Through out my audio adventures, every once and a while, I have encountered the need to split the audio signal to two inputs. There are occasions where I need A male RCA to two Female RCAs or vise versa. Either way I have come across a clever solution in an unlikely place, Walmart. For $4.50 I picked this up.

This is what came in the package.

Not exactly the "Y" adapters you were thinking of, huh. The rubber plug is used to block off the unused RCA jack.

If you need a male RCA to two female RCAs then this would be your solution.

If you need a female RCA to two male RCAs, then here you go.

Not too shabby if you ask me.

Wow, i needed one of these a few months ago, looked at Wal-Mart here and did not find any

nice idea.. i have tons of combos of Y's but as you might think i can never find THE pair i need.. untill its too late!.. this is a great option for somone like me who keep stuff around and uses it at will for odd jobs....

great find hugo,.

Question: Let's say you're in a situation that you need to use this.. perhaps.. Your HU only has one RCA output, but you need to run an amp for Mids/Highs and an Amp for your Subs. If you split the RCA signal from the ONE output on the HU and run the single signal (tongue twister ftw) to both amps, does it affect the output voltage at all as opposed to just running a single cable straight from the HU to one amplifier?

Well volume is controlled by the signal voltage. By splitting the signal you are essentially running two devices in parallel. Halving the resistance. When you do this to remain at the same voltage by V=I*R the current has to double. All you are really doing is forcing the source to increase current flow to keep the same voltage. So, you don't change the voltage (volume) only current draw from source. This can increase distortion, but has no effect on volume. You can demonstration this yourself by splitting the signal from your source and unplugging one side of the split notice how the volume doesn't change.

Question: Let's say you're in a situation that you need to use this.. perhaps.. Your HU only has one RCA output, but you need to run an amp for Mids/Highs and an Amp for your Subs. If you split the RCA signal from the ONE output on the HU and run the single signal (tongue twister ftw) to both amps, does it affect the output voltage at all as opposed to just running a single cable straight from the HU to one amplifier?

It will not give you any gain, the cable essentially splits the voltage between the two.

Question: Let's say you're in a situation that you need to use this.. perhaps.. Your HU only has one RCA output, but you need to run an amp for Mids/Highs and an Amp for your Subs. If you split the RCA signal from the ONE output on the HU and run the single signal (tongue twister ftw) to both amps, does it affect the output voltage at all as opposed to just running a single cable straight from the HU to one amplifier?

It will not give you any gain, the cable essentially splits the voltage between the two.

So are there any downfalls to splitting a signal this way?