Audio surround sound power management switching

An audio system has multiple amplifiers (52, 56), each with power supply inputs (V cc , pin 3) and audio inputs (pins 7, 11) and outputs (pins 4 and 2), for driving audio speakers (27, 28, 32) according to a selected one of at least two modes of operation in which a selection of the audio speakers and/or a required power output of the audio speakers differ between the modes. The invention is operable, for example, to an entertainment system that has internal and external speakers and associated amplifiers for switching between stereo and surround sound modes. At least two distinct power supply voltage sources (34V, 24V) are provided for the amplifiers, and a switching element (Q1, D2) operates upon switching between the modes to couple one or another of the distinct power supply voltage sources to the power supply inputs of respective ones of the at least two amplifiers. This prevents the total audio output of the system from increasing, for example, when switching from two stereo outputs to five surround sound outputs.