Ok, so this might be kind of simple -- but it was a triumph for me. I wanted to figure out how to send the source from my upstairs system to my downstairs system -- I wanted to be able to put on a cd in the upstairs system and hear it on the down stairs system --

Initially I tried to figure out how to connect the two receivers but the distance between them was too far. So I just went with the speaker A/speaker B scenario. The upstairs receiver has one pair of speakers connected on speaker A, so I could run speaker wires downstairs using speaker B.

The tricky part for me was figuring out how to switch the speakers between the upstairs receiver and the downstairs receiver. Upstairs is running with speaker A+B downstairs is running with just the speakers that are down there.

Here's how I did it. Using a three way toggle switch for each speaker I soldered the wire going to the speaker to the center pair; I soldered the wires coming down from the upstairs receiver to the left side of the toggle and the wires coming from the downstairs receiver to the other side -- so each toggle has upstairs/speaker/downstairs

When I want to hear what is playing on the upstairs system I set the toggle to direct the sound from the upstairs system to the speakers.

When I just want to listen downstairs I set the toggle to direct the sound from the downstairs receiver to the speakers.

With this speaker switch I can put an LP on my TT upstairs and enjoy it both upstairs and downstairs. It also helps with keeping all the cds in one room -- instead of having to drag the cds to the downstairs system when I want to listen I can just play it on the main upstairs system and still enjoy it downstairs.

minor drawback:
no volume control on the downstairs system -- I can only adjust volume on the upstairs (host) system... here's where connecting two amps would be a better solution to sharing/redirecting sound to speakers....

Any chance of adding an inline volume control for the downstairs ones? Would solve the one problem. As long as it was a decent one, it should not muddy the sound too much.

yeah, that's what I was thinking, but with an inline volume control you still couldn't make it louder than what the host was already set to, right? You couldn't increase the volume beyond what was coming from the upstairs system -- right?

yeah, that's what I was thinking, but with an inline volume control you still couldn't make it louder than what the host was already set to, right? You couldn't increase the volume beyond what was coming from the upstairs system -- right?

Yeah, you could cut the volume, but not increase it.

Chance of no load on the receiver (upstairs? downstairs? I got lost after the second left turn) could destroy some amps, or at least pop fuses on others.

Do you live alone? If not, make a sign "DO NOT TOUCH SPEAKER SELECTOR SWITCH"

Hmm... hadn't thought of that -- thanks for the heads up -- I can turn off the downstairs receiver when not using it --

just switch the speakers to take sound from the upstairs receiver and power off the downstairs receiver --

The downstairs receiver has a vcr and a dvd player going through it -- so the only time I would power on the downstairs receiver is when watching tv or listening to the radio...

Thanks,
R

It sounds like you have re-invented the switch setup used hallway lighting. Turn it on at one end and turn it off at the other end. This switch topology is more complicated that it seems at first glance. You are to be commended for working through this. The only drawback I can see has already been mentioned, the lack of volume controls. But you can do what I do, turn it up to 11 and rip off the volume knob. (my wife hates that!)

Multiple switches can be a PITA, perhaps just running the signal to a lower powered surround sound type processor with built in amp might fit here. Not going to blow out windows, but, they're pretty cheap, and easy to connect.

Hi Guys --
Here we are a year after I posted my example of a simple speaker switch box.

A slight problem has arisen. The receiver that was in the downstairs doesn't work any more and I am suspicious that my speaker switch box might have been the culprit.

Is it possible that if the speaker switch were not set correctly the signal from the upstairs receiver might have hit the downstairs receiver?

I don't know how to explain this correctly -- does that make sense? Is it possible for the signal traveling from the speaker wires on the upstairs receiver to not be directed correctly in the speaker switch box and get pumped into the downstairs receiver?

Aage -- mentioned this in one of the earlier replies --
Quote:
"Chance of no load on the receiver (upstairs? downstairs? I got lost after the second left turn) could destroy some amps, or at least pop fuses on others.

Do you live alone? If not, make a sign "DO NOT TOUCH SPEAKER SELECTOR SWITCH"
end quote

I wonder if this is what has happened...

Reed

What kind of switch did you use.

Some are "make before break" others "break before make". This refers to whether contact is made to the new switch position after breaking with the first position or not. Not sure whether the problem would be great but if you use mbb you'd have both sources connected for an instant when switching. If you use bbm you have no load for an instant.

What you really need is a small FM stereo modulator on your upstairs receiver. Feed it with one of the Tape outputs, tune it to a frequency not used by any local stations, and then go tune it in on your downstairs receiver. No chance of blowing outputs (oops, sorry for coming late to the game...), and you have 'local' volume control when downstairs.