt output of its top-selling F-150 truck at its Kansas City factory next week after paring production of the vehicle in Dearborn, Michigan. Last week, Stellantis confirmed production of the Ram pickup at its Sterling Heights, Michigan, plant would be down this week due to chips.

GM Idles Truck Plants Again as Auto Sales Crater on Chips - Bloomberg
GM to idle North America assembly plants due to chip shortage

All our lives, GM only cut production for weak demand, not lack of parts. Before that, suppliers could not refuse Ford. Now a bunch of young upstart semi-metal smelters are saying "Sorry!" to the (former, and still) greatest factories on earth.

Obviously you and me and our hi-fis are not even in the same hole as the car-makers.
 
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Now that cars are basically becoming smart phones with wheels and a motor, expect it to just continue getting worse. Some day soon there will be pressure (initially incentives) to get every non-internet-connected car off the road. Another way to force consumers to keep buying more instead of keeping what they already paid for.

At some point it will be “what is a hi-fi anyway?” Like when archaeologists uncover a glass coke bottle and have no idea what the artifact it. There won’t be much of a market for any electronics that doesn’t connect to the internet. Try finding TO-3 power transistors (or LM3886’s) then. If you want to keep making your own audio equipment or keeping old gear running in 20 years stock up NOW. Unless your idea of DIY audio is writing custom code modules for your Alexa.
 
Is it?

Both GM and Ford are reducing production, allegedly b/c they can't get chips. (And surely not the '3886.)

I think the poster child for auto-industry induced part unavailability has to be the STM32F103C8T6 microcontroller. It disappeared from shelves a long time ago, purportedly because the auto industry ate them all up. At the time they disappeared, the expectation was that it would be a year or more until any became available through distributors. The last I checked, neither Mouser nor DigiKey were hinting when they might have them again.

So, the LM3886 definitely has some good company. But when we look at medium-power class AB chipamps as a whole, a good many of them are still available.