Where can one find a small amp like those in small 2.0 speakers?

[b0mbrman]

Hi there,

Putting together home and car audio systems has always been a hobby of mine and one of my favorite parts is the building of speakers.

However, with computers, there's limited space so having a separate amp, receiver, and headphone jack-rca converter just doesn't make sense. Now, when you buy any of the aftermarket speakers, there's a little amp inside them. Does anyone know of a place where I can buy one of these small amps?

...short of finding some old ones and just ripping them apart

 

[b0mbrman]

Or, does anyone know of any remarkable deals on computer speakers with at least 15 watts per side? Or maybe an inexpensive subwoofer sold individually with a pair of speaker outlets with a decent amount of juice flowing to them...

If all else fails, I have no problem with ripping things apart

 

[nakedfrog]

You can build them yourself... It's a really simple circuit, and if I remember right, you only need like three components.
I just can't remember what the central chip is. I've got one at home. It's basically the same design they use for those cigarette-pack guitar amps.

 

[nakedfrog]

Ah, here it is... LM386.
LM386 Amp circuit
I used this with (well, with a few different values, but same general thing) a bookshelf stereo speaker for a guitar amp powered by a 9V battery.

 

[DaveSimmons]

TDK makes cool half-wide audio components, but they're way overpriced and user reviews on Amazon say they're unreliable. So I have a full-size receiver perched on a filing cabinet in my home office to drive my Polks.

 

[b0mbrman]

Woah....looks complicated