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Monday 14 April 2014

TPA6021A4N 2 Watt Stereo Amplifier Stripboard Veroboard Layout


This is one of the best amplifier ICs I've used -
there is no noise (well barely any)
it has a built in digital volume control so you can just use a single gang pot to control the volume (or a microcontroller if you want)
it has an on/off switch that fades the audio in and out so you don't damage your speakers/headphones with pops and it is also very low voltage 3volts - 6volts
the only downside is the max rating is 6 volts so you can't just whack a 9v battery in it -
but 2 - 3 AAs and you're laughing.

I built this to use with my iPod but I strongly advise that you don't turn it on with your headphones on because this goes VERY loud. easily loud enough to damage your hearing instantly!

NB: there is now a hifi preamp with bass/treble/balance controls that works well with this project LM1036-hifi-preamp-and-tone-control









19 comments:

  1. I can't wait to try this out. I just made an offer on a couple of TPA6021A4N chips (I'm a cheap bastard). Unfortunately my purchase options are pretty slim for this chip :/ I'll comment back when I've built it. Thanks for the great circuits, Paul!

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    1. to be honest dude - I came up with this one after I got free samples of a load of random parts from Texas Instruments so I think we can all be accused of being a bit cheap.

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    2. Well, there's a coincidence... Some turd wanted $4.95 each on Ebay, or best offer, so I offered $3.00 each for openers (see? I'm cheap!) and he responded with a counter offer of $4.75 to which I replied "you're an asshole" an declined. A few days later I just happened to be on ti.com to request some samples and, and rambling story less rambling, I remembered wanting to build this, they had it, and I ended up with them for free. Yay, Texas Instruments! Eat shit, greedy Ebayers! :D

      Unfortunately the jacks I ordered are wrong and I had to order more, so still waiting to try this out.

      Oh, almost forgot, one question, do you recommend Log taper of Linear taper for the 100k pot?

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    3. you can almost guarantee they got them as a free samples too - that happens a lot unfortunately . my policy is that if I've gotten something for free and I end up not needing it
      I give it away for free - unless I have put time/money into fixing it in which case I'll charge whatever it cost to fix it. I get so sick of people trying to make money off people who don't realise that things are cheaper direct from source.

      just a linear pot - the audio signal doesn't go near it - the post controls the voltage of an internet digital pot which you'll notice if you turn the pot very slowly - you might catch the step
      or if you turn it very fast there's a tiny delay while the internal digital pot catches up. so much more reliable - no crackly pots ever!

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  2. Hi Paul, I get the chip in tomorrow and I've got the vero all ready to go. I was wondering, since i'll be using it for guitar, would I just jumper left and right ins, and have my guitar out going to one of those? I'm going to put the "rub-a-dub" reverb into the same box, and it has a 5V regulator, I was just going to run the amp off that 5V. Thanks man!

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  3. Also, are the outs 220u or 220n?

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    1. 220u but if you're using it solely for guitar you'll be okay using 100u
      the amp is 2 watts per channel so you can just plug your guitar into 1 channel unless you're going to have stereo cabs on the output - I imagine it will be fine if you just jumper the 2 inputs but I've not tried it.
      I used my stereo chorus on the 2 inputs going into a stereo marshall cab - it was beautiful

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  4. That sounds perfect! It's sole use will be as a headphone amp so I can play without waking anyone up.

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  5. Where should I connect the ground from the headphone jack? About to fire it up! Thanks :)

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  6. Thanks Paul, it works great! After some troubleshooting I got it working with my guitar, after I realized that I needed to turn it on, lol

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  7. Paul, I built this a put it after your HiFI preamp. I have it connected to bookshelf type speakers. Using an iPOD it does not seem to be very loud. With the vol maxed out has a good listing volume but barely so. How loud does your sound?
    thank you for the grear layout.
    Coi2001

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    1. I didn't see this comment for some reason. how loud this goes depends on a lot of factors - 1 main factor is the speaker impedance - it's all ohms law stuff. another of course the size of the speakers.

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  8. Hey Paul, thanks for posting this :) I have a question for you though, what type of capacitors did you use? Thanks

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    1. Polyester Film capacitors because they looked nice.
      you can use ceramics if you want

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  9. i dont think my last comment posted, or i just cant see it. i set up this chip on a breadboard without any resistors/diodes/capacitors and it kinda works only there is alot of distortion. im not very good at reading schematics, so do you happen to have a simpler schematic using just right in and right out? i have all the resistors and diodes and the 100k pot but i dont think i have the caps. could you at least tell me what is the bare minimum for capacitors i need, because i read somewhere someone made this chip work with just two .47uf caps. thanks -your neighborhood noob

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    1. the circuit as presented is the bare minimum - someone may have made it work with just 2 capacitors but it will have burned out by now - the external components basically keep the internals of the IC stable. if you don't have the money to buy parts - ask around for old electronic junk, capacitors are abundant in a lot of things; that's what I used to do as a kid - I don't think I ever bought anything other than solder and veroboard for the first 5 years of making electronic stuff

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. thanks, i already looted two cable boxes, a broken power strip, dvd player, and a computer speaker amp and i still dont have the right caps lol, what are the purpose of the 1uf caps connected to pins 4-8? and the 470nf cap connecting 1 and 3?

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