Putting a Class D Audio Amplifier Through Its Paces

May 2, 2022

Editor Bill Wong takes a look at Diodes' 12-W PAM8965 audio-amplifier evaluation module.

Diodes Inc. provides a range of analog and power products. For this Kit Close-up video, I take a look at the PAM8965 EVM. The PAM8965 can drive a pair of 4-Ω speakers at up to 12 W (see figure).

The PAM8965 Class-D stereo audio power amplifier drive two channels with 12 W to a pair of 4 &ohm; speakers. — The PAM8965 Class-D stereo audio power amplifier drive two channels with 12 W to a pair of 4 Ω speakers.

The PAM8965's integrated amplifier efficiency can hit 92% with a low quiescent current of only 10 mA and very low shutdown current of 0.7 μA.

Some features include spread-spectrum modulation (SSM) for EMI suppression, allowing for the use of inexpensive ferrite bead filters. The non-clipping power limit utilizes a 41-step automatic gain control.

External audio feedback pins make it possible to customize sound by using feedback network design.

Thermal foldback support cuts back output power if the chip heats up. Also included is undervoltage and overvoltage protection, dc protection for speakers, short-circuit protection on all audio outputs, and cycle-by-cycle current limit on the boost converter.

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About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.