Does such an item exist. I found an NTE823, but I’m in my mobile phone and can’t tell if it’s a replacement.

I have several PCB boards for the ‘386 and wish I could replace the ‘386. I’m considering a daughterboard or removing the amplifier components and routing the audio input to a separate amplifier.

I want more volume and better quality. I’m constrained by the speaker, since the current speaker is a 2” 8Ω speaker. I can’t use speakers that are much larger.

Or I could redesign the PCB for the complete circuit that the lm386 is part of..,

 

I have several PCB boards for the ‘386 and wish I could replace the ‘386.

Digi-Key has them, in both DIP and SMT. About a buck apiece, in single quantity.

 

I have several PCB boards for the ‘386

Why not use the LM386 in a bridged configuration?
SG

 

Why not use the LM386 in a bridged configuration?
SG

Because the quality is too low. It’d just be twice as bad. And where would I put another lm386? If I need another board, I’ll use a better amplifier or a prebuilt module.

 

Digi-Key has them, in both DIP and SMT. About a buck apiece, in single quantity.

Has what?

 

NTE bought a bunch of LM386 ICs, sanded off the LM numbers and printed NTE823, then charged more. Same spec's.

Double the power results in only a +3dB increase which sounds like only a little louder. 10 times the power sounds twice as loud.
Your tiny speaker (squeaker) or your amplifier volume control turned up to beyond clipping causes poor sound quality not an LM386.
An LM386 is designed for an 8 ohm speaker and a 6V or 9V supply. You can bridge two of them to increase the volume of a 16 ohm or 32 ohm speaker that are not loud anyway.
If you increase the supply voltage to 12V of an LM386 that drives an 8 ohm speaker then the heating increases a lot but the output power increases only a tiny amount.

 

Has what?

LM386's.

 

Because the quality is too low.

Getting back to your post heading the answer is no.
SG

 

LM386's.

But I have LM386s. With my speaker, I can get adequate volume (barely) but the sound quality is poor.

I was initially investigating a replacement. But @Audioguru posted something that has made me rethink my goal.

 

NTE bought a bunch of LM386 ICs, sanded off the LM numbers and printed NTE823, then charged more. Same spec's.

Double the power results in only a +3dB increase which sounds like only a little louder. 10 times the power sounds twice as loud.
Your tiny speaker (squeaker) or your amplifier volume control turned up to beyond clipping causes poor sound quality not an LM386.
An LM386 is designed for an 8 ohm speaker and a 6V or 9V supply. You can bridge two of them to increase the volume of a 16 ohm or 32 ohm speaker that are not loud anyway.
If you increase the supply voltage to 12V of an LM386 that drives an 8 ohm speaker then the heating increases a lot but the output power increases only a tiny amount.

So would a larger speaker improve the sound and necessary volume? Would a larger cone area would project the sound better, while allowing me to reduce clipping? Also, it’s supply is only 5V. I have a booster in the system that supplies 9V. Perhaps if I used this for the LM386, it’s performance would improve. Supplying the 9V to the ‘386 would be a simple mod to the PCB.

 

But I have LM386s. With my speaker, I can get adequate volume (barely) but the sound quality is poor.

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post; I thought you were unable to find LM386's and were seeking a substitute.

I apologize for the confusion.

 

since the current speaker is a 2” 8Ω speaker. I can’t use speakers that are much larger.

What is the quality of the existing speaker?
SG

 

I want more volume.

"The answer is no." Because more volume needs a higher supply voltage and a higher current that will destroy an LM386 and also destroy your tiny speaker.

Years ago I made a very good sounding sound system for the beach. It outdid all the ghetto-blasters there. The 4" woofer used a bridged amplifier and the power was six Ni-Cad C cells.

My cheap clock radio has a 0.45W amplifier like an LM386 but it had an awful-sounding cheap 3" speaker. I increased the values of a couple of coupling capacitors and connected a 6.5" woofer and dome tweeter in a ported enclosure. Now it sounds great and is loud enough.

 

Our hearing works from 20Hz to 20kHz. A pretty good speaker produces about 35Hz to 18kHz, all at about the same loudness. A cheap clock radio produces about 200Hz to about 6kHz with some loud frequencies and other frequencies that can barely be heard.
Your little 2" speaker produces an awful 300Hz to 6kHz with some very loud frequencies and many frequencies that cannot be heard.

The LM386 datasheet shows that with a 5V supply and feeding an 8 ohm speaker the max output is 3V peak-to-peak which is 3V/2.828= 1.06V RMS when clipping a little or 0.95V RMS with low distortion. Then the power in the 8 ohm speaker is only (0.95V squared)/8 ohms= 0.11W which is almost nothing. With a 9V supply the graph shows 6V p-p which is 0.46W and is noticeably much louder.

A modern PAM8403 bridged class-D stereo amplifier produces 1.2W per channel at low distortion into 8 ohm speakers when powered from 5VDC.