Audio cutting out with RCA splitters

[Cloisonne]

I have a 5-in-1 video selector, and 6 consoles. So I bought three Y RCA splitters to connect both a PS1 and PS2 to. Video goes through fine on both, but I don't get audio on the PS1. I get audio on the PS2. The PS1 video cables work fine when the PS2 audio cables aren't plugged into the splitter.

Is there any way around this without buying another video selector? I have a Pelican 5-in-1 Video Switcher, which are out of production and hard to find cheap, and I don't want to buy a different brand because they won't match.

EDIT: Or is there any way to connect >6 consoles to one TV? I plan on buying an Xbox in the future and was hoping to use AV splitters with my video switcher

[wiggy]

Have you tried swapping the PS2 and PS1 positions?  Sounds like a crap splitter to me.

Also, why do you want both hooked up? Seems redundant.

[Cloisonne]

Have you tried swapping the PS2 and PS1 positions?  Sounds like a crap splitter to me.

Also, why do you want both hooked up? Seems redundant.

Yup, tried it. The PS1's sound isn't completely gone, it's just gotten REALLY quiet, to the point where if I blast my sound system up all the way, I hear a little bit of fuzz and the FF7 Prelude very very quietly.

I prefer to play PS1 games on the original hardware. I know, it's weird.

[tbonesteak4dinner]

Is it just in one channel (left, right) or both? If it's just one, then you have a bad splitter, but if it's both, it's more likely that the splitters are causing issues with the way the PS1 and PS2 handle audio outputs. If I remember right, the PS2 has a sort of idle power state (you see a red light lit up) when the system is off - you're probably losing impedance (I think) on the PS1 signal since the PS2 is maintaining "active" power and still influencing the overall scheme somehow. Could be wrong on that, but it seems most likely to me.

You'll need a bigger switcher, or perhaps a pair of switchers in conjunction to cover all of your system. Y-splitters are generally a poor way to handle things as they generally result in at least a little signal loss.

[Cloisonne]

Is it just in one channel (left, right) or both? If it's just one, then you have a bad splitter, but if it's both, it's more likely that the splitters are causing issues with the way the PS1 and PS2 handle audio outputs. If I remember right, the PS2 has a sort of idle power state (you see a red light lit up) when the system is off - you're probably losing impedance (I think) on the PS1 signal since the PS2 is maintaining "active" power. Could be wrong on that, but it seems most likely to me.

You'll need a bigger switcher, or perhaps a pair of switchers in conjunction to cover all of your system. Y-splitters are generally a poor way to handle things as they generally result in at least a little signal loss.

Yup, I lose audio (almost) completely. The splitters are good.

So you're saying I should daisy-chain audio/video switchers?

[wiggy]

Try cutting power to the PS2 (the main switch on the back)

[Cloisonne]

Try cutting power to the PS2 (the main switch on the back)

It's a PS2 Slim, no switch in the back. I unplugged the PS2 then turned on the PS1, still no sound.

It's okay though, I found a second one of my audio/video switchers for cheap(er than usual) on eBay, and I ordered it.

Here's a second question: Now that I have two, should I daisy chain them (output the second one into the last input of the first one), or plug the splitters into my TV's main input, and output both of them to the TV?

[tbonesteak4dinner]

Try cutting power to the PS2 (the main switch on the back)

It's a PS2 Slim, no switch in the back. I unplugged the PS2 then turned on the PS1, still no sound.

It's okay though, I found a second one of my audio/video switchers for cheap(er than usual) on eBay, and I ordered it.

Here's a second question: Now that I have two, should I daisy chain them (output the second one into the last input of the first one), or plug the splitters into my TV's main input, and output both of them to the TV?

Try it both ways, it really depends on how those switchers are wired the the inside. In this case I might actually lean towards the splitter since one of the two switchers will always be off. But once again, that could cause problems, so try both and see which works best.

[wiggy]

Have you tested this splitter with any other systems?  It seriously sounds like a bunk splitter to me. There's no reason for that audio signal to degrade so badly even when nothing else it connected to it.

If you can get a set of splitters that work, then that's how I'd run the 2 switches; through the splitter versus chaining them.  Fewer buttons to mess with in order to just play a damned game

[Cloisonne]

Have you tested this splitter with any other systems?  It seriously sounds like a bunk splitter to me. There's no reason for that audio signal to degrade so badly even when nothing else it connected to it.

If you can get a set of splitters that work, then that's how I'd run the 2 switches; through the splitter versus chaining them.  Fewer buttons to mess with in order to just play a damned game

Nope, it's definitely something with the PS2. I put the splitters into the inputs of my TV, and attached my PS1 and the output of my switcher to the splitters. When I have the FF7 prelude running, the audio cuts out whenever I press the PS2 button, but not when I press any of the other four buttons. I mean, I get minor video differences when I press any of the other four buttons, but the audio is completely gone when I press the PS2 button.

I don't know the logic behind splitters, but I'm sure it's something to the tune of what tbonesteak4dinner was saying :3

No biggie! I have a second switcher coming in. I'll be able to connect more systems in the future if need be.

[tbonesteak4dinner]

Nope, it's definitely something with the PS2. I put the splitters into the inputs of my TV, and attached my PS1 and the output of my switcher to the splitters. When I have the FF7 prelude running, the audio cuts out whenever I press the PS2 button, but not when I press any of the other four buttons. I mean, I get minor video differences when I press any of the other four buttons, but the audio is completely gone when I press the PS2 button.

I don't know the logic behind splitters, but I'm sure it's something to the tune of what tbonesteak4dinner was saying :3

No biggie! I have a second switcher coming in. I'll be able to connect more systems in the future if need be.

Yeah, splitters are always a poor choice when you use them in reverse like this (you're technically joining two signals) because they don't disconnect the other output when one of the two is active. Most of the time, this just results in minor interference (like when you said you noticed slight video differences), but sometimes if one of the devices handles either it's power or output in a certain way, it'll either kill the impedance of the other signal or seriously interfere with it in some way.

Kind of like I said before, splitters really shouldn't exist at all because of how they work electronically - they always introduce signal loss in some way.

But you've already got another switcher coming, so you've made the right choice.