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Is there such a thing as a clean speaker selector box?

don philipe said:
coulbefishin, Why would you sell your 2285b? I had mine recapped by Blaine,anAK member and had a beautiful wood case made for it by another AK member would never sell it.
I do like the ar2ax's but I'm still hunting for the 3a's that don't cost an arm and a leg.
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I am moving away from receivers to McIntosh separates. And, I currently have three Marantz receivers, the 2275 and 2325 have been rebuilt by AK member Catrafter, and the 2285B is the only one that I have not had rebuilt. If I had to do over again, I would have rebuilt the 2285B and kept it, instead of the 2325, as I prefer the way it looks and sounds. But when I was making that decision, I needed the extra wattage that the 2325 provided. The 2325 is rated at 150 wpc but after Cartrafter rebuilt it and tested it, it now puts out 175+ wpc.

Since then I have purchased a Mac MC452 with 450 wpc, so I don't have a power shortage any longer for my JBL L150s.

My 2285B has a wood cabinet, is in excellent cosmetic condition, and the only thing that is not working on it, is the blue light on the signal strength meter. I bought it from the original owner about 5 years ago and have not used it often, since I had three Marantz receivers, a vintage set of Mac components, and several misc brands of tube preamps and amps.. So the 2285B is all original equipment. All I have ever done to it is clean the tuner. Now it works great.

I have been wondering if I should sell the 2285B through Barter Town or eBay. I am not sure how many Marantz enthusiasts there are on AK.

What do you think?

And, back to the purpose of this thread, I need to get upstairs and figure out why I am getting this popping noise from the speaker selector.

Thanks,
Couldbfishin
 
There are plenty of Marantz heads on the forum.I for one. Although I don't need another reciever, Have two 2275's and my 2285b.
You should'nt have any trouble selling it as long as the price is fair. Can't help you with the popping noise.Check all your connections. I would think it's probably some other component. Good luck with the McIntosh gear,you are moving up.
 
ic-racer said:
How can you tell it is the selector and not the speaker being auditioned?
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That is a very good question. I have found only one selector box so far that that does not 'discolor' the sound of the speakers. It is the JEC selector box at the bottom of the stack in the photos above. I use it to switch back and fourth between two amplifiers and two speakers in my "audio room" where I work on equipment. It has no protection circuit, and no volume controls. Very simple. And, it has banana plug connections, which I find convenient to use. If I bought another speaker selector box (which would be number 6), I would purchase this same JEC model but for four rather than two sets of speakers. I would NOT buy another box with volume controls, protection, or a box that allows two or more speakers to play simultaneously.

The box you see in the photos, in a TV cabinet and labeled with the four sets of speakers wired through it, is the selector box I am using now. I wire the four sets of speakers from the receiver, through the box then to the speakers. All speakers played through the current box have the distorted or discolored sound, Then, I wire the speakers directly to the receiver and they sound clean and nice.

Over this past weekend, I also turned the volume up and heard some nasty loud popping starting at half volume on the receiver. It happens with all four sets of speakers wired through the speaker selector box. Then, when the box is removed from the line, and the speakers are wired directly to the receiver, the popping goes away at a similar volume, and even louder volume.

I am about to give up on this project and just test the speakers without a speaker selector. It is a lot more hassle to connect and disconnect each set of speakers, but it is the only way I have found to eliminate the affect of the selector boxes on the sound of the speakers. And, it does affect the sound of all speakers not just any one or two pair. So, I don't think it is anything wrong with the four pairs of speakers. None of the speakers wired through the speaker selector sound as good as they do when wired directly to the receiver.

I am not sure what is different for me, than for those who say their selectors don't discolor the sound of their speakers. But I don't need to spend any more money or time trying to find a solution. I want to get about listening to my speakers wired directly to the solid state receiver, and probably later to tube separates preamp/amp.

I appreciate all the input and suggestions.
 
xero-D-hero said:
So do tell,which ones have you used so far?
Or would you prefer we list off a bunch of them so you can shoot us down by telling us one by one that you've tried that one already ???
Sorry 'bout that,I guess that might come off sounding a bit snarky,it really was'nt meant that way @ all,twas a lame attempt at sarcasm.
It's getting kinda late I guess.

FYI the GFS-300 (3 pairs of speakers) & GFS-600 (6 pairs of speakers) both have 5 way binding posts and NOT those twist loc connectors the GFS-3 & GFS-6 use.
Also their GFS-4 uses 5 way binding posts as well.

The Adcoms are typically rated to 200wpc so they can be used with their 200wpc GFA-555 amps.
The GFS-4 is rated for power peaks up to 1000wpc.

Of course if using the "protection" feature you wanna be careful and not max out the volume knob running multiple pairs at once.
As doing so will heat the unit up and can lead to a failure,but that's not a design flaw,that's just the box doing it's job.

Me,I use the Adcom speaker switches.
Have a GFS-3 and a GFS-600 in service and have zero complaints with them.
I never use the protect feature,as I only run one pair of speakers at any given time.

Have'nt ever noticed any SQ difference either.
But I freely admit the systems I use them in may not be the most resolving of systems out there.
Though IME I tend to feel if there is any affect on the SQ,it HAS to br pretty miniscule IMHO.

FWIW ~ HTH

Bret P.
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Question about your Adcoms - when you press the button to switch speakers, does it automatically deselect the speakers you were listening to?
 
I have a couple of old Switchcraft speaker selectors that have no "amplifier protection" built in. They work fantastic.
 
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