Amp switcher

Hifitime

I sure do appreciate the concern, I must say I've some reservations... with my mono blocks at least.

My butler TDB 5150 apparently has some built in safeguards so that amps which are energized yet not connected to a speaker load are safe.... well so far anyhow. I use it as a 3 ch amp for HT and use the other two ch as a 'change of pace' amp for stereo listening with a better preamp being attached to it. In each case though, I’ve got to move two pair of spkr wires from either the Butler to the Dodds or vice versa… and it’s pretty tight back in behind that rach and gear.

As all the electronics I use are in an adjacent room, save for the speakers, sub and projector & screen, I’d have to go into that room to push the button to make the switch over from one set of amps to another set… so there’s that… I suspect if prior to that procedure I energize the Dodds I could be in trouble…

so I’d wait… push the Niles button and THEN energize the Dodds.

The obvious concern then, is the switching mechanism inside the Niles box of course, and if theres’ any chance at all of some shorting or feeding back, taking place.

Sounds like the safe approach is as Blindjim suggests. Blindjim - if you do decide to get the Niles, please post an update with your thoughts.

Thanks again!

Dhoff01

I'll make a note of doing just that. But some back ground researching first with both niles and my tube amp maker.

The default path for no possible issues would be of course to shut down or have alrady shut down each amp being switched. That way poses me no problems and I'd feel safer doing just that.... shut down the in use amp, make the shift on the Niles, and then start up the other amp (s)... as I'd suspect in most cases the Niles box would be in close proximity to the amps anyhow..

The only short coming then is the warm up time for the then chosen amps to rise up properly for playing, which could be forgone if the Niles box is foolproof with it's switching mechanism with any amp topology attached to it.

My fail safe method does at least alieviate the need for switching around speaker cables and in my case that would be really nice all by itself. Once I get past having to buy more speaker cables of course!

I use Audioquest Slate speaker cables in my setup. The Niles is triggered by a 12v switch that you hook up to one of the amplifiers. When that amp is powered up, the switch is triggered and the load goes from that amp to the speakers. If you don't power it up, the load from the other amp goes to the speakers. I have it hooked up so that turning on the Onkyo triggers the switch. When I want to listen to 2-channel sound, I power up the Cayin and leave the Onkyo off. When I want to watch a movie, I turn the Cayin off (if it is on) and power up the Onkyo. It works quite well after you set it up and I did not notice any degradation in the sound from either amp.

Once I forgot to turn the Cayin off and powered up the Onkyo. The only thing that happened was that I lost the sound coming from the Cayin. When I realized what I had done, I powered off the Cayin. No sweat. Nothing exploded and nothing was damaged. I suggest you do the same. Have the SS amp be the amp that gets switched and the tube amp be the one that is the default.

Have fun!

Thanks for the info Catama. Sounds likes the Niles is the way to go..