Yes, you can do this. It shouldn't be a problem. Just use a Y-cord from Rat Shack.

Don't ever do the opposite however. that is, don't try to combine two outputs into a single input.

One can also use the tape out jacks on the first (switching-preamp section) item.

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Thanks for the suggestions, so your saying the tape out on the first reciever sends the signal out and I can run that to the second reciever?

Absolutely. The one that is your 'primary listening device' or highest quality system, you go out the tape jacks from that device,and then to the second. There will be a slight degradation of quality with the extra wiring and jacks (and hopefully active buffering circuitry!-if not, no big deal) , so the primary CD signal should be going to that more important receiver, first.

This means that to hear the CD player on the second receiver, the CD switching must be engaged on the first, and the first unit may actually need to be turned on. Hard to say without trying. The older the receiver, the less likely the unit needs to be on to power up the second, with regards to transferring the signal. Clear enough? If not, I'll add a bit more.

If you mean the HK 3485, which is from 2007, it very likely has active switching/tape outs. You may be able to use the pre outs, if jumpers are not required to make the unit work on it's own. In this way, you may be able to get the one single remote volume and switching, for both amplifiers. Using the pre outs, and then turning the second amp on, and then pre-setting the main volume on the second amp (let's say 12 o'clock), may get you exactly there. the second amp would be acting like a slave amp, that has it's own independent (if needed) volume, for separate 'balancing out' of it's volume, compared to the first.

The images of the back of the HK receiver seem to indicate the pre outs can be used at any time. This is, of course, only if no jumper is required to make the unit function on it's own. I suspect you can turn the pre out/main in function on, from the front of the amp? What I say may not work, and you may have to do the tape out thing.

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The reciever is about 2to3 yrs old, but I don't think the model has changed any. And yes it does require the jumpers installed to make it work on it's own. I did read something interesting on another forum, a post was saying that you could put a y adapter between the pre/main on the reciever and run it to the amp, I thought that sounded a little strange. Will this work if I still want to add an amp. And one more ? why do they make the reciver amp useless if you add on a seperate amp that doesn't make sense to me. The HK has 120wpc and drives my F-3 Klipcsh or my Realistic Mach Ones really good, so I sure don't want to waste that amp. So hopefully this weekend and give the tape out suggestion a try and see what happens. Thanks allot for all the help.

Hi,

Yes, the "Y" jumper will work. Many years ago when I was in college, my roommate and I combined our stereos in exactly the way you are looking to use two receivers.

Here's how to do it. You will need two "Y" cables. These are usually available from Radio Shack. They normally have male RCA connectors in all three places. This means you'll also need a couple of adapters. More on that in a moment.

1) Remove the jumper connecting preamp out to power amp in on the back of the receiver in each channel.

2) Connect the common side of each "Y" cable (where the two branches of the "Y" come together) to each channel of preamp out, with one of the two outputs of the "Y" going to power amp in. That is, this branch will act just like the jumper that's currently there.

3) Connect the other side of each "Y" cable to an RCA cable that connects to, say, Aux In of the second receiver. You will need a short RCA adapter that has a female RCA connection at each end. This will allow joining the output of the "Y", which has a male connector, to the RCA cable which also has a male connector.

Now, the receiver that has the two branches of the "Y" connected will be the main control receiver. This will control the volume of all four speakers simultaneously. The volume control on the second ("slave") receiver will adjust the relative volume between the two speaker pairs. Once you set this volume on the "slave" receiver, it can be left alone and the main receiver used as the master volume.

The problem with using tape out of the master receives is that its level is fixed as the volume is changed. This means that to change the level of all speakers simultaneously, you would have to tweak the volume control on both receivers simultaneously. That would be a bummer.

Edit: Looks like I was in error on the gender of the RCA connectors on the "Y". The one I just dug out has a female at the junction of the "Y" and males on the two ends of the split. In this case, you can connect the two males to preamp out and power amp in, and the female to the cable that goes to the second receiver. IOW, there won't be any adapter needed in this situation.

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Thanks andy for the info, if this works ok could you also hook up a power amp the same if I decided not to use the other reciever. Like I said in a previouse post I read on the other forum that someone did this and it works. Sorry to ask so many questions on this but since I have not tried something like this before I don't want to fry any of my components. You people on this forum have really been helpful.

This will work, but then there won't be any way to adjust the volume of one pair of speakers relative to the other (the pair hooked up to the receiver outputs relative to the pair hooked up to the power amp outputs).

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Got the y-jumpers hooked the two recievers together using the pre outs & main ins on the primary reciever, then hooked to the aux in on the secondary reciver. Everything works fine sounds great, just need to do some placement of the speakers and get it all tuned in,I'm running 6 speakers now and will add two more when I decide what I want. Probalby stick with the Klipsch, and then the HK (primary reciever)has a sub output so I will add that last. Finally getting the system I need in my shop, thanks for all the suggestions you all gave me, I'm Rockin Now......

Glad it worked out for you Craig!