grounding question

i am building a switch box, so that i can run multiple digital audio cables into the box, and have a single output, that is switchable.

my question is:

can i just run a single wire through all of the incoming ground contacts, and have that same wire go to the ground on the output?

i know this is a little hard to understand, without knowing exactly what i am doing. just try to imagine a panel with a bunch of rca jack on it (8 to be exact), and i am using 7 of them as inputs, and one as an output. can i just connect all the grounding points as one connection, and not even bother with running ground lines through the switch?

yes. simply.

Well you may have a ground loop , even with todays equipment it happens , but in general You should be fine.

so there's no chance that one of the grounds (or more) could contain stray voltage that would contaminate the rest of the signals leading to noise/hum in the audio?

No actually there is a chance but there are cures.............heck guy go to walmart and by a 4 input 1 out box for $12 and see if it works. custom applications always cost more then off the shelf. If your doing it for fun ,cool, if your building it for application seek out ready made products, it's cheaper and less aggravation. Try Smarthouse.com

Yes, there is nothing wrong at all with wiring the grounds together, it's done all the time.