Tube DIY Asylum

Has anyone else tried this experiment?

71.28.125.95


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  Email  Next ] [ Tube DIY Asylum ]

This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

I used a 4-way audio selector as a switching unit. It has 4 inputs and 1 output. I ran the outputs from my breadboarded 6bq5 pp amp and my diy 26/26/45 se amp into two of the inputs and hooked up speaker cables for my altec granadas to the outputs. This allowed me to switch between the two amps by pushing only one button. I attached 8 ohm/30 watt resistors across the output terminals of each amp so that there would always be a load on each amp. This allowed both amps to be on full time. I then split the signals coming out of my cd player and took them to the inputs of the amps. I turned both amps on and let them warm up for about 15 minutes before setting them up so that the volume levels were exactly matched between them.
I listened to several different types of music for about a half hour, switching back and forth between the amps. I also had my wife listen for awhile with no other instruction from me than to tell me if she heard a difference between the amps.
The results were not what I was expecting; neither of us could hear any difference between the two amps.
I thought maybe there might be leakage in the switching unit, so I pushed a button that had no amp hooked to it. Dead silence. No leakage.
I do not at this time know what is causing this, but I want to find out. This is the same result I got when comparing my se amps against each other, and I sort of expected that, but this was a se amp vs a pp amp, so I was expecting to hear some difference at least as I had thought I heard a little when listening to a mono signal split to one channel of each amp.
I would like to know if anyone else has done this and what they heard if they did. I would also like to know if anyone sees any issues with the setup as described.
I only want to hear from someone who has actually done this for right now, and it needs to be the same type of setup, not hooking up one amp and then hooking up another. I don't want music memory or the lack of it to be an issue. I am going to start a thorough search of the web and see what I can find there for folks that might have done the same thing.

Edits: 07/07/17

Follow Ups: