one big buck converter or several smaller ones?

[tehtehteh]

for a car audio project I have a buck converter that can give a 5v 10a output, this would have been enough for what I wanted to do when I though I was going to run the amplifier at 5v

now I'm looking at this chip: http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0a33/0900766b80a339df.pdf

as this can run at 12v this would significantly lessen the 5v load

so as space is a bit of an issue I was thinking of putting some smaller buck converters onto the pcb rather than the big one, I could have say 3 converters at 2 amps

is this sort of thing good practice or stupid?

 

[(*steve*)]

with multiple regulators you need some mechanism to ensure current sharing.

 

[tehtehteh]

what if they just power separate rails and I ensure the load on each doesn't go over what the converter is capable of?

 

[(*steve*)]

yeah that should be fine.