I am looking for a 2 pole, 12 position switch. I will be using it to switch between two 6 channel devices an AVR and a multichannel dac. So it will be between the dac or AVR and the Amps. Amps will be solid state. Working on a 5 channel Modulus 86 amp. The rotary switches come in two varieties either shorting or non-shorting. Shorting would be a “make before you break” scenario and the non-shorting would be a “break before you make” scenario. So which would be best for my situation? Not planning to switch the ground wires, just the signal wires.
Ensure the switch output is biased to ground with a resistor and not floating - you want to reduce switching transients - the DAC input circuit might involve an opamp that requires bias current for instance. Something in the range 10k to 100k should be safe. Ignore this advice if the output is AC-coupled through a capacitor though...
Shorting rotary switches are often used for gain-selection, stepped attenuator or gain-preset, to avoid gaps in the signal and to allow DC bias current to pass at all times. For source selection you never want to short two sources together.
Shorting rotary switches are often used for gain-selection, stepped attenuator or gain-preset, to avoid gaps in the signal and to allow DC bias current to pass at all times. For source selection you never want to short two sources together.
So it seems like non-shorting is the way to go. After looking at the switches more I think I need a 12 pole, 2 position switch to switch 12 wires to two locations instead of a 2 pole, 12 position switch. I found a grayhill one with a 2 position, 12 contacts per deck, 6 poles per deck which looks like it should work.
The other way to do this would be with a bunch of small signal relays. I can't imagine switches with so many poles are common.