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Any experience with Y-interconnects?

Question for those in the know/with experience....
I'm considering buying an Ayon CD-5. This unit is a top notch redbook CD player with a built in preamplifier. I use a JL Fathom F-112 subwoofer, a powered unit that runs off a preamp out jack. Problem is, the CD-5 has only ONE output jack. If I dump my EAR 868 preamp to buy the CD-5, hooking up to both my power amp and the JL becomes a big problem. I use monitors in a big room, so the JL is a must. It's been suggested that I use a Y-interconnect off the single CD-5 output and run one set of leads to the JL and the other to the power amp. Any thoughts on this? Need to make a choice....
afc
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,562 posts
 
Almarg,

My Pass Labs Preamp (XP-10) has both Balanced and unbalanced outputs. Each are said to be able to be used at the same time because the outputs are buffered.(whatever that means)
Anyway, the balanced goes to my Pass Labs X350.5 Amp and the unbalanced goes to 2 powered JL Audio subs.
The sub interconnects are maybe 20 feet each. The Balanced cable that goes to my Pass Labs Amp is 10 feet.

Thats is a lot of wire, will this present a problem as you stated above?

I have disconnected the 2 interconnects that were going to the subs and everything seemed to sound the same, but now you got me wondering...
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Hi Ozzy,

No problem at all in your situation. My statement about the capacitance of the cable to the sub affecting the signal to the main power amp applies only to the situation where either a y-adapter is used off of a single output of the preamp, or the two cables are connected to two output jacks on the preamp that are connected together internally within the preamp.

The XP10, as you indicated, has separate buffers for the xlr and rca outputs, which means that there are separate driver stages for each set of outputs. That eliminates the possibility of interaction of the sub cable with the signal to the main power amp.

Also, I note that the XP10 has an output impedance of 200 ohms unbalanced, and 1000 ohms on each leg of the balanced output. While the 1000 ohms is somewhat high, that is still most likely low enough to avoid perceivable treble rolloff for a cable length of 10 feet. If the cable capacitance is EXTREMELY high, say 150 picofarads (pf) per foot, you might get an attenuation at 20kHz in the vicinity of 1db, which I think would be imperceptible to just about all of us. For more typical cable capacitances, there would be no effect whatsoever.

The 20 foot length to the sub benefits from the lower 200 ohm unbalanced output impedance, and upper treble rolloff doesn't matter anyway on the signal to the sub. So you are doubly ok there.

Bottom line: No problem!

Regards,
-- Al
afc OP
141 posts
 
Postscript- Signal Cable is building a set of custom "splitter" cables for me to address the issue. Will eliminate a couple of connections that would have been necessary with a standard Y-interconnect. Frank at Signal Cable came up with the idea after I asked him to make a pair of Y-interconnects. Any of you using a Y-interconnect may want to contact Frank. This solution eliminates any potential sonic degradation from an extra connection.
Al- thanks for the input. FYI, I use the MastersounD as my main amp, not the Rowland, so I use RCA terminations. The MastersounD does not have XLR connections.
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,562 posts
 
Almarg, Thank you very much for the info,
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