What is an Echo Mixer?
Q. I want to sing but my DVD player has no Mic Input. What should I do?
A. Your DVD player is just an ordinary player which is meant for watching DVD movies only. If you want to sing, you have 3 Options:-
(1) Buy a Karaoke Echo Mixer.
(2) Buy a VCD Machine with full Karaoke functions. Nowadays, the price of a VCD Karaoke machine is more or less the same as a mixer. Keep your DVD player for watching movies and use the VCD Karaoke machine for singing.
(3) Buy an advance DVD machine with full Karaoke functions. Then, you can enjoy a real digital surround sound by turning your home into a theatre and also other DVD functions, e.g. MP3 with menu and viewing e-pictures. Of course, you can also enjoy recording and playing back your singing..
Q. What is an echo mixer?
A. Basically, an echo mixer is an electronic device, acting as an “in-between” an audio player and your stereo receiver (amplifier). It should not have anything to do with the video (picture) and itself is not an amplifier.
Q. How is an echo mixer operated?
A. It inputs both audio signal (sound, music) from any audio source (e.g. DVD player, VCD player, audio cassette player, etc.) and your at the same time when you sing through the mic input. It provides reverberation (echo effect) with repeat and delay, digitally controlled. You can then sing more comfortably. It helps to blend in nicely both the music of the song and your voice. That’s what we call “Mixing” and that’s why it is called a mixer. After it mixes the music with your vocal, it outputs the sound to your loudspeakers through your stereo receiver (amplifier).
Q. Can I hook up the mixer directly to my loudspeakers?
A. No! The “driving” power of your receiver must be matching with the “power handling capacity” of your loudspeakers. It is a bad design to built-in an amplifier of a fixed power output in the mixer. In case your loudspeakers’ handling power is not matching, it may either damage your speakers or your mixer will be overheat.
Q. If my DVD Karaoke Machine already has mic inputs, should I also buy a mixer?