The rasplex system sends it's audio via the HDMI interface to the tv. The television then sends the audio to my HiFi system, but before it does that, it will have normalized the volume.
It's in the menu system of the TV, it's called "Auto volume".
If it's possible to do via the TV, should it not also be possible straight from the Rasplex.
For I have setup the raspberry to send 5.1 audio via the HDMI cable. And whether or not I turn the "Auto Volume" on or off, I still hear audio coming from all speakers.
I found this issue most obviously when playing certain 5.1 content via analog out (*cough*300*cough*); the centre channel was not getting converted at all, leaving what was basically the echo of the talking on the left and right. Extremely quiet normally, but in the case of 300 they only put talking on the centre channel.
This was fixed as a bug in the audio mixer of the firmware, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something like this crop up again, even in HDMI.