[roymail]

This is true with every receiver or preamp I ever owned, I never used a majority of the inputs it provided.  These days I only use a single source, and at times two sources but that's not often.  Just seems like a lot of wasted inputs.

That  got me to thinking and wondering, am I the only one who has lots of unused inputs?  And, why spend so much money for what a preamp is designed to do and only use a fraction of it's capability? 

Seems like a valid question.  Thanks for sharing your experience.

[kgturner]

My integrated has 3 inputs. I'm using 2 of them. 1 for vinyl and 1 for digital. I can't imagine what I'd need the other one for, but it's there when the need arises.

Kevin T

[mix4fix]

I would rather have it and not need it versus need it and not have it.

I wouldn't consider not using all inputs as "fraction of it's capability".

[aldcoll]

As long as there are a couple unused to do a A B test if there was a comparison on the long anticipated equipment.

I spent a while back doing some cable testing and it was hard to clear quick decision.  Back in the day when they small box store had the box on the wall and you could do this, click or that click.  I would guess a couple jacks are low on the cost level. 

All the items I am looking at don't have enough jacks.  But then I don't have a budget to unify so just swap them around.

But that's Just ME.

[thorman]

It kind of makes me think about the Monthly payment for 250 channels on Dish Network.....225 never get used but I have to pay for the 250 any way.....

[orthobiz]

I hook up three TT's, one tuner, one CD player so I use 5 inputs.

Paul

[Letitroll98]

In a different vein you should use shorting plugs on all unused inputs.  Incredible lowering of the noise floor. You can buy them on eBay or like I did, make your own from some cheapo rca plugs.  Just short out the positive and negative legs with a touch of solder.  Or if you have a ton of throw away rca cables, cut off the plugs and twist the wires together.  Insanely cheap way to improve the sound of your system, not a subtle change.

[JerryM]

^^^ What he said.

[avahifi]

Just don't short out unused Tape Output jacks.  That will kill the sound from any sources.

Note that our preamps automatically short all unused sources at the selector switch so adding shorting plugs is unnecessary.

Frank Van Alstine

[srb]

Note that our preamps automatically short all unused sources at the selector switch so adding shorting plugs is unnecessary.

Still, I'm sure there must be those with preamplifiers or integrated amplifiers that have a similar input shorting switch function that "hear" lower noise with shorting plugs installed.   

Steve

[mix4fix]

I don't understand how you can hear noise on inputs that are not even selected.

Doesn't the input selection isolate the inputs from the output? If they didn't, you could hear sounds from that input.

[avahifi]

If two or more sources are turned on at the same time it is possible to hear low level cross coupling between them if the selector switch does not deal with this by grounding the inputs on all but the selected source.  Of course a free way do deal with this is to turn off the unused source.

If your preamp does short unused sources, as ours do, then adding shorting plugs at the inputs is only moving the ground point down a few inches of wire.  It is very doubtful if this will make any useful difference.

Of course if you have purchased really high quality and musical "tuning shorting plugs" then all bets are off. 

Frank Van Alstine

[Letitroll98]

Yes Frank, the more money you spend on shorting plugs, the deeper the blacks are.

Actually, the ones on eBay are not too onerously priced, and look real pretty too.  Make sure to get real shorting plugs with the lug inside the cap.  The ones without a shorting lug for the positive terminal are just nice looking caps that do nothing but keep the dust off.  However they are 10 to 20 times the price of the diy plugs, you can buy a bag of rca plugs for a few dollars and the cheaper the plug the easier it is to bend the lugs over to short them out.

And don't short out any outputs, only inputs.  Shorting an output will fry the amp, even AVA amps.  You'd think this would go without saying, but....

Of course Frank is correct about his amps, if any preamp shorts out the unselected inputs a shorting plug is a nice dustcover.  Why he bothers to do this should tell you all you need to know about why shorting unused inputs is a good idea.  Selector switches do not filter out incoming noise be it from components left on our or noisy electrical environments.  Whatever, for me it was as if I had gone out and bought much better components, it was that much of a difference on the AVR I first tried it on.  For other units it varied from big difference to just audible, seemingly directly related to how many inputs needed to be shorted.

[Quiet Earth]

our preamps automatically short all unused sources at the selector switch

Wouldn't that place a short circuit on the output of every unselected source component?

(Or do you mean unused, as in nothing is plugged into the rca Jack?)

[mix4fix]

Somebody explain why I've been to every Capitol Audio Fest and I've never really noticed vendors using shorting plugs on their equipment?

[JLM]

Yes, most modern systems only need one set of inputs (from the DAC).  Knowing that most digital sources output the standard 2 volt signal strength (the same as typical preamps) I tried a passive pre-amp (to allow multiple inputs that I never used).  So I eventually took the next logical step and started using stepped attenuators instead of any preamp (plugged directly into the back of my mono block power amps) which sounded better than the passive preamp (impedance issues in the interconnects are the challenge in using passives).  Eventually I returned to using an active preamp (that offered subwoofer outputs and had its own DAC) and now I primarily use a nice integrated (the power amp only version was only $200 cheaper).  BTW both have remote controls, for this lazy old fart.  So my guess is the extra inputs (unless a phone preamp is included) don't cost much to add when you're manufacturing thousands of units at a time and marketing wise its better to be feature laden than to look as if you're catering to the hair-shirt purists. 

Carried to the purist extreme (for digital input only) IMO the ideal system could consist of just a Logitech Duet (that had its own remote with display for content/volume) and active (much preferred over powered) loudspeakers (a simple, convenient, and compact solution).  But that might turn audiophiles from hobbyists into just music lovers.   

Any caps will also protect the inputs from air borne contaminates building up on the contact surfaces.