>>Any ideas how to change audio to '2 Outputs' to '1 Stereo' in Sequence Settings of FCP 5.1.4? I'm always having to render my audio after importing!<<
One thing really doesn't have anything to do with the other. If you're finding the need to render audio in the Timeline, it simply means that the audio clips don't match your Sequence settings .... typically caused by importing audio that doesn't work natively in FCP, like MP3 or even AIF files from a CD at the wrong sampling rate. FCP does work natively with AIF audio at 48khz, 16 bit or AIF at 32 khz, 12 bit. Since CD audio files are 44.1 khz, they (and other formats) should be converted to the proper format and settings PRIOR to importing.
And to change a pair of audio clips from mono to a stereo pair, highlight the clip in the Timeline and hit Option l (lowercase L), or another way is to simply pan one clip left and the other right. However, that won't change the need to render if you're using the wrong format.
-DH