3.5mm splitter for 2 speakers - audiophile opinions ?

[sophieh]

Hi

Love the KMC1 and it occurred to me it would be great to have two of them for travelling -

What's the general audiophile view on 3.5mm jack (i.e. typical headphone/ PC or phone out) splitters ? I.e. cables that take one input and provides two outputs ?

Will they cause any, or a considerable, loss of audio quality ?

Are they somehow magically able to provide stereo, or would both speakers be playing the same sound ?

I'm thinking of a cable like for example this one:

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-MUY1MFFS-Female-Stereo-Splitter/dp/B0081ZBNI4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400200302&sr=8-1&keywords=splitter+3.5mm

Some portable speakers on the market offer the ability to couple two of the same speaker - even wirelessly, making it even more of a dynamite feature.

Next-gen Klipsch KMC range should have wireless, true stereo dual-speaker allowances, I hope!

Thank you so much for your help!

Soph

[joessportster]

welcome to the forums

the cable will supply the same signal to each outlet, IE...each speaker gets the same info and so theoretically will sound the same

quality of the cable, subjective argument, I have used some splitters and frankly could hear no sound degrade from either side

I just posed this same question to an amp / dac manufacturer and they said the same splitter is no problem

joe

[billybob]

Stereo like the link shows. Welcome!

[sophieh]

Thanks @joessportster & @billybob !!

@billybob - I read reviews on a few different 3.5mm splitters, seemingly the same - but some people are looking for a splitter that will provide exactly the same sound to both devices - and some people are looking for something like my scenario - a splitter out from the phone, one 3.5mm to 3.5mm out from each end into two separate KMC1s, and then getting proper speaker imaging etc. with left sound in left speaker and the other way around. Since both types of cables exist and are inconsistently marketed, how can you tell which splitters are which ? And - perhaps a very stupid question, but - how would you know which of the two splitter outputs goes to the left speaker and which goes to the right ?

Any reputable brands / favorably reviewed splitters that anyone is aware of ?

Thanks

Soph

[billybob]

Which are you after, stereo on both units or left channel of stereo on one unit and right on the other. Fortunately we live in a time of many various cable types. For instance. You can see the one like on the link you provided should provide you with 2 independent and sperate units, each receiving and playing in stereo per unit. Or, you can purchae a cable that splits the stereo signal from your phone which seperates the 2 channels of stereo, with the left going to one unit's both speakers and the other going to the right, producing 1 unit playing left channel of stereo and the other playing the right. I will link you too a page and show you the one which seperates the stereo to each unit. As with some other things in life, neccessity is the mother of invention. Interested to see how you decide and which you prefer. For the price of each, you may well want to experiment.

Let know and good fortune...lol

Actually if you are trying to 1 channel each, you may have to use the first one on page top with the left right red white rca and adapt from rca female for each leg of stereo phono females back to 3.5mm then to each unit. Good hunting!

https://www.google.com/search?q=3.5+mm+to+3.5+mm+y+adapter&client=firefox-a&hs=JX0&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&tbm=isch&imgil=PbaJxSs9991pkM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcQO-ajiz3V6TRcIFufcDYmj7xBMdmVdIPfJtjTRUMP0v9IfZvx5-g%253B1392%253B1392%253BIQ0BP4hSUWD4AM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.cablewholesale.com%25252Fproducts%25252Faudio-video-products%25252Faudio-video-cables%25252Fproduct-10a1-01206y.php&source=iu&usg=__Ef9DHEnw5hnX-Rgf2uCOP5C8Yog%3D&sa=X&ei=6CV2U_aUB46Mqga4p4HgCw&ved=0CEUQ9QEwAg#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=Kjt4s0-bymrWeM%253A%3B2pLPfsb-eBiqCM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.lunashops.com%252Fimages%252Fupload%252FImage%252F3-3_5cable-1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.lunashops.com%252Fgoods.php%253Fid%253D2053%3B600%3B560

Edited May 16, 2014 by billybob

[sophieh]

Thanks for the replies, sorry I'm late getting back, been travelling -

Road test of KMC 1: Excellent! It goes loud and sounds clean and tight. Charge goes until you're at the next power point, even if you're somewhere where there aren't alot of those. In this day & age, it's annoying to have something designed so you actually have to read the manual (like "how do you mute this again?", oh, volume down + off button, for an intermediate amount of time), but otherwise only complaint that KMC3 has no battery like the KMC1. I've had the Bose Soundlink 2, the Jawbox, the Foxl, the Sony SRS-BTX500, and several others - KMC1 beats them all by a great length.

Am considering getting two of the KMC1, with the splitter so it becomes proper stereo sound. That is A LOT of sound for the size and weight. But yeah, would have got the KMC3 (two of that, even, maybe) but no way am I starting using those batteries from the 70s again.... I'm looking for a shop with a refund policy so I can get two KMC1s, see what I think and decide if it's worth it. It's not really stocked a lot of places, though, is it ?

Ayone heard anyword if/when there might be a gen2 KMC-series ?

Again, thanks for your help

S

[minermark]

@$7 bones each, id buy a couple.