Ken Finney said:
Anyone have recommendations for "newer" audio amplifier chips, something
like the LM383 that National discontinued some years back? Something like 7
Watts, either mono or stereo is what I need.
A guy I know had a low power amp - under ten watts - that he wanted to
repair and I found after looking online that the company no longer made
the chip - sorry. So it's highly advisable to check the datasheet for
the device you're going to use to make sure it's currently in
production. And hopefully will stay in production.
Or else, just build it out of discrete parts. Amps are simple, and if
the amp dies, you can fix it with commonly available parts. If you use
a single amp chip, you're tied to that chip for the future. The way
some manufacturers have addressed this "problem" has been to make the
amplifier circuit into a module, with a standard pinout to connect to
the 'box' it's in. If the amp chip goes obsolete, just discard the
module and put another newer module in, with a newer chip in it. Or a
module with discretes on it. ;-)
Or else, just make the whole amp box disposable. :-O