I have used its big brother, the TBA810, but TBA820 pretty similar. It will need more parts to function, needs more power to operate and if you really need it to it can do higher power output (especially in the larger package versions) but isn't really any better than LM386. It would still be a waste not to make some little board with it, or pass it on to someone who would 🤣.

TDA7050 - Stereo, Less Parts, and Sounds pretty good.

Thank you to both of you, I didn't know that! 😁
I was just really surprised why that Kosmos kit included that amp in particular. 😮
Looking backwards, makers of these kits often had good reasons beyond my understanding for using oddball parts.
That's why I wondered why they didn't just go with the acient 386 IC, since it likely was cheaper in price, even.

Edits: Some typos fixed.

TBAxxx chips originate in europe, LMxxx in USA and when both chips were new you couldn't easily get your hands on them, depending on which side of the pond you were.

i had some fun with the TBA820, i made a Radio with it.. unwanted 😁

still have some Stock but i don`t want to use it again.. its a nasty amplifier.

Yeah if you have a good layout it works just fine 😀 but it has these ugly bent pins.. and needs a lot of Parts.

The TDA7050 for example just needs Output Capacitors and Decoupling, or no Capacitors if Bridged except for Decoupling.

TDA2822 is a better chip to use, the specs are better and it only uses marginally more parts. If you really are tight on space 7050 is an option of course. If quality is king then proper high current opamp like 4580 is the best choice, or 4580 with output buffer transistors like I have done on my YMF71x card.

🤣 i also build a AMP with this one 😀

This is 2x TDA2822M in Bridge Configuration 😀 on Homemade PCB, also did test for toner transfer for silkscreen

Your board looks very well made! 😀

Tiido wrote:

TBAxxx chips originate in europe, LMxxx in USA and when both chips were new you couldn't easily get your hands on them, depending on which side of the pond you were.

Thanks a lot for the explanation, things make sense to me now! 😀
I assume that's why other "foreign" parts, such as that american 2N2222 transistor, were barely known to the average hobbyist overe here in Europe.
Well, at least it wasn't to me. Never saw it in schematics over here. Until recently, I've never really heard of it also and was using the BC548 type instead.
My father, by contrast, knew of it for years. But he's a ham and also has got a bunch of Popular Electronics (English language) magazines from the 1970s..

Edit: Some typos fixed.

I've never actually used an LM386 myself, but I do have a few in my stash just in case. However, I have built a few amps around the LM3886 IC. One of them powers a tapped horn subwoofer I built for my office. Those turned out to be super common as well. They're used in a pair of Event 20/20 bas monitors I bought back in the early 2Ks, but the cherry on top is that it's the heart of some stupid expensive audiophile amp that everyone raved about. Ended up just being some jellybean chip-amp in a pretty box. 🤣