Question Speaker switch: two amps to one speaker? (For an odd A/V reason)

jwlawler

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I am familiar with speaker switches which allow multiple sets of speakers to be driven by one amp. I even have one of them. However, I have not seen a switch that allows one pair of speakers to be attached to two amps. Only one at a time, I don't expect or want both amps to drive the speakers at the same time.

The need is a little weird and other solutions might exist. I gave my son my old Onkyo 605 AVR when I upgraded it. He is now planning to buy a 5.1 speaker set to use with it. He has the TV at one end of the lounge, a desk at the other end, and the sofa for TV watching in between. He plans to put the rear speakers on the desk. He would like to use them as rears when watching TV but zone 2 for stereo when working at the desk. So, connected to the same amp in both cases but to different terminals. Connected to the surround terminals when acting as rears and to zone 2 terminals when acting as stereo alone.

I suggested that he bought an extra pair of speakers and put the surround back ones on the desk. They would then use the same terminals as zone 2 and they could be switched from one function to the other with settings in the amp rather than fiddling with the wires. He likes the idea but his budget does not support that yet. He would also need a pair of stands for the surround speakers. A feature of the current plan is that the desk acts as the stand.
 
Can you not just use the switch in reverse, so 2 inputs and one output
 
Can you not just use the switch in reverse, so 2 inputs and one output

If a typical speaker switch was just a simple switch then probably yes but I don't think that they are. Most offer Pair 1, Pair 2, or both. The one that I have supports 4 pairs of speakers in any combination from just one to all four. It doesn't simply connect them all in parallel as that would blow most amps.

So, there is clearly more inside the box than just a switch. Even ignoring this, I certainly don't want the "both" option; if accidentally used, that might route one output of the amp into another. I don't want to consider what that might do to the amp.
 
I just realised that he may need to rethink the whole plan. The Onkyo 605 will only send an analogue source to zone 2. This is one of the reasons that I upgraded it.
 
Pretty common for AVR Zone2 to only pass analogue Source devices - even on an ‘upgrade’ model.

Fiddling with speaker cables is ‘OK’ if you always remember to power off the AVR before you start messing around with the cables.

It would be interesting to see a layout plan as having the rear speakers (assuming you have a 7.1 system) on a desk would suggest they are way too close together.

I’d be doing a stand along desktop system - they don’t have to cost a fortune or take up much desk space, plenty of second hand bargains and or ‘pro’ audio desktop systems to consider.

Joe
 
Pretty common for AVR Zone2 to only pass analogue Source devices - even on an ‘upgrade’ model.

Fiddling with speaker cables is ‘OK’ if you always remember to power off the AVR before you start messing around with the cables.

It would be interesting to see a layout plan as having the rear speakers (assuming you have a 7.1 system) on a desk would suggest they are way too close together.

I’d be doing a stand along desktop system - they don’t have to cost a fortune or take up much desk space, plenty of second hand bargains and or ‘pro’ audio desktop systems to consider.

Joe

My office space has a small standalone system. Low budget but plenty good enough for music when working. Tannoy Mercury VR bookshelf speakers driven by an SMSL SA-36A. Source is either an iPod via a simple dock and the laptop via a USB sound card. In my case, the working space and the main A/V room are quite different so separate systems are required. For him, they are just different ends of the same room.

The son has the Onkyo 605 which is my cast off AVR. I now have a Denon X3200W which will pass any source to Zone 2.

He is on a budget and gradually enhancing his system. Nonetheless, I am encouraging independent systems.
 
My son just ‘borrowed’ my Flying Mole CA-S3 Integrated amp from my desktop system so now have to decide what to replace it with.

Joe
 

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