Running headphones from a tape out?

I have a Yamaha RX-360 and the headphone jack is problematic, even after several shots of De-Oxit. It distorts, loses one channel at times, overall it's a pain.

I have RCA tape outs on the back of the receiver. Can I just run a male RCA->female 1/4" y-cable out the tape outs to power my headphones?

Thanks!

EDIT: I should mention that the purpose of the Yamaha is to drive my turntable for listening at work, so there are no speakers or anything else plugged into it.

 

Typically the volume control does not affect the tape-outs so that will be a problem. With the right adapter you could run them off the A or B speaker terminals. Here's one but it's silly expensive and has banana plugs which are not ideal for your receiver:
http://www.ttvjaudio.com/Banana_to_1_4_Headphone_Jack_adapter_p/the0000005.htm

Here's a much cheaper one but you'd need to cut off the RCA plugs:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/222622-REG/Hosa_Technology_YPR_257_Stereo_1_4_Female_to.html

 

High level outputs like tape or preamp out may be lacking sufficient current to drive low impedance (which is to say most) headphones.

 

That's very do-able. Any excuse to whip out the wire stripper. I'm guessing there's going to be a pos and neg wire for each RCA?

 

Most of the time that is the case but sometimes it's a coaxial design which is a little messier as you need to gather the shield into the (-) terminal:

 

Are you sure it's the Yamaha socket or could it be the headphone jack?

Could you not buy a phono amp with headphone out?

 

Not a good idea to connect headphones directly to RCA line-out jacks. The line-outs aren't designed to drive headphones.

What you can do is connect a headphone amp to the tape outputs of your amp. A $99 Schiit Magni amp would likely work well for that (depends on your particular headphones as for whether the Magni is a good choice).

 

No brainer here. Not the jack but the 1/8" -> 1/4" adapter. I just took it apart and hosed it with De-Oxit. After a scratchy beginning there's some improvement.

 

Ah, go RadioShack and get a new adapter. Like this one: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102667
Make sure it's stereo (three connection, tip ring sleeve) and not mono.