general purpose relay to mute/ground outputs

[mazurek]

Is it ok to use a general purpose relay to ground outputs of my active crossover when it turns off? I understand that relays can be bad for interference and distortion, but would think that it would be ok if it is disconnected when the crossover is on.

My issue is that I would like to power the relay from the mains 120 vac, because I think it would not deactivate quickly enough if powered from the same dc supply which powers the op amps (and causes huge cone excursion when it turns off). It seems that getting a 6PDT 120vac relay would be the simplest solution to my muting problem. Any potential issues.

Thanks everyone for the help so far. I will be writing up my whole active loudspeaker project in the coming weeks.

[AndrewT]

Hi,
a DC relay drawing power from ONE diode to ground of a PSU bridge into a small cap then to transistor switch on the relay coil can and does give quick release.

I think AC relays are slow speed affairs to enable "hold in" as the wave form goes low.

The muting relay goes post line resistor then to ground. It is effectively out of circuit when mute is off except for a tiny amount of terminal and contact capacitance. There is no sound quality issue. However AC here may couple to the audio channel.