If you ever tried to use the down mixed 5.1 stereo output from conventional DVD player, you know how bad the sound can get compared to using the real 5.1 discrete output. Actually when using the down mixed stereo, the volume or dynamic range can lost as much as 50% compared to real 5.1 soundtrack!! But, what do you do when you want to have all the volume and impact in 5.1 track to be playbacked in high end stereo, yet you don’t need the features on those expensive receiver or surround processor and can’t justify the expense of buying them to do the decoding?

Recently, I found a very cost effective solution to this problem. All one needs to buy is a DVD player that provides onboard 5.1 analog output (Oppo would do this) and an external 3 channel stereo mini mixer for the stereo mixing. (in this case, I bought Rolls MX-28 mini-mix VI because of its amazing dynamic range of +30 DBV and cost only $80 dollars from ZZsound) By doing this, it actually allows you to retain all the stereo separation in the 5.1 mix and keeps all the dynamic range intact!!

There are actually many kinds of excellent mixers out there for this type of simple mixing duty. But, for now, I’ll briefly describe my connection with the Rolls MX-28. The connection is actually a very simple and straightforward process. There are three stereo inputs (6 quarter inch unbalanced jacks) on this Rolls mini mixer. You simply purchase few RCA to 1/4-inch adapters; connect them with the 5.1 outputs from your DVD player. One pair for front LR channel, the other for Surround LR, and the remaining pair can be used as mono input for the center channel (for mono signal use Right input). And this actually leaves you one spare jack, you can use the last one as subwoofer channel input, but depending if you want that “.1” channel to be mixed in, you can choose not to connect it. In my case, I didn’t find a need to connect it since my LCR is powerful enough without using any additional sub-frequency cabinet for that so-called “LFE”. Well… enough said… Then, you connect the mixed LR output from the mixer to rest of your signal processing gears. (EQ, active crossover, etc…)

There is also a gain level and a balance pan for each pair of input on the mixer. The master level and headphone level are also included. You can control relative level of the front LR, surround LR and center mono input and their pan position within the stereo image from the mixer. For example, if you want to emphasize the dialogue and make the center image to be stronger, just boost the center input gain. If you want to have wider stereo side just raise the front LR input gain. The pan control allows you to pan the signal around within the stereo image. The master level allows you to raise the overall signal level. The headphone lets you monitor the mix if you want to use headphone.

Now it is done. When you playback it in stereo, you will find everything from the 5.1 mix will be in there with dynamic and impact, the bass will hit as hard just like playing the CD. One caution of doing this is that you must sure your equipments are capable of receiving high output level from the mixer without any clipping. When everything is mixed into stereo, the output level will be very high. So, watch out your gain level if you have signal level meter and play it safe…

I personally tested few disks. (Kill Bill vol.1, Blade 2, Austin power 2) The result is excellent. The sound is so explosive, I found I have to lower the gain to +2 or +3 in the Oppo DVD players otherwise it clips too easily. This may be due to the ultra high input gain from the mixer (as high as +33 DBV!!)

Anyway, maybe many people don’t find this useful since majority of people are using surround processor. But, if you’re on the tight budget and don’t need those fancy features found on surround processors, yet have a very good stereo playback system, this is a good solution.