The best lm386 tutorial you can see.

Years ago I had no luck getting the 386 to sound good, I watched your video's and I connected my Ipod stereo output together as you shown the proper way in another video, I am using 15volts supply,I am also using the bass boost between pins 1 and 5 and I have to say I am very impressed with the way this thing sounds!! Thanks for all the tips!!

Hey JAT, Most excellent tutorial on LM386, built a few and this is what I needed to know, thankyou. I didn't realize the ground paths should be seperate, I usually put all grounds to one negative rail. Awesome! Please keep making vids as able, take care, C

Sounds great. I just did my first LM386 and it sounds like crap. A schematic would be very helpful. Thanks for sharing for now I know ....it will produce some pretty good audio.

Love your channel and you knowledge and style. I am attempting my first Lm386, with 3 chips and stereo. I am a beginner and am still mapping things out. Glad your settled in your new place!! Sorry about your loss aswell. Love your content.

Great videos on the LM386 dude. Many thanks for your tips on the circuit layouts to reduce noise.

i have got a COPY of your kittycat! Almost exact same kittycat here! its a wild streetcat i ve got,but now,after a year or so,she finally became homely,....and LOVES my white Labrador. Awesome video dear friend!keep it up!,...love it! learned so much! greets from the Netherlands!

Never thought that signal and power ground could be this important. I admit that when I was experimenting with audio IC's, I had a lot of problems with distorsions and such. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. :)

Very nice video! One thing that most people don't realize is that since our hearing is logarithmic, 10 times the power is only twice as loud. In your example, 5 watts is only twice as loud as .5watts (.5watts was pretty loud), and 50watts therefore is only 4 times louder than 1/2watt. Thank you for doing such a great job!

This actually works great. Just tried it. Thanks.

what are the values of those components? I like the way this circuit sounds and want to replicate it.

You're videos are great! I've learned a lot! After seeing this video I presume that the manhattan style of circuit construction is not apropriate for audio circuits? Having a commom ground as the entire copper board will it produce hum noise? What do you think? Thanks!

I read below in some answer that the decoupling capacitor connected to input ground is of 0.22 if or 1 uf. Is this correct?

Awesome video John. I wouldn't have given the capacitor on pin 7 a second thought when it comes to its ground point, but now that I have seen this video it becomes obvious when looking in the data sheet.

I did follow the guidance offered here and definatley noticed a difference in the output. One thing i noticed was that when powering up (and down) the LM386 was a distinct pop or bump from the connected speaker - what would your suggestion be to get rid of the pop or bump?

Thank you very much John! Excellent, really reduced noise almost completely! What about Pin 7 capacitor? it's ground goes to power ground or signal ground?

I am trying to make an audio amplifier for an old WW2 record player using a 7052a chip. trying to figure out how the transisters go in as well ?? Trying to understand can be diffucult.. i think i have an idea, but need to make sure where the connecitons go..

Why do you have a polyester cap on audio input but no resistor to make it a full rc filter? Im building an Lm386-4 stereo and need a cleaner audio input. Currently i only have a resistor in paralell.

Thank for this, it made a lot sense.

nice work! can you tel me if i can make an amplifier based on the lm386 to hear a guitar pickup output with earphones? as a sort of earphone monitor? thanks!

Can I use 10uF capacitor as input coupling and 470uF as output coupling ?

Hey John, really like your videos, will watch more. Was wondering what would you suggest as a modern alternative to the LM386. I am actually looking for a 5v 2-3W mono amp, something efficient that sounds decent. I can work with either 4 or 8 ohms. I am building an alarm clock that can play music, and would like something that can also run of a 500mah battery for a bit.

Separate input signal and power. Of course. Why didn't I think of that. Thanks for helping a newb :)

I built the circuit with a LM386-1. Sounds great and no noise. I then swapped it for the LM386-4. No difference in volume/gain. Tried both chips at 5v,9v,12v and the LM386-4 at 18v. No difference in volume gain. Any suggestions on why and how to fix? I used 4 and 8 ohm speakers. I have a guitar pedal prototyping unit that supplies the various voltages so I can quickly test all moving a dial. No difference at 20 times or 200 times gain.

This is going to sound mad but I just got 960mW into 8 ohm @ 12v, the chip got a little hotter than I'd like but it measured 2.78v RMS on the scope before clipping. Obviously the THD % will be high at this point but its still a surprise. Have you ever measured anything like this with the chip delivering higher power than the datasheet spec? Also heads up TI just updated their lm386 datasheet.

Awesome could you please explain jow to insert the msgeq7 into the circuit? Its a pretty cool future which enables you to assign lights to frequencies, yet the gain is set to 20db so it limits the outcome gain plays essential roll could be cool if you would be able to control it

Your cat, at five minutes of rambling, said "Shut up and do some electronics."

There are so many variations of this thing on the net a pinout and part values via a schematic would be nice if you get the time. Thanks!

what is that reference book you are using

I put a .47 uf cap from output to ground and it sounds really good

Btw a cap 1 or 2 UF down to .1 uf or suitable for your audio taste, audio from ground to unused input pin is good idea. It lets amp avoid offset on out put and lessens flat topping on plus or minus ac peak.

Good video--thanks for the info. Were you using an LM386-1 or an LM386-3?

Like the cat. You can add small heat sink with heat conductive paste or silicon grease. U shaped fins or just thin copper bent in U about double size of chip will help a lot. Goid call on grounding plan. Really helps with the higher gain circuit with cap/ resistor from pins 1 to 8. 73 Karl

Can you tell me how can solve over heating problem Please.

hey are you using thomas floyd electronics book?

I do hope you see this John. I received 50 x LM386 for £1.48. Failure rate = OOER! probably. No idea what V these LM386 (-1. -4 types ?) are so took a chance on 12 V. I did exactly as you said plus a big cap on each output (I did stereo and was worried about the DC / speaker thing) .They were pretty good on my old 15 Ohm Tannoy's, they are old school and VERY sensitive. First amp built in 50 years and first black thing wiv legs ever. Thanks for the help

You have a ceramic capacitor on the input signal here. Do you know what the measurement is for that? It's not suggested in the datasheet. I have an electrolytic cap in that spot already, to remove the DC offset, but I am wondering if this input cap has a distinct purpose.

hi john, thankyou for getting back to me me, im only learning electronics as a hobby, i only wanted to find out what values you used in the video with the caps plus what pins do they connect to thats all i wanted to no. i really enjoyed the videos that ive seen of yours keep up the good videoing. john

So the ground paths basically have to be built in a star topology? I have a 386 circuit using an 8 ohm old car speaker and I always get a cracking or popping during random occasions. 9V supply. When it pops the sound will be sort of muffled..until it pops again and I get my clear signal. Lol. Would this help? I'd have to pull the circuit out of the speak box ad see if I could rework the pcb to this method...

I know I’m late buuuuuuut.... Do you remember what components you used for this circuit ?

Excellent video. I have been wanting to build one of these little amps for a while. I am new to this, but I have become very interested in electronics after building a stir plate with the lm317 for home brewing. Can you send me a parts list? and schematic? I have looked online, but it seems like there are a lot of different options, as far as parts list go. Thank you.

Can I use speakers, large then 4watt

Very simple thanks

Might your ever build layout and test lm386 stereo 2watt amp?

Trying to add a 10k pot to the LM386(5v with TEA5767 radio chip/atmega on same BB), but having a few problems: I only have to turn the pot a little, and the volume distorts and cuts out. So I'm not getting the full volume range from 0 to 100% with the pot. How would I solve this?

Btw, just a suggestion. Do you know smokey amp? Many people, me included have problems with noise. It would be nice if you can build it without noise, with just 2 47 uf capacitors and the lm386 ic. It is for electric guitars. Maybe you know it.

Can I use 4v battery?

Hi John, If you see this 8 years after the video a quick related question from me where I am an on and off electronics hobbyist is: If you use an op-amp as a pre-amp with a Dual power supply such as +6 volts at the Vcc input and -6 volts at the Vee input where do you attach the Signal input ground? To a separate zone connected to Vee or to the floating or virtual ground or what ever the Zero volt connection is that the signal swings between as it swings towards but not hits both the +6 volt and -6 volt rails of the Dual Power Supply??? Thanks.....

¿So you are saying that pin 2 and 3 are for audio input, and 4-6 for power input? If it's like that, that sounds logical to me.

Hello there, I am currently studying electrical engineering and I have a question regarding circuits. I want to be able to build an amplifier or speaker, create an original outer casing and then be able to sell it. If you use someone else's circuit is it considered illegal? Or is everything on KZfaq regarding electronics and circuits open domain? I do not want to claim that I invented or created the circuit all by myself, I only wish to create a product that I can sell. Any thoughts on this?

can you help me with my 50w mini amplifier kit?

Sounding good man can i get tha schematic

I would like to see how you deal with LM386 bridge config.

How can we have separate power and audio grounds when all the grounds are electrically same? I mean to say that we need to connect all grounds at same point then how can grounds be separate if we can't electrically separate them?

hi john, i watched your video on youtube and liked it very much, ive just built a champ amp on a veroboard, could i get a schematic from you on the (lm386 audio amp and proper ground layout). please dusty

Great video. Super informative for those of us trying to troubleshoot our lm386 circuits. But the schematic you show is sorely lacking in information. This wouldn’t normally be a big deal, but your layout differs from what’s shown on TI’s LM386 datasheet. Can you add a link to the schematic for your circuit?

You may also find that the bread board is causing some noise through capacitance of the tracks

So, I took screenshots of your before and after circuit, and flipped back and forth between them for a while checking for the differences. But there were no differences. Literally nothing changes. What's up with that?..

anyone got the ckt diagram? along with pin nos. n all?

Very good but whats the use with circuit diagram okay ok I came to know that you can make it but no use for others

I saw a video where someone claimed to get 8 watts out of one of these, it was extremely distorted though, and probably didn't last long after the video.

for me destortion is not the problem coz i use high capacitor on the power gate and use 450uf capacitor between ground and pin 7 the problem is the overheating i put small capacitor on the oudio output it fixes the heating but weak sound

LM386 has only 3 connections, +, - and Output, but in your circuit I see 4 connections to the LM386 8:03! How is that possible?

rip Radioshack

it always overheating wich makes audio decreases how can i solve this problem

Distortion / overdrive with the LM 386 ( schematics please )

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What you want? INFORMATION. INFORMATION. INFORMATION.

I want distortion / fuzz but not interference & hissing , just good guitar distortion

i saw Snickers passed away, was he sick?

Seems like every electronics hobbyist have a cat. Kinda like "must have" LOL And, this kind of layout is called star ground, right?

man I wish you wouldve gone through the actual wiring process

Do you have the full schematic with labeling of the grounding...i would like to try this

Wow. It was a little jarring to hear you talk about Radio Shack in the present tense.

this chip is not designed to drive a speaker

Try 5 v

Man! Oh Man! I watch a lot of your videos because they are helpful but, your camera is making me seasick. I can't finish watching this video. Please go back to your other camera.