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I'm looking for a stereo mixer. I want to mix my CD player output with the piano output, and play both through an amplifier.

I bought a used Radio Shack SSM-60 mixer and it works, but it has too much background hiss. I need something better (but still cheap).

Any suggestions?

I have this one
Works well and is quiet.

Thanks.

That one (Peavey PV8) looks good. Too good, actually. It's way more than I need.

I only need two channels, with level controls.

Any other ideas?
Thanks again.

I was going to suggest making your own, if it's just two line-level signals. But then I saw how cheap they are to buy, e.g.:

http://www.avstorm.co.uk/Switch_box..._way_passive_stereo_mixer_BT35_1754.html

Hardly worth getting the soldering iron out these days

Some keyboards have L R line in that would do the job. Have you looked to see if yours has?

Studio Joe: I have Line In. But I don't use it. I use external speakers.
kevinb: Hadn't thought about a passive mixer. That seems like a good (and REALLY cheap) idea.

Mac, the signal from your line in will be mixed internally with the line out, and the mix of the two will drive your external speakers.

The relative level of the two signals might not what you want if you don't have an output level control on your CD player.

And you'll never struggle to find a power outlet to plug it into, or find it with flat batteries.

The problem with this design is that the extra series impedance in the lines can lead to a bit of extra high-frequency attenuation. A particular model won't suit all sources or all amplifiers. But they're so cheap that it's not a huge gamble.

I bought a cheap one too. The problem with the cheap mixers is that preamps are poor quality and you get hiss. Spend about $100 and buy a Mackie 402. They are small and don't take a lot of space.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/402VLZ3/

If you can afford $200 then buy the bigger 802. It is more than you'd need for this but it is big enough to do other jobs that might come up later. But if you are sure you only need a small mixer for an iPod, Piano and maybe a mic then a 402 should work

Doesn't work. The signal on Line In appears on the internal speakers, but not on the Line Out. The latter plays piano only. (FYI, this is a CLP-240.)
Indeed, that was my experience.
I took a look. It would work, but it won't be suitable for a living room. The connectors are on top and they're big 1/4" phone plugs. I'd prefer RCA plugs, on the back, hidden from view. Thanks anyway.

It will be very hard to find a pro quality mixer that uses consumer audio connectors. All of the quality mixers will have either 1/4" phono or XLR conectors

If you don't like the cables standing up then get the kind of 1/4" plugs that have a 90 degree band.

I would tend to disagree with this. There are plenty of rack-mount studio mixers with RCA phono connectors on the back. I have owned several over the yers. They often have fatter connectors on the front too, but these are for patching.

There's no real evidence at all that, for a semi-permanent connection, you'll get signal degradation with RCA connectors. OK, I'm talking about the good quality ones, not the ones you get on budget hifi gear that appear to be made of lead.

The real problem with cheap mixers, in my experience, is the quality of the potentiometers. It usually doesn't take long before they crackle when you slide/turn them. But even the cheapest mixer shouldn't hiss if it's used properly -- electronic components are so cheap now that even studio-grade op-amps only cost pennies. It must take real effort to make a bad mixer these days.

I guess not all work the same. I used line in on my Yamaha P120 to mix an external sound module with local voices for years in public performance, with line out of the P120 feeding the PA.

I've been looking through some of my old posts, and I thought I'd update this one ...

I ended up building my own mixer.

There were plenty of design examples online. I adapted one of those, and I made it a three-input mixer. So I can mix the piano output with a CD player and an Ipod for play-along. (Okay ... in the time since my last post the wife commandeered the Ipod, so the Droid fills in that role.)

All done for about $35. It wasn't tough ... I used to do plenty of work of this type, although this time my eyes needed 3.0 reading glasses to get it done.

Nice work Mac. I do find soldering skills a great advantage myself - though I seldom build anything so grand that it would go in a box - usually just kooky leads and adaptors - so admire folks who take it further. Is your mixer worthy of a photo?

If I'd seen your thread first time round I'd have let you know that I have one of these by my DP and it does the job admirably...