[MayorSimpleton]

Two parts post this. First I just want to show off my first DIY project I built this primarily because I wanted to be able to switch easily between two inputs ( two different DACS ) as well as two outputs ( one headphone amp and a speaker amp ), but whats been really interesting has been actually playing around with the thing. Anyway - I've built a few of my own interconnects before, so I thought I'd have a go at building this thing myself. Even made up the hook-up wire myself... Bit of a soldering and wire routing nightmare, but it came out really I well think - works perfectly - I'm chuffed to bit with it!

The second part which has been a minor revelation - has been being able to flick instantly between various bits of kit / cables without having to constantly swap headphones, pull and swap various interconnects etc, and having to FF and RW through various tracks. I won't post what I've found for fear of causing a disturbance in the force, but lets just say that if you regularly find yourself testing and trying to compare various bits of kit - you should build yourself one of these things - it might end up saving you quite a bit of money.

Cool eh?! Now, what can I build next?!

 

[FraGGleR]

Most excellent! As soon as my rotary switches get in (cmon Mouser!) I will be attempting something similar, although I will have 4 inputs for the 2 outputs. Looking at your wiring, though, I think I might have to go with a bigger box than I originally planned.

 

[MayorSimpleton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FraGGleR /img/forum/go_quote.gif Most excellent! As soon as my rotary switches get in (cmon Mouser!) I will be attempting something similar, although I will have 4 inputs for the 2 outputs. Looking at your wiring, though, I think I might have to go with a bigger box than I originally planned.

Thanks!

The actual box size wasn't a problem as I could do all the soldering pretty much before putting it together. The difficult bit was the hook-up wire I used - it is very thick - unnecessarily so - I made it up by stripping down some ( really expensive! ) pure silver stranded speaker wire I had laying around. Nice idea, but very difficult to work with - hopefully yours will be easier!

 

[Llama16]

I'm very intersted in a similar project!
I'm currently having a 'to order' list ready for upcoming builds but I don't know with certainty which switches to use.

Which one did you use? Are 4PDT switches (ON-OFF-ON) just fine?

EDIT: Rotary switches would be even more suitable! But I'm only able to order parts from Farnell which don't come from stocks overseas (I'm from Europe, Belgium)

 

[MayorSimpleton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Llama16 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm very intersted in a similar project! I'm currently having a 'to order' list ready for upcoming builds but I don't know with certainty which switches to use. Which one did you use? Are 4PDT switches (ON-OFF-ON) just fine? EDIT: Rotary switches would be even more suitable! But I'm only able to order parts from Farnell which don't come from stocks overseas (I'm from Europe, Belgium)

Hi there, I used 2 x 4 pole double throw switches - exactly like these, which are 'ON' 'ON', and again unnecessarily overspecced, but as I'm putting connections in the signal path, I wanted the connections to be as good as possible.

 

[PJPro]

Here's an alternative approach. Clicky

 

[MayorSimpleton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PJPro /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here's an alternative approach. Clicky

S'funny - hadn't seen that before - that guy clearly set out to prove a point, whereas my objective was basically all about convenience. Still, he alludes to what I've been finding too albeit as a side-effect.

 

[ting.mike]

Thanks for sharing. More of us should have these A/B switches, since we like to compare different stuff.

 

[Evilcartman]

Talk about resurrecting a dead thread…
But could you please repost your pictures of the switch. It is exactly what I'm interested in making now as I want to test out different head amps.

Thanks.

 

[DingoSmuggler]

Talk about resurrecting a dead thread…
But could you please repost your pictures of the switch. It is exactly what I'm interested in making now as I want to test out different head amps.

Thanks.

OP last post was 2.5 years ago, so lets hope for some good luck to get those pics.
 
If you simply wish to test 2 amps from 1 source, in most cases a set of y-adaptors (RCA or mini) will do the trick flawlessly. If you wish to use multiple sources then a switch would be needed.

 

[Evilcartman]

I'm not sure I follow. Wouldn't splitting the source signal degrade it. If not I could split it and send it to both amps. Then use a single AB switch into the headphones. I don't want to muck about with plugging and unplugging. I want to gracefully be able to switch back-and-forth between my sources while I'm listening, With minimum of noise and interference.

 

[DingoSmuggler]

I'm not sure I follow. Wouldn't splitting the source signal degrade it.

The source won't really care as amplifier loads are such high impedance, and the signal integrity would be maintained with just a slight (tiny fraction of a dB) linear attenuation. Line level audio is just a transfer of a signal voltage, the amount of power transferred is tiny, less than 1mW.
 
Cable capacitance would increase due to the parallel connections, but shouldn't be an issue with cables of a sensible length (not really, really long).
 
But that said, some amps might not play nice being wired together though, you could get ground loops causing hum/interference.