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2 turntables and one phono stage - Can I???

I have 2 turntables in my system, my phono stage has one set of RCA inputs. Up to now I have been swapping them out manually whenever I switched tables however its getting to be a pain to crawl behind the rack to swap out ICs. Can I safely use a splitter on the phono stage to accept both turntables or will that mess something up?

Thanks
gjrad
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Lew -- Not sure what you mean in your last post. There are presumably two rca plugs (for left and right), plus a turntable ground wire, at the phono amp end of the cable from each turntable. The "ground" (non-"hot") side of the cartridge output for each channel is connected to the outer part of the rca plug which corresponds to that channel through the cable shield.

Regards,
-- Al
gjrad OP
145 posts
 
Thanks for all of the replies. Doesn't appear to be a safe and secure way to deal with this. I guess those who have multiple armed tables have to deal with this issue as well.
Seems like the best way to deal with this is to keep the two set of RCAs close and continue to manually swap them. I like the idea of getting a second phono stage, thanks.
BTW, although it doesn't matter much, the two tables are in a different system than the one pictured in my virtual systems.
The two tables I am swapping out are a Basis 2500/Vector/Benz Ruby H and Clearaudio ReferenceTG1/Clearaudio Signature M cartridge the Phono Stage is a Thor TA3000.

Thanks All
lewm
13,623 posts
 
Almarg, I was in a way responding to the (good) point that you made. To do this properly, you need to isolate the lead carrying the "ground" side of the cartridge output (which as you correctly state is merely the other side of the coil from hot) from both chassis ground and the shield around the phono cable. Chassis and shield leads can be connected to the chassis of the switch box and hence back to the preamp. Then switch BOTH sides of the coils of both cartridges, with no ground reference, using a DPDT. It occurs to me that you would need two DPDT switches, one for each channel, or one 4PDT switch.
kenbow58
1 posts
 
there is luxman,gold PH-10 , Musical Fidelity LX-LPS  that has two inputs for 2 turntable at same time that can be selected phono1 or phono2.
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