coax Y connector

My degree of expertise ain't much more extensive than Liz's. Some how I think it would work as long as both pieces aren't turned on at the same time. Hey,WE need some help here; anybody tried this??

Certainly there are commercial grade 75 ohm splitters available. We use quality splitters from Mini Circuits here at our satellite earth station but they have BNC connectors vs. RCA's that you would need. Video production parts vendors may have wideband splitters available with the RCA's? However there will be a 3db signal level reduction through the split. The same thing (-3dB level reduction due to the double-termination) would occur if you simply y-connect them via a simple jack & plug harness, which you could even make yourself if you don't want to buy a good one. The input impedances of your devices very likely don't change significantly whether they're powered on or off.
However I will leave it for others that are more experienced to advise you regarding any possible deleterious effects caused by the reduced data signal level. May or may not be a problem so why not simply try it & see what happens?

You can get them at Radio Shack, or if you want something more substantial, go to AudioAdvisor.com for gold ones made by Monster Cable ($20) --- I do not think they will ruin your signal, assuming the two cables coming off the splitter are not too long. I have done this on a temporary basis for a temporary setup and never had a problem.

The Monster splitters I'm familiar with are 75 ohm but they are for the thin-pin connector used for cable TV (what do they call those?). The 75 ohm cables from transport to DAC or recorder will be RCA connectors. Does Monster make an RCA splitter as well? Radio Shack definitely does. -Dan