Build the BEST LM380 audio amplifier

Get the best out of this nearly half a century old audio amp chip with proper design and circuit layout.
Mail: PO box 362, Vandalia, OH 45377
Thank You!

[brucermarino]

As a cancer survivor, my thoughts and prayers for your brother. I really appreciate your knowledgeable content. Thanks!

[listerine-prlt]

My thoughts and prayer to your brother, I do not know your brother but watching your channel I can imagine he was raised in a proper family and that means a lot to me.

[nlo]

When I was an electronics apprentice, (45 years ago), we used to build our bedroom stereo amplifiers using LM380's from work (!). It was soon discovered that they worked wonderfully in a bridge configuration into 8 Ohms, but this caused my father to get cross too often. LM386 pre-amp/tone controls, LM380 PA.

[TD.SteveArcs]

John my thoughts are with you, your brother and family best wishes from across the pond Steve

[santi]

All the best for your brother!, and keep it up man, he will recover!

[イエンスヨハンセン]

Glad you’re back. Hope they sort out your brother’s cancer. Love the outtake at the end. By the way, I’ve taken to letting ads play out so you get paid half a cent more, or whatever. Anything I can do to make a diff...

[MrTheDarku]

All the best for your brother. Strength to your family. Good luck!

[terencekaye]

HI John, , my Humblest apologies to you, , I didn't see the comment about your Brother having Cancer, , My best wishes to him and you from the bottom of my Heart!

[cassvirgillo]

Hello John, My thoughts and prayers are with your Brother, you and your family. I wish you all the best. Be strong for your Brother, Mom & Dad and You. Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge. No reply necessary as you have other priorities. See ya, C.

[Berre]

Along with many other subscribers to this channel I hope your brother may get well and in perfect condition soon. It seems I have missed your former message about him, which is odd, since I follow your channel closely. Fortunately, we live in a time when medical science and technology has made an important progress with regard to the treatment of cancer. His chances have never been better. Keep up the good spirit and be strong.

[hamid]

I am following your channel and many audio projects are very helpful like jat half baked project was very good amplifier runs on single supply.

[joseppuig]

I couldn't resist to build the internal circuit of the LM380 out of discrete transistors. And I found it was flawed in that the top output transistor needed an NPN before it connected as darlington, and an additional diode in the vbe multiplier.
After that, the amplifier worked wonderfully at 12V. More supply and it started to need biasing adjustment because the quiescent current ran up too much.
The external circuitry I used your configuration for the IC version.
All transistors I used were BC337-16, BC327-25 and the power outputs MJD44H11.

[creepingmee]

Our thoughts are with your family in this difficult time John. Thanks for all the quality content.

[johncoops]

In the 1970's I built a 2x100W rack mount power amp (2n3055/2n2955 outputs) and added 2 x LM380s to drive a separate headphone output. This allowed the headphone volume to be separate from the main amp volume. For heatsinking, I used quite large copper plates as "wings" off both sides of the centre pins, and they would drive the 'phones at good volume if necessary.

[flaconsius]

I´ve recently discovered your Channel. It is awesome for the Newbies (and not so newbies also). I´ll be watching your Videos for a very long time. Cheers.

[melplishka]

Tyvm for your time and knowledge my friend.

[deeguy]

This is a great channel. I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen it.

[SpeakerFreak]

A lot of the lower end broadcast mixing consoles used the LM380’s for headphone drivers! Noisy!

[CraftAero]

When will the "Copyright Clowns" realize that 3 seconds of their song serves as a promo for they're own property?
Edit: Thanks so much for these videos John.

[mikelee]

I made this circuit and have made quite a few LM 386 circuits as well. I have found little to no difference in volume when using 12 volts or 22v in the case of the LM380. Even with the LM386 4 at 18 v not much more by way of volume than at 9 or 12. I am using a couple different power supplies. Both put out up to 5A. One up to 30v and the other up to 24Vv. Am I doing something wrong or is this typical ? Sometimes their seems to be more punch but not much more volume. I try with all different sized 4 and 8 ohm speakers. From 5" to 15". Mostly high end 8", 12" and 15" speakers. Mostly using with guitar input which I am guessing impedance is a big factor. But even running music or Arduino musical instruments, such as synths and drum machines, as source input through the circuits, not finding the expected volume increase with more voltage. If anyone has an explanation it would be greatly appreciated!!