2 channels vinyl mixer around $1k

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
1

2 channels vinyl mixer around $1k

Yet another mixer question. I am looking to upgrade from my current Pioneer 250Mk2 which sounds terrible on my sound system; also wondering about rotary mixers… I am mostly mixing house and techno.

Here is setup:
Turntables:mk2 (only mixing vinyls, no Tractor)
Amp: Rega Brio-R
Speaker: Kudos X2

Thanks for your help.

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I’d be surprised if the mixer actually sounds bad. If the overall sound is poor more likely to be a setup or gain staging problem. Is the sound ok through the mixer headphone output?

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Check out Mixars Duo.
Great mixer and sound quality.

4

Good point on the gain setting. Yes I make sure nothing goes in the red (the music quality from the headphone is ok).
The problem with the mixer and the speakers I have is that there is way too much bass and not enough highs (at the mixer neutral level). Even when I adjust for this on the mixer the sound is never as good as the sound I get without the mixer (i.e. with the mixer the sound is not as “crisp”).

5

More likely something not right with the turntables, cables, or amp. Have you tried swapping the cables or changing the RCA source input on the amp? Playing the turntable directly into the amp? Using a digital source on the mixer?

6

Several users reported bad quality pre-amps in DJM-250mk2 and Interface2, that’s probably the issue.

7

Thanks a lot for the reply and suggestion. I followed your ideas and this is what I found:
a) Sound straight from my mk2 via amp to speaker is great
b) Digital sound going via amp to speaker is good too.
c) Digital sound going through mixer then amp to speaker is not great (“too warm”/“too much bass”). This is the type of sound I’m getting when my mk2 are plugged into the mixer

Anything else you would recommend to try (I also swapped the cable and only have one phono line in for my amp)

Thanks. Based on c) above this would also tend to be my conclusion.

8

What input on your amp is the DJM-250mk2 connected to?

I ask because if you are connecting the mixer into the amp’s phono input, you would get the results you are experiencing.

You need to connect the mixer to a line level input (CD/Aux/Tape)

9

Thanks a lot for the question. I was using the phono one and as you suggested after I moved to another input the sound is much better (though not as good as directly from turntable to the amp); so great improvement. Thanks!

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Great - glad things are sounding better!

One final tip - if the sound is still not as good as it should be, it is possible you are clipping the amp inputs - try turning down the master gain on the mixer and turning the amp volume up. If this improves things, the DJM250 has a master attenuator, so it might be worth setting that to -6 or -12dB (see page 19 of the manual).

Just in case you are interested - the reason connecting to the phono output gives a very bassy sound is that the amp’s phono input will apply the inverse RIAA curve which boosts the bass and cuts the highs. The mixer has already applied this to the turntable output so it doesn’t need to be done a second time. See RIAA equalization - Wikipedia for more info.

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If you still want a two channel rotary under $1000, check out Omnitronic’s offerings.

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Or this empath

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For some reason, your link gets hijacked by viglink.com.

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Djtechtools monetizing links? Click on the “go to link” or something on the viglinks thing. Or opt out. Or copy paste address.

15

ublocked.

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I would have bought that in a heartbeat if I didn’t already have a 2016. That might be my favorite mixer ever.

That being said, rotaries are a strange mix of nostalgia and just fun. And, IMHO, it’s worth saving up for what you really want, whatever it is. Despite my 2016, I’m probably going to be saving up for an ARS 4100 eventually. Hopefully before they’re discontinued.

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What about the Mastersounds Radius mixers?

https://mastersounds.co.uk/collections/mixers

They were designed by Andy Rigby-Jones, the man behind the Xone series

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It’s in contention too. Honestly, the ARS is winning right now because of aesthetics…I like really simple mixers at this point. Didn’t you guys do an article not long ago along the lines of “Do you really need all this gear?”.

The channel-sends are very inticing, though. As is the simplicity of a desktop form factor. If I’m splitting hairs, I’ve always preferred the flatter rane sound to the mid-forward xone sound, but I’m sure you know it’s a very small difference. And, honesty, I’m not sure how the ARS is voiced…considering that these mixers are a xone-designer and a urei-rebuilder…neither one is going to sound bad, but they’re going to be voiced somewhat differently.

I don’t need one. I still have my 2016, and it still works just fine, has all of the features I really need, and sounds at least as good as any mixer I’ve owned on every system I’ve tried it on. Whenever I upgrade, it’s almost certainly going to be one of those two…unless somebody comes up with a dead simple all-digital rotary, ideally with at least one built in sound card, matrix assignments, 4-6 stereo channels in, and 2 sends. But, I’m pretty sure that won’t happen…I might be the only person in the entire world that wants that.

I need a new home system before I do it though…the Rokits that won’t die are by-far the shortcoming at home right now.

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I couldn’t live without S/R anymore…

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I can see that. What do you have in the loop?

There was a time when I was thinking about switching to an Apollo 16 for my interface and using some of UAD’s awesome delay and reverb plugins. I’ve done things like that with Ableton Live in the past (as an effects processor) and was really happy with the results…it just got to be too much “stuff” to control it all for very little actual use.