An odd idea


Got a question for all of you . . . .

I've been battling with the problem of optimizing 2-channel performance without compromising the coherence of my HT setup. I only have one room which is usuable for A/V gear, and it's loaded to the gills with speakers for HT.

I'd like to upgrade my amplification for 2-channel, but don't want to have to buy SEVEN channels of "good stuff," since that's a healthy chunk of cash and I'm happy with the HT performance of my Rotel gear.

So here's the question -- anybody ever tried hooking up one set of speakers to two different amplifiers? I'm thinking of a modified shotgun biwire cable, run backwards -- single end to the speaker, split ends to two different amps. Obviously you'd have to make sure you NEVER had both of the amps turned on at the same time . . . .

It seems to me that this would be preferable to using a switcher box, because that would put an additional "thing" in the signal path, where the split speaker cables would not.

Of course, my understanding of electronics would fit into a Vibrapod, so there might very well be a screamingly obvious reason why this would be a disaster in the making . . . .

Would this work? If it did, it would allow the use of completely different amps for 2-channel and HT without having to worry about the interaction of one with another, same for preamps.

I'd really appreciate any feedback anyone had here . . . .

Thanks!

Pat
tsrart

Showing 1 response by mrpoindexter

I had the same problem that you did. I run Infinity IRS V on the front, IRS betas for surrounds and an IRS Gamma on the center. I use different amps for the front and back. The difference is sound field is VERY negligible. I could make the sound totally seamless either by upgrading all my speakers to IRS V and better amps, which isn't something I can afford, or I can downgrade my mains to equal the quality of my surrounds, which is also something I am not willing to do.

Any system that plays a large percentage of music would do well to upgrade the mains at the expense of the other channels.