LM1875
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SNAS524A –MAY 2004–REVISED MAY 2004
APPLICATION HINTS
STABILITY
The LM1875 is designed to be stable when operated at a closed-loop gain of 10 or greater, but, as with any
other high-current amplifier, the LM1875 can be made to oscillate under certain conditions. These usually involve
printed circuit board layout or output/input coupling.
Proper layout of the printed circuit board is very important. While the LM1875 will be stable when installed in a
board similar to the ones shown in this data sheet, it is sometimes necessary to modify the layout somewhat to
suit the physical requirements of a particular application. When designing a different layout, it is important to
return the load ground, the output compensation ground, and the low level (feedback and input) grounds to the
circuit board ground point through separate paths. Otherwise, large currents flowing along a ground conductor
will generate voltages on the conductor which can effectively act as signals at the input, resulting in high
frequency oscillation or excessive distortion. It is advisable to keep the output compensation components and the
0.1 μF supply decoupling capacitors as close as possible to the LM1875 to reduce the effects of PCB trace
resistance and inductance. For the same reason, the ground return paths for these components should be as
short as possible.
Occasionally, current in the output leads (which function as antennas) can be coupled through the air to the
amplifier input, resulting in high-frequency oscillation. This normally happens when the source impedance is high
or the input leads are long. The problem can be eliminated by placing a small capacitor (on the order of 50 pF to
500 pF) across the circuit input.
Most power amplifiers do not drive highly capacitive loads well, and the LM1875 is no exception. If the output of
the LM1875 is connected directly to a capacitor with no series resistance, the square wave response will exhibit
ringing if the capacitance is greater than about 0.1 μF. The amplifier can typically drive load capacitances up to 2
μF or so without oscillating, but this is not recommended. If highly capacitive loads are expected, a resistor (at
least 1Ω) should be placed in series with the output of the LM1875. A method commonly employed to protect
amplifiers from low impedances at high frequencies is to couple to the load through a 10Ωresistor in parallel with
a 5 μH inductor.
DISTORTION
The preceding suggestions regarding circuit board grounding techniques will also help to prevent excessive
distortion levels in audio applications. For low THD, it is also necessary to keep the power supply traces and
wires separated from the traces and wires connected to the inputs of the LM1875. This prevents the power
supply currents, which are large and nonlinear, from inductively coupling to the LM1875 inputs. Power supply
wires should be twisted together and separated from the circuit board. Where these wires are soldered to the
board, they should be perpendicular to the plane of the board at least to a distance of a couple of inches. With a
proper physical layout, THD levels at 20 kHz with 10W output to an 8Ωload should be less than 0.05%, and less
than 0.02% at 1 kHz.
CURRENT LIMIT AND SAFE OPERATING AREA (SOA) PROTECTION
A power amplifier's output transistors can be damaged by excessive applied voltage, current flow, or power
dissipation. The voltage applied to the amplifier is limited by the design of the external power supply, while the
maximum current passed by the output devices is usually limited by internal circuitry to some fixed value. Short-
term power dissipation is usually not limited in monolithic audio power amplifiers, and this can be a problem
when driving reactive loads, which may draw large currents while high voltages appear on the output transistors.
The LM1875 not only limits current to around 4A, but also reduces the value of the limit current when an output
transistor has a high voltage across it.
When driving nonlinear reactive loads such as motors or loudspeakers with built-in protection relays, there is a
possibility that an amplifier output will be connected to a load whose terminal voltage may attempt to swing
beyond the power supply voltages applied to the amplifier. This can cause degradation of the output transistors
or catastrophic failure of the whole circuit. The standard protection for this type of failure mechanism is a pair of
diodes connected between the output of the amplifier and the supply rails. These are part of the internal circuitry
of the LM1875, and needn't be added externally when standard reactive loads are driven.
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