I have an NAD C 320BEE int amp & an NAD 214 power amp. I'd like to connect the preamp-outs on the 320BEE to my 214 for my main speakers but I'd like to use the built in amp on the 320BEE to power a second set of speakers. Is it Ok to split the out from the Pre-out (using, say, an RCA with a piggy-back jack on it?) so that the signal goes out to two amps? I worry that there will be some kind of impedance/resistance issue?
I do this with my HT system in my living room - I split the pre-outs to 2 power amps, one to drive the main speakers in the livingroom, and another to drive some extra speakers in my dining room plugged into a switched outlet.
You can split virtually any output but you should not as a rule combine inputs. Splitting outputs does have the potential for ground loops but those are normally rather simple to fix in such a situation.
Splitting an output does drop the voltage output by about 3dB which is in most cases negligible. Doing a parallel split can result in an impedance drop. However, since the output impedance should remain low vs a high input impedance there is seldom a problem with impedance issues when you split an output. It would take a somewhat unusual combination of components to affect the sound quality when splitting outputs.
thanks everyone for the feedback, i ask mostly because i am replacing an old NAD 705 receiver which i had wired this way and its developed a lot of 'little quirks' - - left channel drops out intermittantly (which can be fixed by giving it a whack) sudden volume drops, and etc... Before that i had an old (1990's) denon receiver paired with that same NAD 214 and that one went into a permanent 'fault' mode whenever you turn it on. But sounds like those were different issues and i can go ahead and pair these two as described?
