Can I hook up two seperate sources to one speaker?

Question

I want to run two different sets of speaker wire to one speaker with the idea of listening to two different sources @ different times. I want to run speaker wire from my tv directly to my center channel speaker that is part of my 5.1 channel surround sound system. I also want to keep using this speaker as part of my surround setup for watching dvd' s (keeping it hooked up to my a/v receiver). I currently do not have any options for routing the tv sound through the a/v receiver, so im stuck trying to run the sound directly from the tv to the speaker. Would this possibly damage my a/v receiver? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You need to get a speaker switch box. If you hook up multiple audio sources directly to a single speaker you can burn out one or both of your sources. The switch boxes range in price and designs from under $10 for a simple A-B mechanical switch to several hundred for logic controlled electronic switching devices with remote control.

Search the web for "Speaker switch" and shop around.