Is this product out there or have i made it up??? :s

[admin_exported]

Hi there,
I would like to use my hifi and home cinema system with the same main speakers.
I would like to have the systems completely independant but not have to change speaker wires or cables round when im finnished watching a dvd and want to listen to a cd!
Is there somekind of device out there (preferably remote controlled) that would accept speaker wire from my hifi and speaker wire from my reciever and let me select to listen to one system or the other?
I would like to hear from anyone who can understand this.
I dealy the device would not hinder performance of any of the systems.
Thank you

 

[Lost Angeles]

paolucio:Hi there, I would like to use my hifi and home cinema system with the same main speakers. I would like to have the systems completely independant but not have to change speaker wires or cables round when im finnished watching a dvd and want to listen to a cd! Is there somekind of device out there (preferably remote controlled) that would accept speaker wire from my hifi and speaker wire from my reciever and let me select to listen to one system or the other? I would like to hear from anyone who can understand this. I dealy the device would not hinder performance of any of the systems. Thank you

The usual way to do this is to use the front pre-outs from your A/V receiver to feed into a spare way on your HiFi amplifier then when you listen to surround your Hifi amp feeds the front speakers and the surround amp feeds other speakers. When you play CDs only your Hifi amp needs to be switched on. Andrew has explained this on here before. Someone may come on soon linking a thread to that as it may explain better than i have.

Someone may come on though and say you can do what you want and then I've wasted my time typing this in.

 

[John Duncan]

Yup, perfect explanation - what receiver do you have (to check if it has preouts)?

 

[Anonymous]

I have tried this before. It worked but it was not perfect - I couldn't use my Hi-Fi pre-amp. So now I have settled on two pairs of speakers - one for AV and one for Hi-Fi.

 

[Big Chris]

I used to have a box of tricks that had a pair of speaker inputs, and two pairs of speaker outputs, and a rocker switch that let you select one pair of speakers or the other.

I don't see why you couldn't wire it backwards, so the single input becomes a single output to your pair of speakers, this obviously leaves you with a couple of pairs of inputs, one Hi-fi, one A/V.

If you blow anything up though, I'll deny everything.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

ST Chan:I have tried this before. It worked but it was not perfect - I couldn't use my Hi-Fi pre-amp. So now I have settled on two pairs of speakers - one for AV and one for Hi-Fi.

Another option (not as good as the pre out one - what do you mean it didn't work perfectly?) is something like the Niles Audio DPS1. You connect your speaker wire directly to the Niles (which is passive - no remote) which has, if I remember rightly, input A (stereo amp) and B (AV receiver). You then click speaker A or speaker B.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yup, what Mr Snails said. If you use any other kind of switchbox you need to make sure it completely isolates the two amps from each other, so you can connect them both. Otherwise things tend to go bang.

That's where using a 'one amp two sets of speakers' box may go wrong - most of them let you select both pairs of speakers if you want, which could be disastrous, and expensive, if the box is used 'back to front' to connect two amps to one set of speakers

 

[Big Chris]

Andrew Everard:
Yup, what Mr Snails said. If you use any other kind of switchbox you need to make sure it completely isolates the two amps from each other, so you can connect them both. Otherwise things tend to go bang.

That's where using a 'one amp two sets of speakers' box may go wrong - most of them let you select both pairs of speakers if you want, which could be disastrous, and expensive, if the box is used 'back to front' to connect two amps to one set of speakers

.....Hence the disclaimer........

 

[Anonymous]

The pre-out solution is not perfect because the AV amp is being used as a pre-amp. It doesn't make sense to me to spend thousands of dollars on a good CD player, a good stereo amp, a good pair of speakers, good power cords and good interconnects and then subject your music to an AV amp (whose pre-amp component must be very ordinary, I think). But I must admit that I am new to HiFi and please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I think you've misunderstood. The whole idea is that all your non-video sources only go through the stereo amplifier, and the AV amp/receiver is out of circuit when playing music.

 

[fr0g]

ST Chan:The pre-out solution is not perfect because the AV amp is being used as a pre-amp. It doesn't make sense to me to spend thousands of dollars on a good CD player, a good stereo amp, a good pair of speakers, good power cords and good interconnects and then subject your music to an AV amp (whose pre-amp component must be very ordinary, I think). But I must admit that I am new to HiFi and please correct me if I'm wrong.

As Andrew says...

The stereo speakers are connected to your stereo amp, not the AV amp. The CD player is connected to your stereo amp, not the AV amp. The AV amp can be switched off entirely while you play music.

The only speakers connected to your stereo amp, are the surrounds. The only sources connected to yoour AV amp are your DVD, BluRay etc...

The AV preout to stereo line in simply sends the front pair signal to your stereo amp, while you are watching DVD etc.(You select the source on the stereo amp that the AV amp is connected to, for AV playback)

It works beautifully, and avoids the need for 2 sets of speakers, or a rather dangerous switching mechanism.

This is one reason why many people who value music over AV (like me), will always buy an AV receiver that has stereo preouts.

 

[Anonymous]

It's getting a bit confusing to me. I just tried the pre-out connection again ie. connecting the pre-out of my Denon 2105 AV amp to my power amp (Vincent SP-T100). Firstly, my stereo pre-amp (Vincent SA-T1) is definitely out of the circuit! Secondly, I can control the volume of the music from the AV amp - so how can it be out of circuit?

 

[Anonymous]

Do you mean the pre-out of the AV amp should be connected to an input of the stereo pre-amp instead of directly to the power amp?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes, exactly. See John Duncan's explanation here.

 

[Xanderzdad]

I am using this system myself - and it works great.

My Musical Fidelity [MF] 3.2 CD connects to my MF 3.2 amp as normal and my Monitor Audio floor standers are connected to the MF amp also (all as normal).

I then have my AV system (Denon DVD, Denon AV receiver and SkyHD) connected up competely seperately as per normal - except for one twist. Instead of connecting my floor standers to the AV amp i just run a pre out connection from the AV amp to the pre-amp inputs on my MF amp.

When listening to CD's the entire AV system is out of the loop. When listening to DVD's I use the AV system as normal and just switch on the MF amp as well. The MF amp provides the power amp for the front speakers only - everything else is powered entirely by the AV amp (i.e. the sub woofer, centre speaker and 4 surround speakers). This plus the 2 floor standers makes a full 7.1 system.

As I am only using the power amp section of my MF amp then the volume is controlled by the AV amp, making calibration etc a doddle and I don't have to worry about the volume setting on the MF amp at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you everybody, I got it now. Now my movie/music room is less cluttered and I have an extra pair of speakers for my bedroom.