little gem

[andrewretard]

i just made the little gem and its not near as loud as i want it to be. would adding another 9v help? if not wut can i do?
thanks!

[Khas Evets]

Check the specs of the 386. There are a couple different voltage ratings depending on the chip. 18V may be over the limit IIRC.

[Peter Snowberg]

Try a different speaker....

I play a 386 amp through a Leslie with a huge (15 inch?) woofer and a horn tweeter. If I turned the volume up all the way using a 9V supply, I would get kicked out of my apartment.

What speaker are you using now?

To go over a 6 volt supply, you should be using the LM386-4 or the JRC386BD. Lesser chips are made for lesser voltages.

[birt]

check the specs, mine goes from 9v to 15v

but try some different speakers! try big ones. you'll get a big sound :wink:

[andrewretard]

im usin some radio speakers, but even when i tried to amplify a headphone, i could barely hear it. its not that its super quiet, but i want it louder. at least " louder than a normal conversation.

[RLBJR65]

All the 386 amps I have built were just loud enough that you could not really hold a normal conversation around. Thats it, no plaster falling of the ceiling, windows rattling, etc. Running 12v or so and using a good 4  or 8 ohm speaker will help.

Here is a good clean 12 volt power supply layout.
http://aronnelson.com/gallery/Richard-Boop-RLBJR65/12VDC_supply

Maybe you need to try the Little Gem MKII it's around 2 watts or something bigger like Craig Andertons 8 watt practice amp. Both are simple and sound good.