RCA Switcher for Multiple Amps

[r8f1k]

Question: So, I would like to set up my amps and receivers and hooked to the same speakers. Right now I have around 4-5 units, but I have a few others in mind for the future. I know there are some new Chinese 8 port RCA units to switch on and off amps at will. Are there better made vintage units? Any good plans for building your own? I like nice heavy units.

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[Ian C.]

niles makes a vintage version, i regret the new chinese version i got
I'd look into Mackie Big Knob and have Blue Jeans Cable make you some custom terminated cables.
else i got a cheap chinese version with like a half hour use for you

 

[bowtie427ss]

Rare vintage units.

Sony ASS-3335 or SB-5335

Pioneer U24

 

[r8f1k]

Rare vintage units.

Sony ASS-3335 or SB-5335

Pioneer U24

Those are awesome units

 

[r8f1k]

If one were to want to build their own system selector, what are the recommendations for a case? Does anyone carry blank chassis and face plates?

 

[Butler]

These are my DIY offerings, not vintage looking but it was functionality that I wanted. Not heavy but you can determine that by the casing you decide to use

4 in to 4 x out still using



1 in 4 out or vice versa, this was to use with a turntable, hence the earthing/grounding post, but didn't quite work, the vintage amps didn't seem to like it.



The amps then fed into a speaker switcher.

Not hard to put together, just finding the right decent rotary switches.

 

[quentello]

Here is a link for the Sony 3335 switcher manual, it have lots of info on the guts in the unit and could help in your build your DYI unit,, https://www.manualslib.com/download/3319572/Sony-Sb-3335.html

 

[drabina]

I built one back in the days. Wasn't switching RCA inputs but was switching speaker cables. Multiple amps (speaker wires) went to the switch and one set of speaker cables went to the speakers I had. The rotary switch was break before make so safe for solid state but not for tube amps (unless you have the amps turned off). The switch worked great until I was able to afford more speakers so no longer needed it.

 

[quentello]

I built one back in the days. Wasn't switching RCA inputs but was switching speaker cables. Multiple amps (speaker wires) went to the switch and one set of speaker cables went to the speakers I had. The rotary switch was break before make so safe for solid state but not for tube amps (unless you have the amps turned off). The switch worked great until I was able to afford more speakers so no longer needed it.

Before I had the Sony I had an extra Aux box switcher as most units only have one or two Aux plugs so I could have several units plugged into one receiver aux plug, and had a speaker relay switching boxes with a relay and circuit protector so it wouldn`t go under 4 ohm so I could run several sets of speakers or one at a time,, I now have three power units, Luxman L100, Pioneer SX1250 and a Mitsubishi DA rack system so I needed something to switch between all the amps/receivers and multiple decks,cd players, streaming blue tooth and turntables. The Sony is a dream once you figure out how to plug all the cords in ! OMG there are a lot ! LOL,, but those little boxes before that were great and you can pick them up cheap on Ebay,, The Sony is nice as now I can addition all my amps/receiver and the various sound sources without switching patch cords,, It`s a good looking unit also that people comment on because of all the buttons !! LOL

 

[62caddy]

I can only imagine the spaghetti hanging off the back of one of those.

 

[glend123]

Before I had the Sony I had an extra Aux box switcher as most units only have one or two Aux plugs so I could have several units plugged into one receiver aux plug, and had a speaker relay switching boxes with a relay and circuit protector so it wouldn`t go under 4 ohm so I could run several sets of speakers or one at a time,, I now have three power units, Luxman L100, Pioneer SX1250 and a Mitsubishi DA rack system so I needed something to switch between all the amps/receivers and multiple decks,cd players, streaming blue tooth and turntables. The Sony is a dream once you figure out how to plug all the cords in ! OMG there are a lot ! LOL,, but those little boxes before that were great and you can pick them up cheap on Ebay,, The Sony is nice as now I can addition all my amps/receiver and the various sound sources without switching patch cords,, It`s a good looking unit also that people comment on because of all the buttons !! LOL

Looks like the limit is 6 speakers, can you add another switcher downstream for 3 more?
Also, if you have 9 receivers for instance, where do you plug those extra ones into?

 

[peterp1]

Question: So, I would like to set up my amps and receivers and hooked to the same speakers. Right now I have around 4-5 units, but I have a few others in mind for the future. I know there are some new Chinese 8 port RCA units to switch on and off amps at will. Are there better made vintage units? Any good plans for building your own? I like nice heavy units.

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Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Conmutador AV Compuesto De 8 ENTRADAS Y 2 SALIDAS 3 RCA Video L / R Audio at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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Apologies if I missed something, but I'm really confused about the initial question. The bigger challenge with multiple amplifiers and one set of speakers would be to do the speaker switching between amps rather than the RCA input switching. I don't think it's a good idea to wire the amps in parallel to the speakers, even if only one amp is on at a time, you'd really want a speaker switch to control which amp drives the speakers (sorry if you discussed this and I missed it).

For the RCA inputs, it seems like a better solution would be an "active RCA 1 to 8 (or whatever) splitter" that would allow you to drive all the amp inputs in parallel. Then you'd always have the same signal at all amps and you would only need the speaker switch to select which amp is driving the speakers at any given time (instead of having to do a second step of manually redirecting the RCA input). You could use RCA "Y" splitter cables to drive 2 or 3 amps, but not for the number of amps you want to grow to. An active splitter seems like a solution that is far easier to use by essentially eliminating any need to do RCA switching.

Of course, If you needed to be able to switch sources, from CD to WiiM for example, for all the amps, you could put an RCA switch before the active splitter to change sources easily, but you wouldn't need to do a second set of switching to dictate which amp you want the RCA signal to be routed to.

At a glance, it looks like something like the device could feed the RCA to up to 8 amps in parallel. I haven't looked to see if there are higher quality versions of this type of device (but the Amazon reviews seem to be quite good for those using them in audio systems).

Amazon.com: DTECH Powered 8 Way 3 RCA Splitter Box 1 in 8 Out Composite Video Audio Distribution Duplicator with Power Adapter Compatible with TV Projector Receiver Gaming Console Video Capture Card : Electronics

Amazon.com: DTECH Powered 8 Way 3 RCA Splitter Box 1 in 8 Out Composite Video Audio Distribution Duplicator with Power Adapter Compatible with TV Projector Receiver Gaming Console Video Capture Card : Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[quentello]

I can only imagine the spaghetti hanging off the back of one of those.

It really isn`t that bad,,, in and out for each playback and record,, the amps run sound out to the selector through there speaker output and all inputs go into the amps through Tape monitor,, turntables go through the Sony then back to the phono input on the amps.

 

[quentello]

Looks like the limit is 6 speakers, can you add another switcher downstream for 3 more?
Also, if you have 9 receivers for instance, where do you plug those extra ones into?

You certainly could,, it could be unlimited,, thats the easy part, the play input and playback and easy switching between amps is where this unit shines,,

 

[quentello]

Apologies if I missed something, but I'm really confused about the initial question. The bigger challenge with multiple amplifiers and one set of speakers would be to do the speaker switching between amps rather than the RCA input switching. I don't think it's a good idea to wire the amps in parallel to the speakers, even if only one amp is on at a time, you'd really want a speaker switch to control which amp drives the speakers (sorry if you discussed this and I missed it).

For the RCA inputs, it seems like a better solution would be an "active RCA 1 to 8 (or whatever) splitter" that would allow you to drive all the amp inputs in parallel. Then you'd always have the same signal at all amps and you would only need the speaker switch to select which amp is driving the speakers at any given time (instead of having to do a second step of manually redirecting the RCA input). You could use RCA "Y" splitter cables to drive 2 or 3 amps, but not for the number of amps you want to grow to. An active splitter seems like a solution that is far easier to use by essentially eliminating any need to do RCA switching.

Of course, If you needed to be able to switch sources, from CD to WiiM for example, for all the amps, you could put an RCA switch before the active splitter to change sources easily, but you wouldn't need to do a second set of switching to dictate which amp you want the RCA signal to be routed to.

At a glance, it looks like something like the device could feed the RCA to up to 8 amps in parallel. I haven't looked to see if there are higher quality versions of this type of device (but the Amazon reviews seem to be quite good for those using them in audio systems).

Amazon.com: DTECH Powered 8 Way 3 RCA Splitter Box 1 in 8 Out Composite Video Audio Distribution Duplicator with Power Adapter Compatible with TV Projector Receiver Gaming Console Video Capture Card : Electronics

Amazon.com: DTECH Powered 8 Way 3 RCA Splitter Box 1 in 8 Out Composite Video Audio Distribution Duplicator with Power Adapter Compatible with TV Projector Receiver Gaming Console Video Capture Card : Electronics

www.amazon.com

I am not sure that is what you need,, that only allows one input and is meant for video gaming and such. Multiple amps and one set of speakers is a bit more involved i would think,, that is more then the three the Sony could handle,, And what about the play input ? Will you have a CD player for each amp? Multiple Turntables etc ? With the Sony or other like switcher you can share each of the players to each of the amps,,,, I have three turntables , two CD players, a cassette deck and a reel to reel that I can share to each amp,, I have more of those I will add later,,, What I like is each amp has a different sound and love to switch between them,, My Luxman is rich and smooth,, the Pioneer is a bit brighter and the Mitsubishi is in-between,,

 

[peterp1]

I am not sure that is what you need,, that only allows one input and is meant for video gaming and such. Multiple amps and one set of speakers is a bit more involved i would think,, that is more then the three the Sony could handle,, And what about the play input ? Will you have a CD player for each amp? Multiple Turntables etc ? With the Sony or other like switcher you can share each of the players to each of the amps,,,, I have three turntables , two CD players, a cassette deck and a reel to reel that I can share to each amp,, I have more of those I will add later,,, What I like is each amp has a different sound and love to switch between them,, My Luxman is rich and smooth,, the Pioneer is a bit brighter and the Mitsubishi is in-between,,

That's why I'm confused about the whole topic. The "hard part" is switching the single set of speakers between multiple amps/receivers, but how that is handled doesn't seem to be discussed in the original question posted. The "easy part" is routing the source line-level to all amps, which could be done with a wired RCA splitters for 2-3 amps -- but would need the active splitter to work well for the 4+ amps he wants to do.

As I mentioned in my prior post, if you need to switch between multiple sources, you'd just put a RCA switchbox before the active splitter (the RCA switch output is connected to the input of the active 1-to-8 active splitter). You'd only need a switch big enough for the number of source components.

The entire discussion seems like it needs to be about how to switch amps for one set of speakers. The RCA switch doesn't help solve that problem at all. But for the RCA solution, having a 1x8 RCA switch in reverse to manually route the signal to each amp is not ideal (because you'd have to switch both the speaker selector and the RCA switch at the same time to move between amps -- kind of hard to compare amp sound quality when you have to be focused on moving two different selectors at the same time to switch between amps).

That Sony switcher is extremely cool BTW -- just doesn't seem to have enough capacity to do what he wants to do.

 

[quentello]

That's why I'm confused about the whole topic. The "hard part" is switching the single set of speakers between multiple amps/receivers, but how that is handled doesn't seem to be discussed in the original question posted. The "easy part" is routing the source line-level to all amps, which could be done with a wired RCA splitters for 2-3 amps -- but would need the active splitter to work well for the 4+ amps he wants to do.

As I mentioned in my prior post, if you need to switch between multiple sources, you'd just put a RCA switchbox before the active splitter (the RCA switch output is connected to the input of the active 1-to-8 active splitter). You'd only need a switch big enough for the number of source components.

The entire discussion seems like it needs to be about how to switch amps for one set of speakers. The RCA switch doesn't help solve that problem at all. But for the RCA solution, having a 1x8 RCA switch in reverse to manually route the signal to each amp is not ideal (because you'd have to switch both the speaker selector and the RCA switch at the same time to move between amps -- kind of hard to compare amp sound quality when you have to be focused on moving two different selectors at the same time to switch between amps).

That Sony switcher is extremely cool BTW -- just doesn't seem to have enough capacity to do what he wants to do.

So I`ve been thinking about this for awhile and maybe we are over thinking this. Why could you not use a simple multiple speaker switching box/unit and use it backwards? Like running the "in" main as "out" and all the other "out" speaker connections as "in" ? They should be just a simple in/out switch in the unit . Ones with speaker protection would have to be looked into to see if the current could flow in reverse. I have several types, some with some without that I used until I got the Sony. I don`t need more than the 5 speaker switches on it. like this Pyle for instance,, https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Sel...phy=109652&hvtargid=pla-4584138857801205&th=1

 

[quentello]

That's why I'm confused about the whole topic. The "hard part" is switching the single set of speakers between multiple amps/receivers, but how that is handled doesn't seem to be discussed in the original question posted. The "easy part" is routing the source line-level to all amps, which could be done with a wired RCA splitters for 2-3 amps -- but would need the active splitter to work well for the 4+ amps he wants to do.

As I mentioned in my prior post, if you need to switch between multiple sources, you'd just put a RCA switchbox before the active splitter (the RCA switch output is connected to the input of the active 1-to-8 active splitter). You'd only need a switch big enough for the number of source components.

The entire discussion seems like it needs to be about how to switch amps for one set of speakers. The RCA switch doesn't help solve that problem at all. But for the RCA solution, having a 1x8 RCA switch in reverse to manually route the signal to each amp is not ideal (because you'd have to switch both the speaker selector and the RCA switch at the same time to move between amps -- kind of hard to compare amp sound quality when you have to be focused on moving two different selectors at the same time to switch between amps).

That Sony switcher is extremely cool BTW -- just doesn't seem to have enough capacity to do what he wants to do.

So I`ve been thinking about this for awhile and maybe we are over thinking this. Why could you not use a simple multiple speaker switching box/unit and use it backwards? Like running the "in" main as "out" and all the other "out" speaker connections as "in" ? They should be just a simple in/out switch in the unit . Ones with speaker protection would have to be looked into to see if the current could flow in reverse. I have several types, some with some without that I used until I got the Sony. I don`t need more then the 5 speaker switches on it

 

[Gigantic]

I've done this in the past with one of these, it's advertised as a switcher for multiple amps and a single set of speakers, or for multiple speakers and a single amp- take you pick. I am about to make a custom switch to go between my multi-amped 2-channel setup with 6 amps and my AVR, with just two inputs, all speaker line level, same concept as the Solupeak P2, just more inputs and outputs and a much bigger, 6pdt switch.

 

[lms]

I run this with one DAC. I have two amps and two sets of speakers that I can switch back and forth with. But I do not do this on the fly like some do. My room is not huge so If I want to listen to one system, I need to move that set of speakers into position. Both sets of speakers are set to their specific amp/preamp and I know which sounds best together, so no need to switch from one amp/preamp to another set of speakers., etc

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089FX2NRR?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3&th=1

Then comes this......This allows me to use an extra set of bookshelf speakers and a sub connected to one of the amps. Once again, I do not switch back and forth on the fly. If I want to listen to the bookshelf system, I move the sub and bookshelves into position. Everything is housed in my old Grundig majestic, except one of the tube preamps that has to sit on top. In other words, you do see anything except the preamp.

https://www.amazon.com/NEOHIPO-Amplifier-Speaker-Switcher-Display/dp/B0CLP33P5D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3O0LJ3WXAFZBP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.59g4zsZ9Q3TVuTAe3qPN3KeK9tpFEQX8-JUoNQjBw_M.JJVrTP6w4gOfEWH9ovZbQbxKvJDGrT1PtMEnIeMuUDQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=neohipo+et30&qid=1775813519&sprefix=neohip%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1

Yea, yeah, yeah, all this stuff in the chain does not concern me as I do not have trained ears and listen to hard rock.