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I set up a large model train display Thomas the tank engine theme several times a year at public shows. 10 trains or more the kids can run with Lion Chief controllers bolted to fence. I have been trying to get sounds for the kids. (have the sound buttons on remotes covered as they get all the bells going and cannot hear which train is making noise)

I instead have mounted wood trains on fence with sounds and when the kids push buttons can hear the sounds close to them. Speakers wired from wooden train to a larger speaker in a cardboard tube to give it more volume. But they are not loud enough at train shows and I would like to wire them instead to computer stereo speakers I can mount inside my fence and adjust the volume for???

I have one push button phone toy that makes lots of different Thomas theme sounds, that I have wired a stereo plug to and at shows connect some old used computer stereo speakers into this with the plug and can adjust computer speakers volume inside the fence so they can hear the sounds at a noisy train shows.

My ? is I would like to put in more of these connected to other toy sound phones and wooden sound engines; being able to have one phone or train set of sounds on the right speaker and other on the left speaker??? 

So can I run the wires cutting wire to toy speaker and instead run wire from my toy 1 to the common and left speaker wire plug and toy 2 to the same common wire to the speakers and right speaker? Will there be any interference or will I damage anything when a wire from each of the 2  toys is connected to the common wire to the speakers??   And which wire is which on the stereo plug???

Here are some photos of the setups that I use. Control boards I screw to the top of my fence with the push buttons and sound buttons and Lion Chief controls attached so kids can run train but not push sounds or damage the speed control.IMG_4147IMG_4148IMG_4149IMG_4150IMG_4151IMG_4152

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Last edited by kj356
Original Post

Since your toys are battery-powered (3 button cells or 4.5V) they are electrically isolated from each other so you can share the common wire to the stereo amp.  The common is the long contact on the plug.  The outermost contact (aka tip) is Left, the inner contact (aka ring) is Right.

I don't think you'll encounter this but if you hear clipping or distortion no matter the volume setting of your stereo amp, the toy may be putting out too much speaker voltage(!).  Some audio amps are configured to accept so-called line-level inputs where full scale is less than what a toy sound chip running at 4.5V might put out.  Obviously there was no consideration in the design of the toy to connect to an external amplifier.

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