What’s the best rca “Y” adaptor?

I've had fine results with the Audioquest splitter linked to by @maxwave.  It is also sold by Audio Advisor.

However, be aware that the line-level input impedances of many and probably most powered subs are in the area of 5K to 20K or so, and ARC's recommended load impedance for your preamp is:

Recommended load 60K ohms and 100pF. (20K ohms minimum and 1000pF maximum)

The preamp would see a load impedance corresponding to the input impedance of the sub in parallel with the input impedance of your power amp, which is equal to the product (multiplication) of the two impedances divided by their sum.  The result will always be **lower** than either of the individual input impedances.  For example, if the input impedance of the sub is 20K and the input impedance of your amp is 50K, the preamp would see a load impedance of:

(20K x 50K)/(20K + 50K) = 14.3K

That is not consistent with ARC's recommendation, of course, and the heavy load would affect the sonics of both the main speakers and the sub.

If that looks like it would be a problem, a solution would be to insert an active buffer stage having high input impedance between the preamp and the sub.

Regards,
-- Al

Hi,

Hi maxwave,

I have a pair of those and they made my the Acoustats sound muddy.

Thanks.

JD

Hi dweller,
I actually have a pair of those and another very similar, but I can hear the difference with and without them. With them my main speakers become muddy sounding.


 Hi maxwave,

I have a pair of those and they made my the Acoustats sound muddy.

I would wager that the reason is the loading effect I described above, and not the effects of the splitter itself. If that is correct, changing to a different splitter won’t help.

Regards,
-- Al

Hi Al,

Thanks for the info.  I did ask ARC and their response was “It should work” so that’s why I’m asking.  I bought an ARC, EC-2 Years ago and tried several amps and many speakers, Including several I built myself, but was never satisfied with the sound.  I gave up trying for a while, but with all this time I suddenly have, my thoughts have returned to subwoofer.

BTW, I did see the AQ adapters and will probably buy those next.

Thanks.

JD

roberjerman,

 I doubt I’ll ever buy a pair of y adapters for $500! But the pairs I have ain’t cutting it. I went to Monoprice and only saw two kinds.  The first was female to male, that is not what I need and the second was .63 cents and I already have something similar.  Am I missing something else?
Thanks.

JD