Splitter question

Thank you!

That makes no sense..I have used the audioquest 1/2 adapters and never had any trouble..Was the power on both units turned on?

No. I assumed I could only have one source on at a time to isolate the source I was playing?  If both the tt and the cd were on at the same time wouldn’t both be going into the input at the same time?  Using Audioquest hard splitter...1 male to 2 female. 

While there are some circumstances in which routing two outputs to one input with a splitter would work ok, there are many more circumstances in which the results will be either what you have described, or very poor sonics, or possibly even damage, eventually if not sooner.  It all depends on the specific designs that are involved, but generally speaking it is an approach that should be avoided.

In doing that you are of course connecting the two outputs to each other, as well as to the desired input.  And if only one of the two source components is turned on at any given time you are loading the output that is being used with whatever output impedance the other component presents when it is turned off.  Depending on the specific design that could be just about anything. 

In some cases the unpowered component may have a muting relay at its output, which would put a direct short on the signal being provided by the other component, resulting in no sound.  In other cases the output impedance of the unpowered component may vary with the level of the signal being provided by the component that is being used, resulting in poor sonics at best.  And I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there may be a few cases in which damage could occur, eventually if not sooner, as a result of a short or near-short being applied to a powered up output.

The suggestion by Donvito is a good one.  Another possibility would be a line-level switchbox.  I have used the DB Systems DBP-2JAU/5 ($110) with good results.  See the "photo" and "review" links for the DBP-2J/5 near the top of the following page (that model is the same as the DBP-2JAU/5 except its connectors are not gold plated).  I've also provided a link to their home page, at which you can find contact information:

https://www.dbsystemsaudio.com/access.html

https://www.dbsystemsaudio.com/

Also, at a considerably higher price point Decware makes a nice switchbox:

http://www.decware.com/newsite/ZSB.html

Regards,
-- Al 

Thanks Al...great feedback as usual. I won’t use a splitter!  What is your opinion as to the switchbox with the volume control (which I don’t really need) such as the schiit versus the one without?  Only need two inputs and it is for my daughter with very basic components. The $49 for the schiit is attractive but curious if switchbox without that would be sonically better?

Mike