Let me first say, that I am no electrical engineer so thanks for taking the time to deal with a layman.
Background
In my workshop, I have two sets of speakers hooked up to a common 3.5mm audio source using a "Y" adapter.
One set of speakers is high on top of a shelf and for louder music when barbecuing or whatever. The second set is down low at the work bench level and is for listening while working at the work bench.
I have built a little panel with a couple of potentiometers that I can use as volume knobs to control the relative volume of each speaker set independently.
Problem
I wired everything up yesterday and all works as expected except that when I use the speakers together, turning one volume knob to zero kills the signal to both sets of speakers.
To be clear, turning just one knob does not lower the volume of the other set of speakers as it does it's own set of speakers, but when I turn the knob 100% to the "off" position, both sets of speakers go silent.
What am I missing here? I can't understand how in the world one knob would affect the other set of speakers at all.
Here is a crummy wiring diagram:
Thanks in advance.
Best Answer
Yep, as @Andy aka noted, you want to swap your red lines. The result should look like this:
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
Here is a pretty good resource: http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/Pots/ There is a section on volume control that reiterates the circuit above.