Wiring question - dual wiring

[bwhardy]

THanks in advance for any help on this....I share a pair of Aeon I speakers with both my home theater set up and my vintage McIntosh/turntable set up. Right now I am switching the dedicated wires from the amps at the back of the speakers every time I switch between the systems. My question is if you can leave 2 wires hooked up if you only run one signal at a time? If it matters, I have the HT system hooked up with spades with the jumpers in place. the vintage system has banana pins that I would plug in the back with the jumpers left in place.

I appreciate the advice...I don't want to blow anything up!

 

[bwhardy]

I should mention only 1 system will ever be turned on at a time. Thanks

 

[JonFo]

I would recommend NOT having both wired concurrently, even if only one at a time is on. Not only because of the risk of ever having both on, but because the amp could 'see' the load of the other amp, even if powered down. So at a minimum, the resistance (impedance) could change.

So I'd look for a decent passive speaker switcher, like those used in demo rooms, but wire it in reverse, wire the Input to the Aeon, and each system to one of the two outputs.
So any of the old Adcom GFS series or similar will do, I had a GFS-6 at one point, so know they are good, and I found a GFS-3 for $25 on fleabay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Adcom-GFS-3-speaker-switcher-selector/323191580460

But these allow two outputs to be on simultaneously, so you need to take care to only ever have one on.

So maybe something like this:




Personally, I'd wire up a box with a pair of the DPDT high-amperage switches and ensure only one at a time could ever be on. There actually might be switchers like that out there.

 

[bwhardy]

Thanks, that's a good idea. I didn't think about the vintage amp seeing the newer one. I'm trying to be really careful with the old gear. I'd be better to have a dedicated pair.