RCA Switcher or Splitter? Recommendations?

[ppdl3]

Hello, esteemed forum! Newbie here who has put together a budget system that I love thanks to all of your help. So, thanks! I'm a teacher with many other hobbies, so while I'm happy to spend on quality, I can't get too crazy. Fortunately, I DIY in many ways, so I'm happy to hear suggestions in that realm. I'm putting together the final touches of the system (like it will ever be complete!) and had a question about routing via RCA.

First, let me describe the system. The idea is that I would like to have two amplifiers always set up, both powering the same Focal Towers. One is the Yamaha s701 (thanks for the measurements, Amir!), the other a '70s Marantz 2230. Why two? Well, I love the Marantz, especially emotional reasons as a family heirloom. It sounds great, but I don't want to use it as a daily driver and put too many miles on it, pllus... measurements. So, I have the Neohippo VU Meter to switch between amplifiers for speaker connection (and to look good while doing it), but I need to connect all of the inputs. I tried a several RCA switchers of poor quality from Amazon (Solupeak and others) and, unfortunately, I can hear crosstalk between input settings. The need is to split the outputs of a DAC and Phono Preamp to both amplifiers. So, I could get by with two splitters or a 2 in/ 2 out switcher. Ideally, though, 3 in/3 out would enable the ability to connect and try out new equipment.

Question 1: RCA Switcher or Splitter? Some thoughts:
- I tried researching and sometimes there are strong beliefs that there are issues with splitters (signal degradation, humming) and other times strong beliefs there should be no issue at all. But I found nothing definitive. Then, same thing for switchers, but maybe less negative?
- Splitter means fewer steps to music: There is no need to get up/fiddle with settings with splitters, which would be nice.
- Switcher offers room to play/expand: A 3 in 3 out switcher would provide the ability to try new equipment with ease (do 3 way splitters, with one not plugged in cause an issue?)

Question 2: Any specific product recommendations under $200?
- I'm leaning DIY here for high quality Elma switches and then point to point wiring. Recs on specific parts would be great
- But I've also found these. Any thoughts?
..... Imeixi RCA-44 (boasts high quality components, but can't find any info)
..... Vintage Sony AVR Switchers exist, like this one. Anyone have experience?
..... These look great, but hard to justify the price
..... What RCA splitters do you trust?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[early rejecter]

A third option: connect all of your sources to the Yamaha, and then connect the REC OUT from the Yamaha to the AUX input on the Marantz.

If the phono stage of the Marantz is audibly different from that of the Yamaha you’d be missing out on that since it’d be bypassed with this setup, and you won’t get the tactile pleasure of switching inputs on the Marantz since everything will be coming through the AUX input, but a clean solution otherwise.

 

[Ruhled]

I built a Bluetooth source switcher with cheap Amazon relays. I can select one of 8 analog sources and it routes the selected input to my Scarlet's adc.

It measures invisible via rew testing if do ground lifting on the seven unused input pairs. It's just a hair worse 2-3db if I leave all the grounds common so that's what I did to save a bunch of relays.

Relays don't seem to be an issue, at least. I wouldn't expect quality switches to either.

The decware box is likely a $10 solution in a $50 box marked up to $500. Avoid that stuff IMHO.

 

[BobWire]

Hello ppdl3,

I am Bob from a company called BobWire. I design and manufacture a variety of automatic audio switching devices. The model RCA1 will automatically switch between 2 audio sources by detecting when the audio starts to play. I also have the SPK1 for automatically switching speaker level audio (like 2 amps) and the XLR1 for automatically switching balanced audio sources. Amir just posted his testing of the XLR1. Check out bobwireaudio.com for more details.

It sounds like you want to switch more than 2 RCA audio sources. You could do that with multiple BobWire RCA1 units and it would be all automatic!

 

[Bond_007]

Hello ppdl3,

I am Bob from a company called BobWire. I design and manufacture a variety of automatic audio switching devices. The model RCA1 will automatically switch between 2 audio sources by detecting when the audio starts to play. I also have the SPK1 for automatically switching speaker level audio (like 2 amps) and the XLR1 for automatically switching balanced audio sources. Amir just posted his testing of the XLR1. Check out bobwireaudio.com for more details.

It sounds like you want to switch more than 2 RCA audio sources. You could do that with multiple BobWire RCA1 units and it would be all automatic!

Hi Bob

Do you have any similar device to switch mono/stereo to be installed between a turntable and a phono stage?

 

[BobWire]

Hi Bob

Do you have any similar device to switch mono/stereo to be installed between a turntable and a phono stage?

Hello Bond007,

I don’t make device that will allow you to switch back and forth from stereo to mono. Something to think about.

 

[mhardy6647]

Hello Bond007,

I don’t make device that will allow you to switch back and forth from stereo to mono. Something to think about.

This being ASR, I presume most posters here are unafraid of a little soldering!

I built one of these for a hifi friend & fellow traveler; design courtesy of "Wntrmute" at hifihaven.org

I built it in a little Hammond enclosure, in-line with a hyper-cheap stereo RCA cable.

Easy-peasy, mac and cheesy.

 

[Bond_007]

This being ASR, I presume most posters here are unafraid of a little soldering!

I built one of these for a hifi friend & fellow traveler; design courtesy of "Wntrmute" at hifihaven.org
View attachment 412116
I built it in a little Hammond enclosure, in-line with a hyper-cheap stereo RCA cable.

View attachment 412118

Easy-peasy, mac and cheesy.

Many thanks.
Easy to build indeed, but has to be done carefully. I do not want to have any issues amplifying LOMC.

 

[mhardy6647]

True enough. Put it on the output side of your phono preamp, if feasible(?).

 

[Bond_007]

True enough. Put it on the output side of your phono preamp, if feasible(?).

I cannot as I am using the XLR output.

 

[Ropeburn]

I cannot as I am using the XLR output.

Then you can "double" the circuit using a DTQP (dual throw quad pole) switch. You simply switch/mix four signal lines instead of two. In either case, better use high precision resistors (1% or even 0.1%) to avoid any meaningful channel imbalance.

 

[mhardy6647]

I cannot as I am using the XLR output.

Hmm...