The LM386N-1 is a power amplifier designed for use in low voltage consumer applications. The gain is internally set to 20 to keep external part count low, but the addition of an external resistor and capacitor between pins 1 and 8 increases the gain to any value from 20 to 200.
The inputs are ground referenced while the output automatically biases to one-half the supply voltage. The quiescent power drain is only 24 mW when operating from a 6-V supply, making the LM386N-1 preferred for battery operation.
