Apparatus for down-mixing an m-channel audio signal (L, R, C, Ls, Rs, Rss, Lss) into a n-channel audio signal (Ro, Lo), where m is an integer for which holds m > n and n is an integer for which holds n ≥ 2, comprising - inputs for receiving the m-channel audio signal, - a down-mixing circuit for converting the m-channel audio signal into the n-channel audio signal, - outputs for supplying the n-channel audio signal to a plurality of loudspeakers, characterized in that said down-mixing circuit comprises first and second signal pre-processing units (H1, H2) for pre-processing a front-center surround signal component of the m-channel audio signal prior to down-mixing the m-channel audio signal into the n-channel audio signal, the pre-processing steps on the front-center surround signal component being equivalent to first and second pre-filtering functions H1 and H2 respectively, which first and second filtering functions H1 and H2 at least substantially satisfy the following formulae: H c − re = H 1 * H fr − re, and H c − le = H 2 * H fl − le where H(c-re) and H(c-le) are the frequency characteristics of the transmission paths between the position of the front-center loudspeaker and the positions of a right ear and left ear, respectively, of a listener, in an m-channel surround reproduction situation, and H(fr-re) is the frequency characteristic of the transmission path between the position of the front-right loudspeaker and the position of the right ear of the listener, in an n-channel stereo reproduction situation, and H(fl-le) is the frequency characteristic of the transmission path between the position of the front-left loudspeaker and the position of the left ear of the listener, in an n-channel reproduction situation, the down-mixing circuit further comprises a first signal combination unit for combining a right channel signal component of the m-channel audio signal with the front-center channel signal component pre-filtered by said first pre-filtering function, and comprises a second signal combination unit for combining a left channel signal component of the m-channel audio signal with the front-center channel signal component pre-filtered by said second pre-filtering function. - inputs for receiving the m-channel audio signal, - a down-mixing circuit for converting the m-channel audio signal into the n-channel audio signal, - outputs for supplying the n-channel audio signal to a plurality of loudspeakers, where H(c-re) and H(c-le) are the frequency characteristics of the transmission paths between the position of the front-center loudspeaker and the positions of a right ear and left ear, respectively, of a listener, in an m-channel surround reproduction situation, and H(fr-re) is the frequency characteristic of the transmission path between the position of the front-right loudspeaker and the position of the right ear of the listener, in an n-channel stereo reproduction situation, and H(fl-le) is the frequency characteristic of the transmission path between the position of the front-left loudspeaker and the position of the left ear of the listener, in an n-channel reproduction situation, the down-mixing circuit further comprises a first signal combination unit for combining a right channel signal component of the m-channel audio signal with the front-center channel signal component pre-filtered by said first pre-filtering function, and comprises a second signal combination unit for combining a left channel signal component of the m-channel audio signal with the front-center channel signal component pre-filtered by said second pre-filtering function.