Anyone know of a high quality speaker switch box thats out there so I can hook up my system (NAC102/NAP250) to 2 or 3 sets of speakers. I know this degrades the sound quality, but this is for a secondary system that will be used in a more casual manner rather than critical listening.

Arthur Bye

Hi,

Years ago I had some speakers in the kitchen connected to the amps output with stacking plugs with a double pole light switch in series, so when it was on the speakers where in parallel with the main ones. It worked o/k that's just about the least invasive way to add extra speakers but don't add more than one pair because the impedance might get to low.

pete

Arthur,

Several months ago at my wife’s request I added two pairs of outdoor speakers to my main system. I spoke with my dealer and he recommended that I use a speaker switchbox/volume control made by Niles Audio. In addition I was fortunate to have a spare 140 and the current setup allows me to run my main speakers with a pair of 135s and the outdoor speakers with the 140.

I was quite skeptical at first but this configuration works quite nicely. It is an amazing thing to be able to pass from the front yard through the house and out to the back yard with the same music playing.

Michael

Michael: Doesn't this mean you're running both amps at once? what do you do if you just want to hear one set of speakers and not the other? This actually could work for me as I have a spare old style 250 I could use. Need a way to turn them on and off though. Unplugging the speakers would be too much of a pain.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous: A double pole switch sounds interesting, but it's gotta have an adverse effect on the sound quality. It's certianly cheap enough but you've gotta be adding extra resistance to the circuit with the brass contacts. A mercury switch, if I could find one, might work better, but it's still going to mess things up.

Isn't there anything out there better than a niles switchbox?

Arthur Bye

Hi,

Well the switch is only in the extension speaker circuit so it shouldn't affect the main speakers, and you could use a 45 Amp shower switch that will handle the power no problem, it will cope with a 8 or 9 kW shower so it must have a very low resistance, or it would get very hot with 36 Amps flowing through it. I now use a NAIT 1 for the kitchen fed from my main system, but then you have a long signal cable to worry about!!!.

pete

Arthur,

I leave both amps on all the time. The switch box has volume controls for both sets of outdoor speakers. I simple turn down the volume on the outdoor speakers when I only require music in the house. The switchbox also allows one to turn off either of the speakers it is driving. You just need to be carefull that if the amp driving the switchbox is on that you don't turn off both sets of speakers. This is why I just turn down the volume.

Michael

Michael:

Thanks for the information. It sounds like it can do what I'm looking for. Think I'll try out the Niles switchbox setup and hope that the sound degradation is minimal.

Arthur Bye