Control A1 vs A1II; Audio fade

I currently own Sony CDP-CX240, CDP-CX400 and MDS-JE700. I am thiking about purchasing another CX400. Both the CX240 and JE700 are A1 devices whereas the CX400 is selectable to either. I am very interested in purchasing the Slink-e but have a few questions or concerns.

I cannot get the CX400 to talk to the CX240 unless I set it to the A1 mode. On the other hand, I have read in the FAQ/BBS that people are having problems with their 400 disc player playing more than 200 discs unless set to A1II mode. With the Slink-e having 4 S-link ports will I now be able to have one set to A1 and the other set to A1II? I am 'assuming' this would work because the two players are now talking to the Slink-e and not each other. Is this a safe assumption?

Secondly, if I am connecting multiple players to the Slink-e rather than each other how does the cross fade work? Currently, with the two players connected directly to each other I can understand how it works. Breaking this direct-connect link and adding a third player now confuses me. My guess is I have to add an audio mixer to feed all outputs in and then feed the output of this to a single input on my receiver. (Not my preffered choice if it could be avoided!)

Thanks,