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Splitter question

I bought a small (physically and power output) tube amp for my daughter and have been trying out different tubes and speaker inputs to see what I like best and to burn in for her. The amp has only one input source. I plan on buying her an inexpensive turntable since she loves playing records (which she calls VIN...ALL), but she also has a CD player. I came up with what I thought was a great idea, but it didn’t work!  I put a splitter in the amp’s input so I could plug in 2 sources and just play which one I wanted. With one source plugged in to the splitter it worked but as soon as I put the cable from the 2nd source in too the 1st source stopped working. 

Are splitters only good for output and won’t work for input?  If this is true is there a way for me to provide 2 sources in or will she just have to unplug the 1st source and then plug in the 2nd if she wants to change from CD to VIN...ALL?

Thanks for any input. 
ekimg
tketcham
291 posts
 

Hi, ekimg,

I use a Schiit Audio SYS with my desktop stereo (Audioengine N22 amp with two passive A2+ speakers) to switch between two sources and it works well. But it’s not exactly a high end system.

I also use a SYS as a switch and volume attenuator for a DVD player and third turntable phono preamp feeding a tubed preamp in my main stereo system. The preamp has four inputs but I needed five so the SYS fit the bill. The nice thing about the volume control on the SYS is that the DVD player and phono stage have very different output levels and I can attenuate the DVD player so the signal level is in the optimum range for the preamp’s input sensitivity. I use inline attenuators for a DAC feeding the preamp for the same reason. If there’s any degradation of sound using the SYS it’s not apparent, at least not to me or my wife.

The one thing you might want to consider (and Al may be able to chime in here) is that the SYS has a fairly high output impedance (5k ohms max) so if your tubed integrated amp has a relatively low input impedance you might hear a slight distortion of sound at the audible frequency extremes. The tubed preamp I have has a 220k ohms input impedance so it’s not a problem.

My hunch is that you won’t be able to hear a difference in sound quality using the SYS and you’ll appreciate being able to attenuate signal levels as needed between the two sources.

Regards,

Tom


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almarg
9,670 posts
 
My hunch is that you won’t be able to hear a difference in sound quality using the SYS and you’ll appreciate being able to attenuate signal levels as needed between the two sources.

I agree, assuming the two source components are solid state.

Given that the integrated amp is tube-based, its input impedance is probably high enough to not be an issue with the Sys. However the input impedance of the Sys is only 10K (presumably corresponding to the overall resistance of its volume control). That is too low to be optimal when driven by many tube-based components, and at least a few solid state components.

So assuming the two source components are solid state, and given also the relatively non-critical nature of the application, while a simple switchbox would eliminate a little bit of uncertainty about impedance compatibility, the Sys appears likely to be a good solution. With the added benefit Tom & Mesch referred to that the volume control can provide.

Best regards,
-- Al
ekimg OP
78 posts
 
Thank you all.

The amp I bought her has 50k ohm impedance so looks like I will get the SYS and problem solved. By the way the amp is a TubeCube 7 from Tube Depot ($179) driving a pair of high efficiency (93db) Klipsch bookshelf speakers ($175).  It is a great little amp and very reasonably priced. It sounds amazing for the price. I liked the amp so much I ordered one for myself to play around with. Check it out.
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