LM386 Description
LM386 is a widely used audio amplifier IC manufactured in 8 pin dip, VSSOP, SOIC and other packages. The IC is basically designed for low voltage commercial applications, apart from commercial applications it is also a famous IC among electronic hobbyists and experimenters. The internal gain of the IC is set to 20 but it can be adjusted by connecting a resistor and a capacitor in series between the pin number 1 and 8, by this procedure the user can adjust the gain between 20 to 200. Due to the small size, low quiescent current and low voltage requirements this IC is ideal to use in wide variety of portable battery operated applications and devices.
Application Circuit
The figure below shows an audio amplifier circuit built using the LM386 audio frequency amplifier IC. The circuit can be operated from a 9V battery or you can also use a 12V battery. The pin 1 and 8 is connected through the 10uF capacitor to increase gain of the circuit to 200, you can also replace this 10uF capacitor with a 1K variable resistor to get the required gain value between 20 to 200. The audio input points are also shown in the circuit from which you can connected the audio you want to amplify, the 10K variable resistor connected with the pin3, audio input and ground is used to adjust the audio of the circuit. An 8 ohms speaker is connected with the pin5 of the IC through a 220uF capacitor used as a filter.
Replacement / Equivalent / Other Part Numbers
Some alternative ICs you can use are LM380, TDA2822M, NJM2073 and MC34119. The ICs mentioned here are not accurate replacement of LM386 because their internal and external circuitry is different, but if you are looking for 8 pin dip ICs which work on same voltage and require low external parts and also provide same output then you can look for these ICs.
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