explain speaker selecter

leftwinger57

Hello once again,Today I have an interest in speaker selecters.Right now I have 3 speaker sets in my living room and was wondering how the selecter works. I have the Infinity SM112S, Bose 601s, and the Klipsch smalls for h/t.My guess is that the selecter would work for only one system to change speakers like the 601s and sm112s.I could be wrong but it does seem an easy way to go if I get tired of using zone 2 on my Yamaha avr .Right now I'm looking at an Adcom GFS-6 six pair selecter w/ a low price of $50 and change up to $75 so they seem quite resonable. As most of you said my speeks aren't the best in the world but they're all I have and I'm always looking out for a bargin.I most lately kinda like the OHM/WALSH 2s and who knows. The question remains does it only control 1 system and switching among them and for me it seems better than plugging and switching all the time also it would again free up zone 2 on my Yamaha which I use for the Bose 601s. Thanks any suggestions would be appreciated......

TNHNDYMAN

LF57- I currently use an Adcom GFS 4 in my 2 ch system. I use it to compare different speakers as I acquire them. It works great to be able to listen to the same material and quickly switch between the various speakers I have hooked up at any given time. There may be some selectors out there that have protection circuitry which would allow you to run multiple sets at once, but I only run one set at a time in order to not put too high a load on the amp. I'll try to post a few pics of my setup later.

leftwinger57

TNHDY,this sounds very good since I still think my weakest link are my speakers. My desire for my living room is to have a WALL oF sOUND ala the Grateful Dead .lol There is so much out there some reasonable and of course way out of range but one never knows you get 1 deperate guy on c/l and get the score of a lifetime.Thanks for the input....

TNHNDYMAN

Based on your wall of sound comment, I take you want to run multiple sets at one time. I would not reccomend using the adcom switch that way. I have run 2 pair at once for brief (couple minutes) of time and not at concert level either but would not want to do it often. There are others who have way more experience and understand the implications of running multiple sets of speaks at once. I know enough to not try it with what I have. It may be possible to use some type of splitter coming out of a preamp or AVR outs depending on what you are using to then drive 2 amps connected to some type of speaker selector that has protection circuits built in that will let you drive multiple sets and will cut in and stop the volumne if it gets over to be dangerous to the equipment.

Anyways here's a couple of pics of mine demo system w/ 3 sets around the kitchen table and I plan on running speaker wire under the floor for the Polk Monitor 7's and 70's in the near future. The 7's are being run by the Luxman L80V for now. Using the Technics SL-5 turntable, JVC cassette deck, and PS one w/ rca outs (1st gen) as sources for a casual 2ch 2nd sytem. The silver face stuff will prob be on CL soon to make room for updating the Home Theater stuff.

For HT I'm using a Denon 890 AVR, the PS3, and Dish VPI 722 DVR connected to the Polk 70's, CS2, and Insignia bookshelves for surrounds. Later this week I am going to replace the Denon w/ a Onkyo 706 that has preouts and use a 3 ch NAD amp for the front stage and the AVR for the surrounds or may also use an Adcom 5400 for the surrounds but that's probably overkill for them.

skrol

Monster also offers a 4 pair and a 6 pair speaker selector. These offer high power non-inductive resistors and protect the amp from low impedance. I have the SS-4 and it works well. The one drawback I have with it is the terminals which are the spring loaded type.

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Cable-SS4-Multi-Speaker-Selector/dp/B00004Y3UX

Stan

tonyb

skrol wrote: »

Monster also offers a 4 pair and a 6 pair speaker selector. These offer high power non-inductive resistors and protect the amp from low impedance. I have the SS-4 and it works well. The one drawback I have with it is the terminals which are the spring loaded type.

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Cable-SS4-Multi-Speaker-Selector/dp/B00004Y3UX

Stan

I have one by Monster just like that one, sitting in a box somewhere.....for like 10 years now at least.

I don't get whats to understand about a speaker selector box, a signal goes in and 2,3 or 4 come out. Pretty basic.

leftwinger57

I think it was more sarcasim than anyrhing else .I have a 18'x16 living room w/ the Infinitys facing front and the Boses are kind of side firing but because they have both the tweeter array and one of the 8'' woofers up firing so the positioning is ok. the Klipsch smalls h/t are of course front and rear facing. One draw back is that the left Bose is a little concealed by a futon so I raised it up but it doesn't look out of wack w/ the right one.There really is no need to run that many speakers in the space I have but w/ saying that a pair of Monitor 10s,Klipsch Fortes or those Ohm/Walsh 2xs that I drool over I'd would some how make fit in the room.Even though I have no wife to piss and moan stacking that many speakers is kind of wacky.

TNHNDYMAN

are you saying my stacked speakers is wacky? :razz:

steveinaz

Keep in mind when using switchers, all the same rules apply in reference to impedance. Don't burn up your amp! I can't imagine those things are too great for fidelity. I use one on my patio rig because my receiver only had hookups for 1 pair of speakers, and I needed to drive some pool area speakers---BUT, the model I have has a switch for amp protection. How it works, I have no idea. Also keep in mind both sets of my speakers are 8ohms nominal.

tonyb

Steve, you still using those patio speakers from last year, the same ones I have ? How they holding up ? Mine sat outside this past winter and still sound pretty good. Not bad for the price.

I used to use those speaker switch boxes, now, a cheap receiver with A-B switching works and sounds better than those boxes ever did.

skrol

Anyone know of an Amp switcher? Would be neat to switch one set of speakers between two sources. Could be used for comparing or for selecting between HT and 2ch systems.
Stan

steveinaz

tonyb wrote: »

Steve, you still using those patio speakers from last year, the same ones I have ? How they holding up ? Mine sat outside this past winter and still sound pretty good. Not bad for the price.

I used to use those speaker switch boxes, now, a cheap receiver with A-B switching works and sounds better than those boxes ever did.

Yep, they're working out alright for the pool area. They require a lot more volume knob than my Energy C-3's on the patio. I need to "get right" with Polk Audio, so sometime this summer I'm going to get some Atriums for the pool area.