Inexpensive pre-amp with mono switch & remote?


Hi, a few years back, I wired my house for mono with speaker wire. I would like to start using that wiring. To do it, I need to have a pre-amp with a mono switch, one that will "mix" my stereo sources to mono.

It needs a remote because I will be using it from another room (I was thinking to install a remote repeater).

The amp will be a Rotel 135W stereo amp bridged to mono. I will use a resistive network to allow driving multiple speakers. Haven't picked speakers yet, but they will not be expensive (perhaps $500 per pair, $250 each), and will be bookshelf-type.

I would like to keep the cost down as this is not my main sound system, and I am not expecting to buy real expensive speakers. Also speaker positioning and wiring are less than ideal.

I thought an old receiver might work, but come to realize that the "mono" button (at least on the one or two that I looked at) only turns the FM into mono. It doesn't turn other stereo sources into mono.

I demoed an Adcom 750 preamp about 6 months ago (for my main system). It has a mono switch that does what I want, but is out of my price range for this system.

Used would be OK.

I suppose there is probably some way to mix the output of a stereo pre-amp on the way to the mono amp, but this seems likely to degrade quality more than a mono switch on a preamp (but then, what do I know)?

Thanks for any help,

Eric
ehart
David,

Thank you. I looked at their website, and the Rogue stuff looks beautiful. I need a more full-functioned remote, though (ability to choose source as well as volume control), and would probably prefer SS over tubes in this application.

Maybe for my main system some day...

Thanks again...

- Eric
Sugarbrie, someone else mentioned this in an email also.

But I had two concerns:

1. Could it damage the source to have it's two channels tied together? (Since the Y doesn't isolate the two in any way, right)?

2. I actually plan to use Y's already to connect each source to both this new pre-amp and my existing "real" pre-amp (I don't see that this could damage the source). I don't want the main pre-amp to get a mono/mixed signal.

Any further thoughts?

Thanks!

- Eric
I wonder what would happen if a Y adapter was used to make two signals into one ??