Speaker out to headphone out?

[paulkebab]

Hi guys, quite a few kits out there which use the speaker out terminals to supply a headphone socket. I was thinking of isolating the speakers using a twin relay arrangement ( Omron seem popular ) so I can use either or both. Has anyone used this way of getting a headphone socket from a non-socket amp or would advise against it..and why? Comments welcome.

 

[dalethorn]

Hi guys, quite a few kits out there which use the speaker out terminals to supply a headphone socket. I was thinking of isolating the speakers using a twin relay arrangement ( Omron seem popular ) so I can use either or both. Has anyone used this way of getting a headphone socket from a non-socket amp or would advise against it..and why? Comments welcome.

Just be careful that no component between amp power out and headphone can fail, in such a way as to feed power to the headphone that can damage your ears. Many consumer headphones, the Beyer DT1350 for example, can deliver 130 db to your ears.

 

[paulkebab]

that would be an absolute disaster. I was planning to use quite high value resistors in the unit in a series config to ensure a 'dead' output if anything fails, plus that would ensure a very low sound floor.

 

[dalethorn]

that would be an absolute disaster. I was planning to use quite high value resistors in the unit in a series config to ensure a 'dead' output if anything fails, plus that would ensure a very low sound floor.

If you build a good quality box, with swappable resistors, then you can experiment to find the best output levels with good dynamics and lowest noise. But be careful that you don't have unprotected wires and other things that pick up stray electronic and magnetic signal, which can lower the quality of your sound.