[randog]

This could have been at home here or on the 2-channel forum...

This may sound silly, but I have my reasons!  

If you wanted your main speakers for both HT and 2-channel, but did *not* want to use your 2-channel amp for the main HT speakers and wanted to use the HT receiver's internal amp instead, could you use 2 speakers cables to the bi-wire posts of your speakers, jump them together, with one cable pair going to your HT receiver and one to your 2-channel amp? Of course HT and 2-channel would never be used together, but I'm curious if this loop could be harmful to the receiver or 2-channel amp (or the speakers for that matter)?

How's THAT for a run-on sentence!  

The other option would be using a switch box. Would that degrade the 2-channel sound?

[Sedona Sky Sound]

A switch box will probably be your best bet. It will effect your performance to a small degree but will likely be acceptable for most listening. I am assuming the switch box will be DIY so that will give you the liberty to find the ratio of convenience/performance/cost that best works for you.

Something easy to make would be to screw a binding post into a board. The speaker cable going to the speaker could be fixed (soldered directly to binding post?). You could then switch out cables from the amps without having to get behind your speakers. Just a random idea.

I believe I have seen discussions like yours over at AA. There was one guy that wanted to be able to switch between tubes and SS depending on what CD he wanted to listen to. The general consensus seemed to be to not have both amps plugged in at the same time. If both amps were accidentally turned on at the same time, their could be problems. The second amp would also see some small current even if it was off (since it would potentially act as a ground even with the power off). Not sure if any residual reverse current would be enough to damage bridges/diodes but don't think I would personally want to chance it.  

Best of luck.

Julian
www.sedonaskysound.com

[randog]

Julian, thanks for the reply.

That is exactly the type of concern I have with creating a loop of sorts. I'll have to see if I can find a thread on AA although it will be tough to find a search keyword that will work.

I was thinking a speaker selector by Niles for example might be the way to go except wiring opposite (one set of speakers and multiple amps vs the normal way of single amp and multiple speakers). I think that would work fine so long as the switch doesn't degrade the sound.