[pummer]

OK. I have a stereo setup in my basement, with the "B" speakers located upstairs in my bedroom and connected via speaker wire run through the wall.

What I want to do is still be able to hear music from the basement receiver in my bedroom, but also be able to input other devices in my room onto the speakers in my room.

For this purpose, a friend gave me an early-90s Sony receiver. What I'm trying to do is connect the speaker wire that's currently run to my bedroom INTO the Sony receiver, along with some other devices, and then run new wire to the speakers located in my room. Since the Sony has RCA input only, I'm not sure how to accomplish this short of splicing ends onto the speaker wire.

Are there any other problems I should be aware of? Is dual amplification OK? Will my sound be distorted?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Gonz]

you should'nt connect two recievers to the same pair of speakers.
"dual amplification"

No.

Even if one reciever was off, while the other was playing, it's sending X amount of watts to a speaker terminal connecting not only speakers, but the *output* side of the other reciever... you want to send 100watts at that too?

If you're in the basement, use that stereo. When you go upstairs, use a different stereo.

 

[individual6891]

Oh my god, you're not even suggesting that.

What he's suggesting is running outputs from your basements AMP into another AMP's inputs which then powers the speakers?!?!?!

you WILL blow up your second amp if you do this!

 

[breez]

You need some resistors to make a voltage divider before the second amp. Otherwise the output of the first amp will overdrive the input of the second. The second amp shouldn't blow up in any case, it is impossible to drive any serious wattage into the input impedance of tens of kilo-ohms.

 

[pummer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonz you should'nt connect two recievers to the same pair of speakers. "dual amplification" No. Even if one reciever was off, while the other was playing, it's sending X amount of watts to a speaker terminal connecting not only speakers, but the *output* side of the other reciever... you want to send 100watts at that too? If you're in the basement, use that stereo. When you go upstairs, use a different stereo.

I'm not talking about connecting them in series. I'm talking about in parallel.

 

[pummer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by individual6891 Oh my god, you're not even suggesting that. What he's suggesting is running outputs from your basements AMP into another AMP's inputs which then powers the speakers?!?!?! you WILL blow up your second amp if you do this!

oh

thanks for the warning

 

[pummer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by breez You need some resistors to make a voltage divider before the second amp. Otherwise the output of the first amp will overdrive the input of the second. The second amp shouldn't blow up in any case, it is impossible to drive any serious wattage into the input impedance of tens of kilo-ohms.

I'm interested in doing this - I can fab a little box that both divides voltage and converts speaker wire to RCA. It'll be my summer project. Do you have any more info into the electronics of it all?

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

You need some resistors to make a voltage divider before the second amp.

Yes

A simple Speker level to line level adapter made with resistors.the ideal would be total isolation with a tranny but the resistor only method actually works well.
In fact I once whipped up a little device with resistor dividers and resitive mixing 5.1 HT Receiver and hooked the output to a headphone amp for headhone surround sound

Worked out better than planned and i used it for a while

BTW-this really belongs in "accessories" so I am moving it

 

[ooheadsoo]

Why don't you just go to radio shack and buy a pair of their 20' or 30' rca cables and hook up the components upstairs to your receiver/integrated amp downstairs?

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

Why don't you just go to radio shack and buy a pair of their 20' or 30' rca cables and hook up the components upstairs to your receiver/integrated amp downstairs?

not a good idea.

Thinking on this why not just add a speaker selector in reverse that chooses "System-A output" or "System-B output" to the speakers ?

 

[ooheadsoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 not a good idea. Thinking on this why not just add a speaker selector in reverse that chooses "System-A output" or "System-B output" to the speakers ?

It doesn't hurt as much as you'd think, especially if we're not talking about hifi here - and we're not. As long as you don't have any nasty stuff to tamper with your signal. I'm running a 20ft cable right now to get my computer away from my listening spot (won't be using this particular solution for long) but it definitely works.

The amp selector would work too, maybe Rick has some ideas on where to buy one or how to build one.

 

[pummer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ooheadsoo Why don't you just go to radio shack and buy a pair of their 20' or 30' rca cables and hook up the components upstairs to your receiver/integrated amp downstairs?

I thought of that, but the problem is that I have no easy way to run anything else through the walls. It's a finished basement.

 

[pummer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 not a good idea. Thinking on this why not just add a speaker selector in reverse that chooses "System-A output" or "System-B output" to the speakers ?

That's genius. The only thing I dislike about that idea is that I'd like to have a volume control knob up in the bedroom. But that's nitpicking, I can live without it and it'd be easy to wire anyway.

 

[episiarch]

I have the same need, and have been planning to buy this device:

http://www.smarthome.com/9725780.HTML

The SL-One permits one set of stereo speakers to be switched automatically between two stereo amplifiers, replacing manually operated A/B switches. This exclusive microprocessor-controlled system ensures precision timing and switching accuracy. Its dual relays handle music power levels up to 150 watts per channel, and isolated ground paths permit use of BTL amplifiers.

It looks like it's exactly the right thing, but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[pummer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch I have the same need, and have been planning to buy this device: http://www.smarthome.com/9725780.HTML The SL-One permits one set of stereo speakers to be switched automatically between two stereo amplifiers, replacing manually operated A/B switches. This exclusive microprocessor-controlled system ensures precision timing and switching accuracy. Its dual relays handle music power levels up to 150 watts per channel, and isolated ground paths permit use of BTL amplifiers. It looks like it's exactly the right thing, but I haven't tried it yet.

That would work extremely well, but I think it's a little too much for me. I'm alright with flipping a switch to pick which I want.