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TDA1516BQ 12W x 2 Stereo Amplifier

These days, it is easy to find high-power Class D and Class T audio amplifiers. Compared with classic Class A, B, and AB designs, they are tiny and deliver very high output power. I have built and used many Class D and T amplifiers, but I still prefer the warm, organic, and smooth sound of older Class A, B, and AB topologies.

Prototype build of TDA1516BQ amplifier.

The problem is that older amplifier chips are getting harder to find. While shopping for electronic components some time ago, I came across the Philips TDA1516BQ. It delivers 12W per channel on a 12V - 14V supply, and the circuit is extremely simple. It turned out to be one of the easiest stereo amplifiers I have built so far.

I designed a small PCB for this amplifier (62 mm × 41 mm) and had it fabricated by PCBWay. The design is also shared on PCBWay, so if you are interested, you can order the board directly from there. The Gerber files are available in the release section of repository as well.

Top view of the TDA1516BQ amplifier PCB.

The construction is straightforward. The only part that requires care is attaching the heatsink: once the large capacitors are installed, there is very little room to tighten the heatsink screws. The easiest options are:

Option 1: Solder the TDA1516BQ first, attach the heatsink to it, and then solder the rest of the components.

Option 2: Solder all the passive components and connectors first, and solder the TDA1516BQ last with the heatsink already attached.

I drive the amplifier with a 12V, 5A power supply. It works really well and produces a clean, high-quality audio output.

Prototype build with heatsink.

The schematic, Gerber files, and BoM are all available in the repository: https://github.com/dilshan/tda1516-stereo-power-amplifier. As mentioned above, the PCB can also be ordered directly from PCBWay.

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