2 amplifiers, 1 pair of speakers


Any ideas on the best way to achieve this? My friend has a sony multi-channel amp for HT and a Cary SLI-80 for 2 channel listening. The speaker wires are currently plugged into the Cary. For movies, the Sony runs the surrounds and uses the pre-amp out to the Cary for the main speakers. The sony is off for 2 channel.

He would like to preserve the tubes for 2 channel only but needs a separate amplifier A/B type switch. Online searches have lots of speaker switches but we can't find any quality amplifier switches. One that accepts the spade terminations of quality speaker cables not the spring-loaded type for lamp cord.

Any ideas?

Thanks
stuartbranson
Do his speaker's have 5 way binding posts? If so, maybe he could run one set of speaker cables from the Cary for music (say using spade lugs), and another set of speaker cables from the Sony (say using bananas). As long as only one unit is on at a time, he should be okay doing this. The cables need not be the same length or manufacturer. Just an idea.

Cheers,
John
I've recently done similar project and had a thread posted here, perhaps you'll find some answers helpfull:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?htech&1079220557&openfrom&1&4#1
If you interested I will send you a picture and a more detailed description of the switch that I had put together.
Do not connect both amps to the speakers at the same time, even if only one is on at a time. First, even when off, the amp will load the other. Second, can you really be certain you will NEVER make the mistake of powering both?

Options:
1) Get a speaker selector switch and wire it backwards as an amp selector.
2) Use the tube amp all the time for the L/R.
I agree with Kr4's 1st paragraph! Been there, done that, and fortunately I just blew a fuse in one of the amps! :-(

I now run two sets of cables from different amps using banana plugs. Far superior to introducing a switching devise and only a small bit of work to unplug one set of bananas and plug in the other. Personally I can't hear a difference between spades and bananas. If your amps are next to each other and accept bananas you can plug them into and out of the appropriate amp and use spades at the speaker for a more secure connection and have only one set of cables.