Thomas from Germany has put together a build log of his recent DIY TDA2050 Hi-Fi Chip Amplifier (chipamp) build. The chipamp project is built around a single chip - the TDA2050V integrated circuit (IC) which is produced by STMicroelectronics. The TDA2050 chip is capable of producing about 25W of output into 8 ohms with 24V power supply rails. Like most chipamp projects, the circuit is very simple and can easily be constructed on perfboards.
The power supply is also constructed on a perfboard. For the power supply Thomas uses a 120VA torroidal transformer with dual 18V secondaries and generally followed the "snubberized" Gainclone power supply design by CarlosFM with 10,000 uF per rail.
For the enclosure Thomas used a Hammond satin black steel 12" x 8" x 3" chassis (Model 1441-24). The amplifier controls including a headphone output are on the front.
Thomas reports that the chipamp produces very good sound and that the small amp can hold it own against various high quality amplifiers that he has used.These chipamps are simple to build, low-cost and when properly implemented can deliver very good fidelity. If you are looking for a project to try out, give one a try.
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