Splitting Tape out signal safely

dneu201

Well-Known Member
I have tried researching multiple forums to find the answer for my question and the feedback seems mixed. I built a Vacuum Tube Audio Sp-12 preamplifier from Tubes4Hifi a few months ago and I am trying to find the best way to hook up my gear. I have a Bottlehead Crack headphone amplifier that must be used out of the tape out, but I also have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 that I use to digitize my records that needs to be used from the tape out as well. Right now, I have the tape loop out to the Focusrite, then the output of the focusrite to the Bottlehead Crack. This setup works, but I have to make sure my computer is turned on in order to listen to devices going through the Focusrite when using headphones.

When building the SP-12 preamp, I learned the line signal is being split off of the switch input, so it is already being split once. Is it ok for me to use a Y-splitter again off of the tape out so I can have the Focusrite and headphone amp hooked up? I understand I will lose 3+ decibels but I can turn up the gain for each channel on the Focusrite and the volume on the Bottlehead.

Thanks!
 
dn: Well, actually, back in the day it was pretty usual that a line-level source signal was split into three branches, namely to the actual pre-amp input plus to two recorders - but of course it depends on the individual case. I.e., what one would usually like to ensure is that the combined input impedance of the receiving devices is stll roundabout ten times as high as the output impedance of the sending device, so that the intended "Spannungsanpassung" (I think in English that should be "impedance bridging" or "voltage bridging") still works out properly. And if that works out alright, there also should be no significant loss of level.

So, provided you've got the necessary specs, you should easily be able to determine, whether you'll have to expect problems or rather not. Probably the latter.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
My Sansui 1000A RECEIVER FM output is a tube (unlike the other sources that are just switched in to the tape output) and when connecting more than one tape recorder to it or using SOME SS recorders, the output level and tone quality would shift slightly, getting more "out of good sound" as more decks where added.

I fixed the problem by putting an IC unity gain preamp on that (tape) output and then driving all the recorders I wanted to.

Mark T. :music:
 
I believe the Crack has around 100k input impedance so its loading effect is minimal. The Focusrite appears to be 10k so in parallel with 100k the net is 9.09k. Not too much different than the Focusrite on its own.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom