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Switching speakers between receivers

S

suprpntr

closet vintage stereo fan
What is the best way to switch speakers between receivers other than pull them and transfer them?

Do they make a relay? Or can a relay be made?

Reason is this; I have a couple vintage Marantz that I want to rotate around to keep them going as I have been advised by the experts.

Rather than have separate speakers for each, would be nice to have them on a rack, flip a switch, and have the unit I want to use start up.

Anyone done this or have other ideas?
 
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Lot's of different switcher boxes out there. I don't use them because I have speakers hooked to all my receivers/amps pretty much and I don't mind unhooking and rehooking the others up, BTW this also helps keep the connectors clean for a good connection as well, though you really should use 90% alcohol and pipe cleaners at least once a year anyway:yes: Some folks are even more anal about this and need to put the stereophile magazines down and see a professional:D

Craig
 
I've been toying with the same idea as I have more receivers than speakers. I have an Adcom speaker selector box that can switch between 3 sets of speakers, but that's just the opposite of what I need. I've thought of making a switching box with banana jacks and toggle switches but I'm not sure which is the best way to do this. I hope someone can chime in with some suggestions.
 
Switcheroo!

Howdy,jimbofish. You should be able to "reverse" the Adcom box- such as have three receivers hooked up to the "speaker" terminals- and one set of speakers to the "receiver" terminals. Unless this box contains sophisticated electronical guttiwuts, this should work. It would be a good idea to turn ALL receivers off before switching to prevent any potential cross-pollination.(i.e. shorting).


WARNING: Since I don't know the circuitry of this Adcom box, I do advise caution. If there are only switches inside, should be no problem. Please post model number of box, or just open it up to see what's inside.... a little research is probably in order....willhowl:scratch2:

PS: I did find a manual for Adcom GFS-300 switch box....no schematic...it DOES have load resistors....Anyone care to help this discussion?
 
You need to be careful. If you accidentally connect two powered receivers to the speakers at the same time you will most likely damage one or both receivers - instantly.

Therefore the switch should be break before make, meaning it should disconnect one receiver before connecting the other.

A multi-speaker switch allows more than one set of speakers to run from one amp. If you use this kind of switch backwards, the switch will allow you to connect more than one receiver to the speakers at the same time. That's a very bad thing.

You need a switch made specifically for the purpose: break before make and also only allow one receiver at a time. Else, damage will most likely happen.
 
I have a Russound AB-2.2 Dual Source switch box designed specifically for that purpose. It shuts one receiver off before it activates the other, driving the same set of speakers. Cheapest one I've seen is around 58 bucks. It is a special order item, well worth it because I don't have to worry about accidently having both receivers on at the same time into the same set of speakers. Just press a button and 1 receiver on, the other off and vice versa. It's a break before make.
 
Otherwise, you have to make sure you click OFF the button for the previous receiver before clicking the next one ON. That relies on your memory to be good every time. I've goofed up a couple of times with using a cheap Rat Shack speaker selector wired backwards, and it makes a wicked hum if both receivers are on. Yikes. No damage done in my case, but I certainly don't recommend it either.
 
It's a GFS-3. That idea occurred to me, but there is a 4th button labeled "Protection" that says "Engage when two or more speakers are selected". I presumed that this meant it has some kind of circuitry inside that keeps the total load from dropping too low, so I decided that was a bad idea to reverse connect it.
 
One idea I've been thinking about is a project box with pairs of banana jacks which would be connected internally to another set of banana jacks on the opposite side. Each connected pair would be labeled A, B, C or 1, 2, 3, etc.
Then some short lengths of speaker wire from each receiver would plug into the jacks one one end. The banana plugs from each speaker pair could then be plugged into the jacks on the other end for the desired receiver. It would require switching the speaker switches on the amps to off before changing connections. It wouldn't be instantaneous switching, but it would be more convenient than switching speaker wires behind the amps.

Anybody have any other thoughts on this? :scratch2:
 
Safety First!

Alright,jimbofish!!! Your "grove" of banana jacks sounds like a feasible idea. As long as they're not THIS type of banana :banana::banana::banana:

The more I thought about what I suggested(plus what the others said), I realized I was in left field on this one....oh well....discussion is GOOD.....


Later....willhowl....(one more):banana:
 
I was going to point to this idea from Calabashak
attachment.php


As discussed In this thread http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159185

But that would require reaching behind the receivers to actually switch wires-guess you'd make sure you had stuff turned off that way :D

let us know what you come up with
 
I have thought about this a number of times and the safest way I have been able to come up with would be a Jumper block where you have a small block that contains a set of jumpers in the female side there would be a pair of jacks for the speakers in the middle of two sets of jacks going to the receivers. To switch from one receiver to the other you would physically unplug the jumper block from one side of the female block and plug it into the side.

This way there would be no way for the receivers to ever see each other. It is basically the same as switching cables but in a compact quick system.
 
That would be a simplistic solution. By extending the cables from the amp to a more accessible location there wouldn't be any need to reach behind anymore. In effect it would be an extension speaker cable. Simple, but not elegant. Obviously they would all need labels to identify which was connected to what.
 
If I'm picturing your plan correctly, that was a variation of my idea I'd originally considered. I rejected that because it would actually double the number of banana jack and plugs required. Since good connectors aren't cheap, it seemed cost-prohibitive, to me at least.

Thinking further about it now, RCA jacks and plugs are cheaper and I could just use the center terminal for each speaker wire, ignoring the outer ground part. Sort of like a pre/main jumper with only one conductor.

Anyone see any drawbacks to this?
 
Browsing thru the catalogs for banana jacks, I've come across some dual plugs, where the red and black plugs are bonded together as one plug. Is there a standard for the spacing of these? That is, will those fit the jacks on any mainstream speaker, spacing-wise?
 
jimbofish said:
That would be a simplistic solution. By extending the cables from the amp to a more accessible location there wouldn't be any need to reach behind anymore. In effect it would be an extension speaker cable. Simple, but not elegant. Obviously they would all need labels to identify which was connected to what.
Click to expand...



Any kind of switch is going to be the same:

Amp >>>>cable>>>>
..............................switch>>>>cable >>>>speaker
Amp >>>>cable>>>>


Amp >>>>cable>>>>
.............................switch>>>>cable >>>>speaker
Amp >>>>cable>>>>

And depending on what stuff is in the switch the switch could have more stuff in the circuit path then a simple Jumper block.

I was planning on using RCA Jacks and Plugs for the one I have been thinking about building. So 2) amps 1)pr. speaker would require 6) Jacks and 4) plugs

I figure the whole block could be made to be about 1.5" X 3" my big problem is where to put the jumper block in my totally built in system.

I would like to be able to feed my Main speakers with both my SA-9100 based system and the H.H.Scott 233 tube amp system I'm going to be adding to the Living room.

I would also like to be able to feed my office speakers with the amp in the living room. The jumper here would have to be close to the speakers in the office. Now this location is one that would be really nice to have a relay switch so I could switch it from either of the two amps locations.

Oh well more stuff to think about and play with.
 
jimbofish said:
Thinking further about it now, RCA jacks and plugs are cheaper and I could just use the center terminal for each speaker wire, ignoring the outer ground part. Sort of like a pre/main jumper with only one conductor.

Anyone see any drawbacks to this?
Click to expand...
Not other than that they suck as speaker connectors.

Even 1/4" phone jacks do.

Mark W. said:
I would like to be able to feed my Main speakers with both my SA-9100 based system and the H.H.Scott 233 tube amp system I'm going to be adding to the Living room.

I would also like to be able to feed my office speakers with the amp in the living room. The jumper here would have to be close to the speakers in the office. Now this location is one that would be really nice to have a relay switch so I could switch it from either of the two amps locations.
Click to expand...
So, now we have tubes in the mix.

That means double-throw relays with load resistors substituting for the speakers when they are switched out....
 
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