General purpose 2-watt stereo power amplifier

A general-purpose audio power amplifier is a must-have for electronics enthusiasts. Using your HiFi equipment for experimentation is never a good idea, as it could potentially burn out its transistors. An amplifier used for experimentation should be simple in design, durable, and easy to repair. Furthermore, it should be portable, low-power, and battery-powered. With these factors in mind, I've provided a PCB design for an amplifier based on the TBA820M. It's rated at 2 watts RMS (16W PMPO), but with proper cooling techniques, it can deliver more than double that. I've been using this circuit for over a decade and am still amazed by its durability, considering how many short circuits and overloads it has withstood.

I don't know if the TBA820M is still in production (my IC was manufactured by SGS-Thomson), so it might be obsolete and hard to find in your country. But if you find it at your local electronics store, buying a dozen would be well worth it. A simplified, scaled-down version of this circuit can be used anywhere a power amplifier is needed.

Technical data:

Power supply voltage: 3 to 16 volts

Load impedance: 4 to 16 ohms

Output power: 2 watts RMS

Gain: 40 dB (x100)

This is a two-channel PCB design. I tried to make it as small as possible, but the volume control potentiometer takes up a lot of space. In a specialized design, the area it occupies can be omitted. Furthermore, using high-quality, small-sized capacitors can help you further reduce the circuit size. You can download this PCB design as a TIFF file; it's ready to print at 300 DPI. You can refer to my PCB design page for more detailed information on how to create your own PCB.

PCB of power amplifier

PCB design for 2 x 2 Watt power amplifiers

After the PCB etching process, solder all components. Please use IC sockets so that the TBA820M can be replaced in case it burns out. This is a photo of the completed circuit, ready for service for many years.