Splitting 3.5mm between two seprate devices

stevek93

Hi all,

I bought one of these headphone splitters of ebay http://www.ebay.ie/itm/3-5-mm-Stereo-Headphone-Y-Splitter-Cable-/271007313479?pt=UK_MP3_Player_Accessories_Cables_Adapters&hash=item3f194b6e47 hoping to split my pc speakers between my tv and computer, but when i plug the spliter into my computer the speakers into one side and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm to the tv the volume drops significantly

coylemj

Those splitters are really only intended for use with a single audio source and two sets of headphones, typically two people on a plane watching a movie on the likes of an Archos, they aren't designed to be used with speakers and PCs.

stevek93

Was thinking that, How would I spilt the speakers between two different devices so maybe an old amp?

cnocbui

A speaker switch, but in reverse - as in the speakers would be wired as you would normally for the source while the sources would be wired as you would for speakers.

It is not a good idea to have a setup where the speaker level output coming from one source, can possibly feed into the speaker level output of a second device. The circuits are designed to output power, not receive it. A speaker switch will isolate each device from the other.

stevek93

cnocbui wrote: »

A speaker switch, but in reverse - as in the speakers would be wired as you would normally for the source while the sources would be wired as you would for speakers.

It is not a good idea to have a setup where the speaker level output coming from one source, can possibly feed into the speaker level output of a second device. The circuits are designed to output power, not receive it. A speaker switch will isolate each device from the other.

Could you post a link please struggling to follow you here

cnocbui

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/QED-2-way-speaker-switch-MA17-/190700145202?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item2c669d4a32

Look at the rear panel pic. You would wire the speakers up to connectors labeled amplifier and you would wire the TV and laptop to the connectors labeled speaker 1 and 2 respectively.

stevek93

Ah i get you now, but is the amp input just input only or does it not matter which way you wire them? Would this work as well http://www.ebay.ie/itm/3-5mm-audio-speaker-headphone-selector-switch-switcher-box-2-1-1-2-/251075472332?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7543abcc as im dealing with a 3.5mm dont want to be chopping up wires

cnocbui

It's just a twin pole switch, it doesn't know or care whether you wire inputs to outputs and vise versa. As for the headphone switch - probably, but I can't be sure.

WillyFXP

stevek93 wrote: »

Hi all,

I bought one of these headphone splitters of ebay http://www.ebay.ie/itm/3-5-mm-Stereo-Headphone-Y-Splitter-Cable-/271007313479?pt=UK_MP3_Player_Accessories_Cables_Adapters&hash=item3f194b6e47 hoping to split my pc speakers between my tv and computer, but when i plug the spliter into my computer the speakers into one side and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm to the tv the volume drops significantly

Sounds like you've just got the wiring wrong. From what you describe you have the splitter plugged into the stereo output of your PC sound card then the TV and speakers plugged into the 2 split ends. This won't work as the TV output is having to pass through the soundcard before reaching the speakers, causing a loss of signal and reduced volume. What you need to do is plug the splitter into the speaker input, then have one cable coming from the TV headphone output, and one coming from the PC soundcard output. Should work fine then, the only thing you may need to get is a 3.5mm converter from male to female to plug it into the speaker input.