Hello! First time poster. We had a short lived "Electronics Club" at work that served as a pretty good introduction to electronics, but I am definitely still at the beginner level. When we joined the club we were asked what we hoped to get out of it. For me it was "I want to make noise and flash lights". That's still true and what I'm currently pursuing.
After building a couple of 556 Stepped Tone Generators, I've started experimenting with some other voltage controlled oscillators (CD40106 hex Schmitt trigger, mostly so far) and quickly noticed that the voltage signal they produce is much lower, and thus much quieter when connected to a speaker.
So, I need to build an audio amplifier. I found this article elsewhere on the Internet: http://www.circuitbasics.com/build-a-great-sounding-audio-amplifier-with-bass-boost-from-the-lm386/
I feel like I can build this at my current skill level, but given that I plan to use it to amplify various experiments I am uncertain about the best way to handle various Input Voltages.
The datasheet for the LM386 gives a MIN/MAX Input Voltage of -0.4 to 0.4 V, so I need to be sure the signal doesn't go outside of this range.
Should I be trying to do this on the amplifier side? (Maybe with a Zener diode or something like that?) Or should I just be ensuring any experimental circuits I plan connecting to it don't go out of this range by adding a Voltage Divider before the signal out? Or something else? I did try searching these forums but wasn't really successful at finding any relevant answers.
Thanks for reading! Any feedback is appreciated.
After building a couple of 556 Stepped Tone Generators, I've started experimenting with some other voltage controlled oscillators (CD40106 hex Schmitt trigger, mostly so far) and quickly noticed that the voltage signal they produce is much lower, and thus much quieter when connected to a speaker.
So, I need to build an audio amplifier. I found this article elsewhere on the Internet: http://www.circuitbasics.com/build-a-great-sounding-audio-amplifier-with-bass-boost-from-the-lm386/
I feel like I can build this at my current skill level, but given that I plan to use it to amplify various experiments I am uncertain about the best way to handle various Input Voltages.
The datasheet for the LM386 gives a MIN/MAX Input Voltage of -0.4 to 0.4 V, so I need to be sure the signal doesn't go outside of this range.
Should I be trying to do this on the amplifier side? (Maybe with a Zener diode or something like that?) Or should I just be ensuring any experimental circuits I plan connecting to it don't go out of this range by adding a Voltage Divider before the signal out? Or something else? I did try searching these forums but wasn't really successful at finding any relevant answers.
Thanks for reading! Any feedback is appreciated.