Home Stereo 'mixer'

P

Peter Kowalczyk

Freshman
Apr 12, 2013
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Truckee, CA
I've been using a basic mixing board with mic pre's, etc, to select inputs in my home stereo rig, but I'm interested in finding a more elegant solution that features:

* compact
* Balanced Stereo output (driving powered monitors)
* 4 or more unbalanced stereo inputs, either mutually exclusive or mixed
* 1 or more balanced stereo inputs
* Good build and audio quality

bonus points for:
* EQ on inputs, outputs, or both
* Integrated Phono preamp w/ RIAA EQ
* An additional output bus of some sort

Anyone aware of a piece like that that would work well as a home stereo source selector?

Thx
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

What is your price point?

Asking for something that has balanced outs and an RIAA preamp and eq on inputs with an extra output buss is not exactly common.
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

Peter Kowalczyk said:
I've been using a basic mixing board with mic pre's, etc, to select inputs in my home stereo rig, but I'm interested in finding a more elegant solution that features:

* compact
* Balanced Stereo output (driving powered monitors)
* 4 or more unbalanced stereo inputs, either mutually exclusive or mixed
* 1 or more balanced stereo inputs
* Good build and audio quality

bonus points for:
* EQ on inputs, outputs, or both
* Integrated Phono preamp w/ RIAA EQ
* An additional output bus of some sort

Anyone aware of a piece like that that would work well as a home stereo source selector?

Thx
Click to expand...

Call me crazy, but it sounds like a higher end DJ mixer would work. Multiple unbalanced inputs including RIAA, balanced outputs, usually an independently controllable "booth" output, EQ on the inputs, and they're usually built and sound good when used properly. Maybe look at Rane or Pioneer.
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

Hello

My home stereo preamp is old ReVox C279 mixer with two built in stereo RIAA-preamps. Outputs patchable to any inputs.
Six channels - each having Mic-input / XLR-balanced line input / stereo RCA-line input / input selector / gain / treble / bass / AUX / pan/bal / PFL / Fader

Both balanced and unbalanced outputs available

There is a Studer version of it, that has more balanced options.

Both are rack-mountable with removable rack-ears and wood side panels are available or doable.

These go in eBay for 700,- and up to 2000,-


Sound quality Studer-ReVox
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

Good suggestions. A DJ mixer might be the right idea. I was hoping to find a simple analog 1RU piece for a few hundred bucks, but of all the options, this comes closest without going 'over' and including more than I need:
http://www.ashly.com/products/data-sheets/lx-308b.pdf

Built in RIAA is optional in my application; I have a standalone phono pre with RIAA EQ that I can use if necessary.

I do like the idea of USB playback in the MP25 and some other similar-format DJ mixers, since I'm often playing back from my computer. The MP25 seems to be the same price as the analog Rane MP2016S that also caught my eye. ..which is to say 'more than I was hoping to spend.' Most of the DJ mixers seem a over-spec'd for this application, but hey...

What are you all using in your home stereo / entertainment center? Perhaps I should separate the consumer-level, unbalanced pre-amp subsystem from the EQ / Balanced output subsystem...
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

Peter Kowalczyk said:
Good suggestions. A DJ mixer might be the right idea. I was hoping to find a simple analog 1RU piece for a few hundred bucks, but of all the options, this comes closest without going 'over' and including more than I need:
http://www.ashly.com/products/data-sheets/lx-308b.pdf

Built in RIAA is optional in my application; I have a standalone phono pre with RIAA EQ that I can use if necessary.

I do like the idea of USB playback in the MP25 and some other similar-format DJ mixers, since I'm often playing back from my computer. The MP25 seems to be the same price as the analog Rane MP2016S that also caught my eye. ..which is to say 'more than I was hoping to spend.' Most of the DJ mixers seem a over-spec'd for this application, but hey...

What are you all using in your home stereo / entertainment center? Perhaps I should separate the consumer-level, unbalanced pre-amp subsystem from the EQ / Balanced output subsystem...
Click to expand...

I just re-used an old Samsung DVD thing and I complain when it sounds bad. Saves lots of money.
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

If you are interested in the 1RU solutions, there are a lot of options out there...
One from my employer: Peavey Commercial Audio SMR-821a

Then there are options from Rolls:
I have one of these and it works great: Rolls MX122
This looks good, but the output is unbalanced RCA: Rolls MX153
If you have a lot of sources this might be what you want: Rolls RM219
Or, this might be up you alley with a remote level control: Rolls RM67

The thing is all of these do not have infrared remote controls so you can lay on the couch and adjust the level. This is a basic feature that any home theater receiver will have. It will usually also have at least five channels of power amplifiers built in and some will even have unbalanced RCA line output jacks so you can hook them up to whatever power amplifiers you want. There are some other great features that can be found in the home theater receivers like being DLNA devices on your network or integrating Apple's AirPlay technology on your network. These can be really handy features for more casual listening experiences.

In short, do not overlook the features and conveniences provided by the home stereo market these days. They are relatively cheap and generally work pretty well.
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

Josh Millward said:
In short, do not overlook the features and conveniences provided by the home stereo market these days. They are relatively cheap and generally work pretty well.
Click to expand...

thanks Josh, those 1RU units are more like what i had in mind. But on your suggestion, I'm looking at home stereo pre-amps, and seeing that many have balanced outputs

e.g. http://www.stereophile.com/content/parasound-halo-p-5-21-channel-da-preamplifier.

... with all the basic features I need and at lower cost and shorter height (fewer RU) than the rane DJ mixer we discussed.
 
Re: Home Stereo 'mixer'

Peter Kowalczyk said:
What are you all using in your home stereo / entertainment center? Perhaps I should separate the consumer-level, unbalanced pre-amp subsystem from the EQ / Balanced output subsystem...
Click to expand...
I use a 17 year old Technics SA EX-600 receiver (has a nifty servomotor remote controlled analog volume control) with an Alesis DEQ830 (a stereo DEQ230 would do, but this gives an 8 channel back up for my road systems) inserted on the tape loop for 99 recallable 1/3 octave EQ presets. The digital sound output of the TV is converted to analog with a tiny Gefen TV digital audio converter.
 
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