In article , Michael Graham wrote:
hi

this is probably a stupid question, but anyway

Is it ok to wire two amps into one set of speakers?
I would never be using the 2 amps at the same time obviously.
Any problems with having two sets of wires going into each speaker?

Neither of the amps has enough inputs for my components
and I don't have space for more speakers.

Bad idea. There are recent discussions making or using switches.
You can buy one or make one. All you really need
is a double pole double throw toggle switch with the speaker wired to the center
terminals. I used to do this trick in the car when we had separate 8 Track players and
radios, but I used a 4 pole.

greg

GregS wrote:

In article , Michael Graham wrote:

hi

this is probably a stupid question, but anyway

Is it ok to wire two amps into one set of speakers?
I would never be using the 2 amps at the same time obviously.
Any problems with having two sets of wires going into each speaker?

Neither of the amps has enough inputs for my components
and I don't have space for more speakers.


Bad idea. There are recent discussions making or using switches.
You can buy one or make one. All you really need
is a double pole double throw toggle switch with the speaker wired to the center
terminals. I used to do this trick in the car when we had separate 8 Track players and
radios, but I used a 4 pole.

greg

Better still, run the tape out of one amp into one of the inputs of the
other.

Michael Graham writes:

hi

this is probably a stupid question, but anyway

Is it ok to wire two amps into one set of speakers?

No.

I would never be using the 2 amps at the same time obviously.

Good.

Any problems with having two sets of wires going into each speaker?

No. But the problem is that you have no guarantees as to the state of
the turned off amplifier, so it could be loading the other amp, or
heck could even be a dead short, you dont know. Then there's also
the worry about "what's the signal going to do to the amp that's off?"
Damage is possible.

And then if you screw up and fire both up mistakenly at the same time,
you've got real problems.

Neither of the amps has enough inputs for my components and I don't
have space for more speakers.

Radio shack sells a passive inexpensive RCA switch box for less than
$17.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=42%2D2112

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Michael Graham writes:

Thanks VERY much!!! I'm in Canada and I found this:

http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Prod...age=en-CA&prod
uct=4208412&category=Audio+Accessories&catalog=Rad ioShack

it's a 5 way splitter (?) and it's only $20 CDN (about $13 US)
Does this type of thing degrade sound significantly?

That'll do fine, I think. I'm assuming it has 5 stereo inputs and
one stereo output, and the switches just dictate which input heads to
the single output.

Degrade sound quality? Very little if at all. I'm sure there's some
high end audio freak who'd listen to it and swear it introduced a
phase non-linearity in the andante section of his favorite classical
piece, but the same can be said of an atmospheric change, or someone
making such a guy's dog bark during the finale of the 1812 overture.

It's a mechanical switch, so you're just making metal to metal contact
with some wires. At any rate this solution is vastly saner, safer and
superior to wiring two amplifiers to a given set of speakers. :-)
Enjoy!

Best Regards,
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H
\ / | http://www.toddh.net/
X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/
/ \ http://www.toddh.net/netiquette/ | "4 lines suffice."

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 19:27:20 -0300, Michael Graham
wrote:


Thanks VERY much!!! I'm in Canada and I found this:

http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Prod...age=en-CA&prod
uct=4208412&category=Audio+Accessories&catalog=Ra dioShack

it's a 5 way splitter (?) and it's only $20 CDN (about $13 US)
Does this type of thing degrade sound significantly?

It may not do. First, it uses RCA, not proper speaker level
connections. Second, it does not say if it is stereo or only a single
channel. Third, since it seems to be a line-level device, the
switches may not be suitable for speaker-level amp outputs.

I suggest you find a standard speaker selector switch
(1amp-to-2speakers) and reverse wire it (1speaker-to-2amps).

Kal


In article , (Todd H.) wrote:

Michael Graham writes:

hi

this is probably a stupid question, but anyway

Is it ok to wire two amps into one set of speakers?

No.

I would never be using the 2 amps at the same time obviously.

Good.

Any problems with having two sets of wires going into each speaker?

No. But the problem is that you have no guarantees as to the state of
the turned off amplifier, so it could be loading the other amp, or
heck could even be a dead short, you dont know. Then there's also
the worry about "what's the signal going to do to the amp that's off?"
Damage is possible.

And then if you screw up and fire both up mistakenly at the same time,
you've got real problems.

Neither of the amps has enough inputs for my components and I don't
have space for more speakers.

Radio shack sells a passive inexpensive RCA switch box for less than
$17.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...tegory%5Fname=
CTLG%5F007%5F002%5F008%5F000&product%5Fid=42%2D211 2

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Thanks again!
Now I can get rid of one of my amps and free up some space.

mike


In article , (Todd H.) wrote:

Michael Graham writes:

Thanks VERY much!!! I'm in Canada and I found this:

http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Prod...uage=en-CA&pro
d
uct=4208412&category=Audio+Accessories&catalog=Rad ioShack

it's a 5 way splitter (?) and it's only $20 CDN (about $13 US)
Does this type of thing degrade sound significantly?

That'll do fine, I think. I'm assuming it has 5 stereo inputs and
one stereo output, and the switches just dictate which input heads to
the single output.

Degrade sound quality? Very little if at all. I'm sure there's some
high end audio freak who'd listen to it and swear it introduced a
phase non-linearity in the andante section of his favorite classical
piece, but the same can be said of an atmospheric change, or someone
making such a guy's dog bark during the finale of the 1812 overture.

It's a mechanical switch, so you're just making metal to metal contact
with some wires. At any rate this solution is vastly saner, safer and
superior to wiring two amplifiers to a given set of speakers. :-)
Enjoy!

Best Regards,

Kalman Rubinson writes:
On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 19:27:20 -0300, Michael Graham
wrote:


Thanks VERY much!!! I'm in Canada and I found this:

http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Prod...age=en-CA&prod
uct=4208412&category=Audio+Accessories&catalog=Ra dioShack

it's a 5 way splitter (?) and it's only $20 CDN (about $13 US)
Does this type of thing degrade sound significantly?

It may not do. First, it uses RCA, not proper speaker level
connections. Second, it does not say if it is stereo or only a single
channel. Third, since it seems to be a line-level device, the
switches may not be suitable for speaker-level amp outputs.

I suggest you find a standard speaker selector switch
(1amp-to-2speakers) and reverse wire it (1speaker-to-2amps).

Kal

Hi Kal,

You're correct, this switcher would be inappropriate for speaker use,
but you may have missed a portion of the thread that deviates the
solution from the Subject line.

Turns out the only reason Michael wanted to have two amps hooked to
one set of speakers is that he didn't have enough RCA inputs on either
one of the receivers to handle all of his components, so he pondered
having both receivers, but only turning the one on that was hooked to
the component of choice.

I'd suggested that instead of trying to work with two receivers and
risking all sorts of goofiness that could occur in that hookup, to
instead use just one receiver and expand the number of inputs on a
receiver by adding one of these RCA line level switching boxes to an
aux input of that recevier.

I've quoted the relevant bits below.

Michael wrote:
Neither of the amps has enough inputs for my components and I don't
have space for more speakers.

Todd wrote:
Radio shack sells a passive inexpensive RCA switch box for less than
$17.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...tegory%5Fname=
CTLG%5F007%5F002%5F008%5F000&product%5Fid=42%2D211 2

--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H
\ / | http://www.toddh.net/
X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/
/ \ http://www.toddh.net/netiquette/ | "4 lines suffice."

In article , Michael Graham wrote:

Thanks VERY much!!! I'm in Canada and I found this:

http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Prod...age=en-CA&prod
uct=4208412&category=Audio+Accessories&catalog=Ra dioShack

it's a 5 way splitter (?) and it's only $20 CDN (about $13 US)
Does this type of thing degrade sound significantly?


NO. This looks like a low level signal switch. This is not a speaker
switch.

greg