Ok, I am a total n00b; therefore, I am looking for a setup that would last me for quite a while, i.e. I will not grow out of it.

Currently I am looking at Stanton ST100 or Technics 1200. DJM-500 or 600.

Are there better recommendations? What would be the best value for the money?

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if money is not an option, stick with technics...they will last you a long long time, i can tell from personal use, those things are very very sturdy. i can't tell you much about the stantons or the numarks. as for the mixer, go for something by rane, or allen & heath if money is no object. maybe even look into a tascam x9. the djm series is good also, but not my favorite. if you wanna save some cash, i still suggest the technics, maybe older 1200mk2s and get a decent stanton or vestax mixer, 3 channel should be fine for you. you should also look into getting a good pair of headphones. i suggest getting the studio monitor type headphones from sony, the mdr7000s i think or the pioneer HDJ1000s. also look into sennheiser for headphones, i've heard some great things about it. i'm guessing you already have a stereo at home so you shouldn't need to buy a sound system, but if you are just buying an entire setup... then you might just want to go to a guitar center or something if ure in the US, and ask them about the sound equipment. for the most part the guys there are probably just out of high-school, or are old-school music junkies and they can both help you a great deal.

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Originally posted by liquidmist2001 if money is not an option, stick with technics...they will last you a long long time, i can tell from personal use, those things are very very sturdy. i can't tell you much about the stantons or the numarks. as for the mixer, go for something by rane, or allen & heath if money is no object. maybe even look into a tascam x9. the djm series is good also, but not my favorite. if you wanna save some cash, i still suggest the technics, maybe older 1200mk2s and get a decent stanton or vestax mixer, 3 channel should be fine for you. you should also look into getting a good pair of headphones. i suggest getting the studio monitor type headphones from sony, the mdr7000s i think or the pioneer HDJ1000s. also look into sennheiser for headphones, i've heard some great things about it. i'm guessing you already have a stereo at home so you shouldn't need to buy a sound system, but if you are just buying an entire setup... then you might just want to go to a guitar center or something if ure in the US, and ask them about the sound equipment. for the most part the guys there are probably just out of high-school, or are old-school music junkies and they can both help you a great deal.

i'm with liquidmist on all that he said.
for mixer i recommend the vestax pcv-275 or pcv-175 (i have the 175 myself)
except i want to add that for headphones... consider the Technics RP-DJ1200. great headphones for the money (i got mine for only 40 bucks! )

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I thought that physe did a very nice job explaining beatmatching so I want to post it here for everyone who's in need of help to see!

A reminder tho, this is simply his method of doing it. It might not be the best for just anyone.

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Originally posted by physe I've just started myself, but my method works for me: It's easiest for me to explain with an example. Let's say that the cueing record is faster than the record that is being played out. Okay so now you find a beat on the cueing record and let it go with the beat of the main record. At this point one of three things can occur: 1. The two records are beatmatched perfectly. If this happens, you're done. Mix away. 2. The beats slowly drift apart. In this case, the records are close to each other. This will usually be the case when the two records are the same genre and both turntables have similar pitch settings. 3. The beats drift apart quickly and it sounds really chaotic. This means that the cueing record will need some major adjusting to fit with the main record. Let's tackle the second case first. When the beats are slowly drifting apart. make a guess. Since the cueing record is faster in this example, slowing down the cueing record by putting slight pressure on the side of the platter should bring the beats closer together or at least slow down the rate at which the beats drift apart. If you try speeding up the record by pushing the platter ahead or spinning the center of the record, the beats will drift apart faster and won't come back together as quickly. Once you make a guess, no matter what guess you make, you should have determined that the record is too fast and needs to be slowed down. At this point, apply pressure to the side of the platter to slow it down so that the two records are on beat again and lower the pitch slightly on the pitch fader of the table with the cueing record on it. Now it should still drift apart, but not as much this time. Again, lower the pitch slightly and slow down the platter. If you can learn to use one hand to operate the record/platter and at the same time operate the pitch fader with the other hand, you should be able to match the beats much faster with some practice. One thing to watch out for: when you are slowing down the platter to get the beats matched again, be aware that you may go too far and the beats may start to drift apart while you are slowing down the platter. If this happens and the cueing record is still faster the beats will start to drift together again once you let go of the platter. The goal here is to adjust the record until the beats don't drift apart, ie. they are beatmatched. At this point, you should be able to mix them together. Case 3: There are a few ways to go about this. This is more difficult than the second case becuase even if you make the right guess, it still may be difficult to tell whether the record is faster or slower. If this happens, you can try just listening to one record and get a general bpm in your head and listen to the other record to find whether the cueing record is faster or slower and make an adjustment to get the two records closer together. Another way is to keep guessing by slowing down or speeding up the platter to, but by greater amounts than in the second case to determine the relative speeds of the records. I usually just keep guessing by applying a large amount of pressure to the side of the platter or by speeding up the cueing record and then make the necessary adjustment (usually larger in magnitude than in case two) once I find whether the cueing record is faster of slower. Once I have made one large adjustment, the records are usually much closer together and I then use the solution for case two to match the records. I hope I've explained it well enough to answer your question. I have left out other cases that may arise when you play around with the speed of the platter, but if I cover everything my explanantion will be much much longer. Hopefully this will be enough to get you going and give you some understanding of what you are trying to do and how to go about doing it. Good luck. EDIT: If you have and other questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Cheers.

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Money is an option for me though. I am leaning more toward Stantons. I hear good things about them.

So, the DJM-600 is not the best option? Well, I'll try to look into those other mixers.

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you gotta make up your mind man, is money an option or not? the djm600 is about a thousand dollars new, and you probably won't find somebody who would want to sell their used one...stantons are probably the next best turntable to technics if you don't plan on scratching, i.e. you don't plan on setting ure tables up battle style. if you wanna go battle style i suggest the vestax pdx2000s...they got a very strong motor and are specially designed for battle use, other wise consider buying the STR8-100s or maybe if u have a little extra cash the STR8-150s. the numark ttx-1 is also a damn good deal for what it provides and they're real good. i've played around with them at the local electronics store. the only thing you have to be careful with is the start/stop speed adjuster, that thing can be a bitch. other than that all the tables are pretty much on par. but technics still has the best continuous torque motor on the market and is thus the industry standard.

On ebay, I can find DJM-500/600 really cheap. No, I do not plan doing battle style. I will spin primarily trance and some prog house.

What is a difference between STR8-100 and 150? I really appreciate your help in this matter, liquidmist2001.

Edit: Well, to think, I do not need to develop obsession for DJM-500/600. All I need is a mixer with some features, with nice sound quality and three channels. And yeah, money is a concern but I do not want to get an equipment that I would have to throw away either in frustration or its inability to work properly.

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Last edited by 3xx3r7 on May-28-2004 at 18:18

if you can get a djm500/600 for less than $500, then by all means go for it, that's good bang for your buck. the main difference i can see between the str8-100s and the 150s is the motor i think. the 150s have a stronger more durable motor, and come with a better warranty i think, i'll have to research that later.

the str8-150s are a lot like the ttx-1s. they're both digital turntables, with adjustable start/stop speeds. both have key correction, quartz lock, and reverse. both have fairly strong motors... the ttx-1 is 3.7 kgf-cm, while the str8-150 is about 4.5kgf-cm. both have selectable pitch settings, +/-8%, +/- 20%, +/-50%.

if you wanna read up on the differences between the stanton turntables, go to http://www.stantonmagnetics.com.

also i just found out that you probably wanna get the ST-150, not the STR8-150, ST is the s-shaped tone arm, the STR8 is the straight tone arm....stupid me lol. they both have the same motor and specs, just different tone arms.

i still think that if you're gonna buy the pioneer, might as well get the technics cuz this way you'll have all good pieces of equipment that you won't get frustrated with, and none of those pieces would be prone to breaking down.

if you don't feel like forking over 500 bucks for a pioneer, i suggest getting a simple 3channel/3band eq mixer by either stanton or vestax. if you wanna save some cash, go with behringer...should warn you though, they don't last as long, and the sound quality tends to take a dive over longer periods of time. i've heard wonderful things about the behringer vmx300 though, a lot of people on TA.com swear by it being a very reliable, and inexpensive mixer.

hope this helps,
vipal

A&H 464, 2 Techs, 2 CDJ 1000 MK2, and hot chicks

If ur thinking about the st-150, think about the next ones too:
*Synq XTRM1
*Omnitronic DD5250
*Akiama DJ4000 Acura
*AMDJ HTD4.5
*Citronic PD45
*Reloop RP6000MK5.

Since they're OEM machines, they're all exactly the same internally (to the last part). Fact is that if you buy stanton, you pay a lot of money for the name, but their service sux anyway so why would you?

All of the others don't have the digital out or the key correction slider, but would you use it anyway?

They're just so much less expensive, i don't see why anyone would wanna buy the stantons

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Lets talk mixers if we can.

I'm setting up my system on a budget and have picked out mixers available to me in Adelaide that are in my price range, can people say 'yay or nay' or help me out with which is my best bet?

Numark DM950 - $150 (Heard the crossfader is shithouse)

Behringer DX-626 - $219

Stanton SMX-211 - $199 (see above Numark comment)

Alto DJM-3 - $299
Alto DJM-2 - $199

Never heard of Alto, can't find anything about them, but at the moment they are what i'm looking at.

Please, I really need help, it's the last thing I need but i don't want something thats gonna fall apart when I take it out of the box.

Note: The prices are Aussie dollars, so don't think that 200 bucks is heaps

absolutely stay away from the numark that you mention earlier....it is absolutely shitty. not the just the x-fader, the channel faders too...not to mention you're gonn want a three band eq, and maybe 3 channels...

stay away from behringer, it's gonna break down within 6 months anyways....i say save up some money and get a vestax or a higher up stanton...the only behringer mixer i would suggest is the vmx 300, decent mixer for a good price that won't break down insanely fast...regardless of which one of these you're gonna buy, you're gonna find yourself wanting a new one within a few months due to their individual shortcomings...