Alternative to LM386? To drive 8 ohm speaker with 9V circuit
The LM386 seems to be a appropriate chip for this application, so there is no need for a replacement.  If you can't get it to work, the problem is in you circuit.  Since you haven't shown us your circuit, there is little more than can be said.

Whatever you are doing wrong would be just as likely to happen to a replacement part.

It might be useful to test out just the power amp part with the LM386 by itself.  Once you get that working, you can incorporate the successful circuit into your larger project.