DIY LM3886 Chip Amplifier (Gainclone) Kit

DIY LM3886 Chip Amplifier (Gainclone) Kit

So what the heck is a Gainclone? Originally, the term Gainclone meant a clone of the 47 Laboratory Gaincard. The 47 Laboratory Model 4706 Gaincard is understood to have the following general features:

• 9 parts per channel based around the National Semiconductor LM3875
• A very short signal pass and NFB loop
• PSU filter with 1000µF to 2200µF capacitors
• Voltage regulation with a 170 VA cut-core transformer

However, a Gainclone is now generally understood to mean: any low component chip amp intended for high quality sound.
Photograph 1 below shows a 47 Laboratory Model 4706 Gaincard which retails for about $3300US. Despite the high retail cost of the Gaincard, you should easily be able to build a great sounding gainclone for less than $200US.

Photograph 1: 47 Laboratory Model 4706 Gaincard and Power Humpty

OK, so now you are interested in a Chip Amplifier and you are wondering where the heck should you start? A good starting point would be chipamp.com. At Chipamp.com, you can buy kits or PCBs to build your own chip amp. A search of "LM3886 chip amp" will net you more information than you can likely digest.
For more information about this kit, see the Users Guide for the Non-Inverted LM3886 Chipamp Kit - (PDF 280KB). The amplifier circuit of the LM3886 chipamp is shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1: LM3886 Chipamp Schematic

The power supply circuit for the kit is shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2: LM3886 Chipamp Power Supply Schematic

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