CD Player/Mixer Set for a college radio station

[cbb692]

So I play hard dance music on a primarily indie rock college radio station. All we have in the studio are 2 vinyl decks and a mixer we believe to have been purchased in the 80's………anyways……the financial manager of the station came to us the other day asking if there is anything we would like to get for the station. I chimed in saying I believed we should get some sort of cd player/mixer combo. after a long discussion on why this would be a good idea. That being said, it's a college station, making it very difficult to ask for 2 cdj-2000's and a djm-900. Any suggestions for a good quality, decently priced (south of, say, $2k) set that would allow for cd playing and possibly computer integration?

Thanks for all the help.

[Andrew B]

Are the turntables direct-drive? Is it a DJ mixer? If yes to both, then I would recommend a DVS like Serato Scratch Live.

[cbb692]

Are the turntables direct-drive? Is it a DJ mixer? If yes to both, then I would recommend a DVS like Serato Scratch Live.

While it is yes to both, one of the tables is broken and the mixer is fairly old. Given that some people just prefer to use cd's, I had figured we'd just get a set of cd platters and a new mixer (my main reason for wanting this is so that I could learn how to mix on live equipment, facilitating my ability to get a job at a club, if that makes any difference), but if you're suggesting we just get new software, I'll propose that to the manager as well.

[Andrew B]

A DJM-250 and two CDJ-350s fits your budget. I suggested a DVS so you could use the old equipment with a computer, but if it's broken, don't worry about it. If it was in working order, SSL would've worked well because everyone can download the software for free.

[cbb692]

A DJM-250 and two CDJ-350s fits your budget. I suggested a DVS so you could use the old equipment with a computer, but if it's broken, don't worry about it. If it was in working order, SSL would've worked well because everyone can download the software for free.

Thank you very much. I'm definitely going to keep this option open. I was doing some research on top of this to see what else I could find, and I came across the Denon DN-S1200 player and DN-X1600 mixer and was wondering if you (or anyone else for that matter) had any thoughts on these. I realize Pioneer is kinda the standard today but at this point I'm really just testing the waters and looking for opinions.

[Firebr4nd]

Thank you very much. I'm definitely going to keep this option open. I was doing some research on top of this to see what else I could find, and I came across the Denon DN-S1200 player and DN-X1600 mixer and was wondering if you (or anyone else for that matter) had any thoughts on these. I realize Pioneer is kinda the standard today but at this point I'm really just testing the waters and looking for opinions.

Pioneer gear will prepare you the best for playing in clubs since you'll find a pair of cdjs and usually a pioneer mixer in almost every club, as well as a pair of technics. Cdj 350s or 400s would be in that price range and they've got the USB ports for playing tunes from flash drives as well! Maybe repair the technics, that'd be a cool idea, and it might not cost much either.

[cbb692]

Pioneer gear will prepare you the best for playing in clubs since you'll find a pair of cdjs and usually a pioneer mixer in almost every club, as well as a pair of technics. Cdj 350s or 400s would be in that price range and they've got the USB ports for playing tunes from flash drives as well! Maybe repair the technics, that'd be a cool idea, and it might not cost much either.

Alright. So after a day of research I have sorta 3 options depending on price range (according to google shop) we can use:

Low: DJM-250 Mixer + 2x CDJ-350 = about $1480

Medium: DJM-700 Mixer + 2x CDJ-850 = about $2600

High: DJM-850 + 2x CDJ-850 = about $3400

One question I have before I bring the last one up is, can CDJ-850's work with the DJM-850? The CDJ-900's according to djbooth.net run at around $1.2k, making it and extremely unlikely option, but if the CDJ-850's aren't compatible, that means I might have to change some things around. What do people think of these ideas?

[Andrew B]

Any CD players will work with any mixer. Any brand will work with any other brand. Anything that outputs audio will work with any DJ mixer.

[cmilanaik]

I think cdj 850 are not necessary for your needs. CDJ 350/400 will do everything you will need and probably more especially at this level.

[ampnation]

If you're looking to get better value, I would look at the Denon S3700 decks + X1100 mixer. I find the build quality to be right there with Pioneer and lower prices for comparable gear. I'm sure if you contacted a couple of dealers, you could get the above for about $2000. There's at least one deal online of the 2 decks and mixer for $2299.
http://www.realproaudio.com/dj-gear/bundles-%7C-packages/cdmp3dvdmedia-packages/Denon-DJ-DN-S3700-DN-X1100-BUNDLE?language=en&currency=USD

EDIT: Or to get that price under $2000, swap the x1100 for the X120

[Atomisk]

1) you don't need to suck pioneers dick for gear. CDJ 400s or a demon model would be suitable for a radio station. You're a radio station - you have no need for rekord box compatible decks. You'll be playing ads between shows anyways.
2) get a Xone:22 as your mixer.

[DJNR]

If you have the money, then go ahead for the higher quality gear, but don't go too crazy.

On a side note, I would avoid the Xone:22. A user on here is experiencing some issues with his after three months of having it, and according to DJ Penguin here on the forums, the Xone:22 experienced some quality control issues in production.

[Lost Connection]

Yeah the xone 22 is not as good as you'd hope, there are some problems with it.

[loww]

I would suggest finding out what model the turntables are. If they are worth it, fix them (Technics are easy to fix yourself, or ask an electronics student to do it for you) and get Serato. As has been mentioned, this is the cheapest way to get a setup that will prepare you for clubs and the Serato software is free so any DJ can come in and hook up their laptop.

If you are not happy with the mixer you could look into an upgrade. I guess you only need 2 channels because the signal will go into another mixer that has all the microphone inputs? I'd avoid the Xone 22 as well, I sent 2 back (noise in the headphones caused by the phono pre amp, same problem with both mixers) before ending up with an Ecler Nuo 2 that I love.

Getting CDJs is going to increase your cost considerably, to the point where I would replace the broken turntable instead (if you can't repair it).

Finally, look into buying second hand. You will save a lot of money and/or be able to get better equipment.

[DJ Highline]

Considering that you are working for a college station, I'm going to assume buying used is out of the question. So lets stick to new gear. I would look at getting:

2 x Denon DN-S1200 (they are IMHO the best value for your money decks out there)
1 x Denon DN-X1600 (I would recommend you get a 4 ch mixer because in that environment you never know what you will want to plug in)

That set up should run you about $2k plus the mixer is Traktor Scratch Certified which means if you buy Traktor (at the new low price of $89) you now have a full DVS system as well. So if you get those turntables fixed you now have a full 4 channel DVS system for about $2K