Who knows Ohm's Law??

[BluLobsta]

I have a question for all you electronics DIYers. I'm building a speaker switch to switch my mains between my Peachtree and my Onkyo. I'll be using two 4PDT switches, one for each speaker (since there are no 6PDT toggles that I can find). The speaker outs from the amps will be terminated with an 8 ohm resistor when switched out, for safety. Well, the question is, if I have 150 Watts max going through 8 ohm speakers and

P=I^2*R

then I get 4.33 amps max. The 6 amp switches look dinky though. Is this right? Speaker cable is so thick, why are the switches so dinky. Am I overlooking something? thanks-

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by BluLobsta

...The 6 amp switches look dinky though. Is this right? Speaker cable is so thick, why are the switches so dinky. Am I overlooking something? thanks-

The only thing you are overlooking is advertising.

That is, your cables are probably overkill. That is, premium cables probably cost a lot. No one is going to pay a lot for premium cable that looks like other cable. So, premium cable looks like it is worth the cost, meaning bright, clear sheathing, large cable.

Of course, I am not there to see everything, so YMMV, but that's a good guess.

[gearyt]

dinky switches are misseading... lotta power thru those
make before break switches will solve your problem
IF
you are using 8 ohm speakers and your amp will handle the 4 ohm surge

[BluLobsta]

Yeah, even the wire that goes to the power transformers on tube amps isn't nowhere as thick as speaker wire and you can die quickly from touching that. I could probably touch active speaker wire without any problem at all (although I'm not willing to test that ). Hmm, there's something fishy going on here...

[BluLobsta]

Originally Posted by gearyt

dinky switches are misseading... lotta power thru those
make before break switches will solve your problem
IF
you are using 8 ohm speakers and your amp will handle the 4 ohm surge

Ok, I'll give it a whirl...yeah, the contacts are solid metal, not stranded wire if you think about it. Yes, "make before break" would be critical I think. I wouldn't want to lose my poor Peachtree

[BluLobsta]

Nice, on second thought, I just found this online which may do the trick after all

http://www.jr.com/niles-audio/pe/NIL_DPS1/

I'm just really scared to experiment with DIY right now on a $1200 amplifier Thanks anyway for the input guys It's only until I can get new mains anyway, the ADS will have to perform double-duty...