Combined Amplifier and Mixer

Posted on Jan 7, 2005

On my desk at home I have a couple of computers that occasionally want to beep or flarp at me. Sometimes I play music on one or more of them, watch a DVD or listen to some music from my iPod (thanks Haroon!).

Right now each of the ’things’ outputting sound does it through its’ own set of speakers. If any kind of quality is desired then it’s necessary to use some kind of external speakers and amplification, but if I have about four devices, it’s obviously not practical to have four amplifiers and eight (minimum!) speakers!

So, I’d like to buy an amplifier that includes a mixer. This would allow me to connect all of my beeping, flarping computers, etc. and balance the sound level between them. I could plug in headphones and have the various bits of audio all delivered to one place.

A normal amplifier won’t do, as it selects from the sound sources rather than combining them.

Given that this thing has to sit on or near to my desk a traditional studio mixing desk is not really practical. It would also be overkill. Something styled like a traditional hi-fi component would be ideal.

Does what I want exist?