I have used by A1 extensively in Stereo Mode with the XLR adapter. In other words, Ch1 is the left channel microphone and Ch2 is the right channel mic. This has seved me well when I'm recording and want the stereo effect after edit.
Recently I recorded a lecture where the narrator mic and the audience mic were on separate channels. However, I did not like the final edit because the sound predominately came from the left speaker (narrator)and only occasionally from the right speaker (audience). It would have been much better if both channels could have been mixed in the camera to produce a combined effect (mono). Note: This can not be fixed during edit as both left and right channels are on the same track.
I have tried various setting on the camera but can not find the right one; maybe there is no right one.
Any ideas?

I don't have an A1, so can't help you there, but it can absolutely be fixed in post. Every NLE should have a way to split the two channels into different tracks and then fill left or right as necessary.

You would never, ever want to mix them in the cam... once they're mixed you can't separate them. What would you do if the audience somehow came in louder than the speaker? You'd be out of luck if they were mixed.

Edit: according to page 20 of the manual, you could send Input 1 to both channels and have no Input 2, but you can't mix both and send to both channels.

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Adam
Proud owner of 8, no, 7, no, wait, now NINE Sony HDV cams. Checking into rehab next week.
"There are no experimental failures. There's only more data."

Thanks for the reply Adam.

I've tried fixing in post but my NLE (Roxio) like most (I'm told) can not separate the single native audio track (containing left & right channels) into two tracks. I dinked around with another audio editor, but with mixed results. Seems when you separate L & R and try to mix them, the combined audio level is way down. I can not find a combination that works.
Yes, page 20 of the user manual shows a chart, but like you said, you can not mix both inputs and send to both channels. Maybe the solution is adding a small field mixer. Both mics would be balanced here and the mixed output would go to Input 1 on the XLR adapter with the switch set to CH1,CH2. Now the mixed audio appears on both Channel 1 & 2 on the tape. But also like you said, what if the mix is off!
So the jury is still out on this one.