2 devices connected to one set of speakers, only one device playing at a time?

[asandahl1]

Here's my dilemma... I have two devices that I want connected through the same set of speakers. My situation is a bit different than most people asking this same question. The two devices are my pc and an Amazon Echo dot. Thing is, I would be only playing one of the devices at a time. I see they sell cables online that allow for two male 3.5mm jacks to be joined to make one female 3.5mm jack, usually used to join a microphone and headphone jack on pc to one 4-pole jack. See link below for cable...

http/img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_214923_1.jpg

Now I know if both were simultaneously playing audio there could be issues with sound cards and such.. but if only one device was playing audio at a time, would that be an issue? The sound signal coming out of one device would also be appearing at the output of the other device and I don't know if that is an issue or not. Could someone who knows a bit about audio explain if this would be bad? I haven't done it yet because I'm afraid it might ruin one of the devices.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Alabalcho]

First - the cable you've mentioned is not going to work, it made specifically for this setup (TRRS to TRS + TS).
If you want to go cable route, the cable you need is called "Y splitter" - usually allowing two headphones to be connected to single audio output.

In your case, I would rather go with a mixer, or even custom-made one (two resistors in each output going to the input).

 

[rhondam19128]

I am trying to do the same thing, have you found a way to make it work yet?