Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 5.1 to 4 Channel Downmix

This is topic 5.1 to 4 Channel Downmix in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 11-17-2007, 08:31 PM:

I have a Pioneer DV-600V DVD player, I can downmix DTS and Dolby Digital down to 2 channels or to pro logic with this unit. I am nearing completion of my active 4 way speaker but thought I would also like surrounds in my setup. I have a rear projection TV so having a center channel is not practical and defiantly not practical to make it match my 4 way L/Rs. Does anyone know of a product or have a schematic to take 5.1 channels, sum the center and sub signals and mix them into the Left and Right channels?

Posted by Alban Birch (Member # 4121) on 01-01-2008, 07:32 AM:

I know that you can tell the Yamaha-amps which speakerconfiguration is connected: Stereo, LCR, Left-Right with Surrounds and 5.1. You can switch the Sub on or off in every configuration and even, if the sub is only LFE or if it is helping the frontspeakers out in case you have small speakers.
Tell me which amp you have and I could check out if you have that possibility

Posted by Robert Minichino (Member # 3495) on 01-01-2008, 10:45 AM:

If it's an active speaker the amplifiers are going to be in them; he's connecting them directly to the DVD player from what I can tell.

To get a good 4 channel downmix you'll need to use an outboard processor, either a receiver with line-level outputs or separate pre/pro. If you're cost-sensitive use an inexpensive receiver's speaker level outputs (heresy, I know, but it works great).

The least expensive new pre/pro that I'm aware of is the Outlaw Audio 970 (about $600), but you might be able to find a good deal on a used Lexicon with quite a bit of searching.