July 18, 2012 – Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB, Country Manager Jong-Chan Lee), a global leader in high-performance analog-intensive mixed-signal ICs, today announced a family of advanced AM/FM receivers targeting the high-performance consumer electronics and professional audio equipment markets. The newly announced Si477x AM/FM receivers provide industry-leading RF performance and excellent configuration capabilities while lowering system costs and complexity for consumer audio/video receivers (AVRs), FM receiver monitors, and professional audio receivers.

Manufacturers of high-performance consumer electronics and professional audio equipment typically design discrete AM/FM receivers using hand-fitted inductors and multiple active components to optimize audio performance. These complex, handcrafted receiver designs offer limited configuration customization capabilities and restrict the features that can be added at the finished product stage; furthermore, they are costly and increase manufacturing overhead and testing time. The discrete approach also leads to overload in strong signal environments, degrading audio quality, and particularly resulting in quality degradation in weak signals. In contrast, Silicon Labs' highly integrated AM/FM receiver design is characterized by its ability to improve performance in all reception environments and deliver superior audio quality while reducing system cost and complexity.

Silicon Labs' Si477x family consists of two feature-rich receivers (Si4770/Si4777) on a single chip. The Si4770 is a global multi-band AM/FM receiver, and the Si4777 is an AM/FM receiver that supports HD radio tuner functions. Silicon Labs developed the Si477x to increase design flexibility for high-performance consumer and professional applications and to lower the Bill of Materials (BoM) while delivering outstanding performance. The Si477x family features Silicon Labs' patented digital low-IF architecture, providing excellent audio quality in most demanding environments.

The Si477x family delivers outstanding RF sensitivity, adjacent and alternate channel selectivity, linearity, and audio fidelity through enhanced DSP algorithms. With a sensitivity of -3.5 dBµV, the Si477x receiver can select stations up to 100 miles away and tune their signals to within 0.7 µV. The Si477x family's best-in-class sensitivity (frequency offset of 65 dB at ±100 kHz and 72 dB at ±200 kHz from the desired base station) has established a new standard for tuning weak stations buried between strong stations in today's congested frequency spectrum.

With a high linearity RF front end featuring state-of-the-art dynamic band control algorithms and sophisticated RF and IF automatic gain control (AGC) functions, the Si477x receiver optimizes sensitivity and selectivity in strong signal environments, thereby supporting excellent reception at any time and under any conditions.

The Si477x receiver also incorporates an on-chip “prosumer” FM channel equalizer to eliminate multipath fading and provide optimal performance under complex multipath interference conditions in urban environments. The patented algorithm applied to this equalizer corrects multipath fading that occurs when a radio station signal reaches the receiver along with the same signal reflected from buildings or large objects with a time delay. This equalizer can significantly reduce audio distortion without requiring extensive audio degradation correction. This high-performance FM channel equalizer is a first in the audio industry.

The Si477x family delivers optimal performance with the default product configuration recommended by Silicon Labs and offers exceptional flexibility, allowing developers to customize audio and system performance to their preferences. This high level of configurability enables developers to modify audio designs to create the unique and distinctive sound characteristic of their audio product brands.

James Stansberry, Vice President overseeing broadcast products at Silicon Labs, said, “Silicon Labs’ high-performance Si477x family provides the best value and system cost savings for high-performance consumer and professional audio systems without compromising even a single decibel of radio performance. Audio equipment developers evaluating the performance of radio receiver solutions will appreciate the exceptional performance, single-chip integration, simple design, and configuration change capabilities offered by the Si477x family.”

The Si4770 and Si4777 receiver products are pin-compatible, simplifying the system design process across multiple high-performance audio device platforms. Because the devices have the same footprint, developers can design a single board and use either the Si4770 or the Si4777 through different backends capable of controlling HD radio solutions and non-HD radio solutions.

Price and supply
The Si477x AM/FM receiver is available for samples and mass production in a compact 6mm x 6mm 40-pin QFN package. Based on a quantity of 10,000 units, the price of the Si4770 receiver is $5.26, and the Si4777 receiver, which supports HD radio, is $6.31. Silicon Labs offers the Si4770-A-EVB evaluation board for $500 to facilitate the design of radio systems, and the Si4770 Module-A-EVB is available for $150. More information about Silicon Labs' Si477x AM/FM receiver, sample purchase, and development tools can be found at www.silabs.com/pr/radio-receiver .