Audio Video News

Home theater is the next frontier for Texas Instruments. On June 17, the Dallas-based technology pioneer announced a new line of cost-effective digital audio amplification products that promise high efficiency and great sound for the next generation of home theater equipment.

Among new products is the industry's first 100-watt all-digital audio amplifier, the TAS5182, capable of a full 100W output while driving 6-ohm speakers in a home theater system. The high-efficiency design of the TAS5182 allows the reduction of heatsink size by 90%, reducing weight and size in finished amplifiers. The 5182's power supply requirements are 50% less than equivalent amplifiers using discrete components. TI predicts the new "Digital Amplifier Power Stage Controller" will enable manufacturers to shrink the height of an audio/video receiver by as much as 33% compared to current designs.

But it's not just efficiency and high power that make the TAS5182 attractive. TI engineers have also addressed the harsh, edgy sound typical of digital amplification. The result is a "tonal balance is so natural that it sounds like the original analog sound," according to audio tuning specialist Katsuhiko Iida of Lpro System, Inc., a Japanese audio consulting firm. "It produces an accurate and focused sound, realizing a pure and vivid reproduction of the original music or soundtrack." TI has achieved both high efficiency and high fidelity through a new architecture that uses external, discrete MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors).

OEM designers wishing to experiment with TI's new products can avail themselves of the company’s "digital amplifier evaluation module," or EVM, where the full product line of digital power stages can be combined with a broad range of digital PWM modulators in any configuration. TI's digital amplifiers are also available in optimized reference designs targeting specific products, such as DVD receivers, the announcement stated. These reference designs provide complete solutions including TI-originated switching power supplies. All TI designs comply with applicable EMI regulations and AM interference requirements.

TI's new power stage products include the TAS5182, for controlling two channels of up to 100W/6 ohms, and the TAS5110 amplifier, a 50W single-chip solution for DVD receivers and other home theater applications. For DVD receivers and DVD mini-component systems, the TAS5026 offers six channels of PWM processing with 24-bit volume control on a single chip with a 96dB signal to noise ratio (SNR). The next step up, intended for higher end products, is the six-channel TAS5036, with a wide dynamic range and outstanding 102 SNR. TI's PWM processors support all current sample rates, including DVD-audio's 192kHz.

Samples of all new TI products are available now. The 32-pin TAS5110 PowerPad, with top-or-bottom heat sink options, is available in production quantity now at $3.19 per unit in batches of 1000 or more. The other new products will be available in bulk at the end of June. The 64-pin flatpack TAS5026 will be priced at $6.49 each, the 56-pin TAS5182 PowerPad at $5.43, and the 80-pin TAS5036 at $12.41 each.