Hi all,

This is my first post so hi to everyone on this forum. Hopefully you can help me with this basic problem.

I bought a DJM 400 recently and i think i may have my setup slightly wrong, i say this because the sound quality seems worse than my previous Numark DM3050 which cost £100. I know cost isn't an indicator of a good/bad mixer but i definately was expecting the Pioneer to sound better.

I am getting sound out of my amp and i am 99% sure the cables are all connected correctly but yet i can't crack up the sound without distortion and crackling the speakers. I have never played my vinyl so low in my life, i use to always have it up high and the sound was very nice. Also i notice the pops and general dirt on my vinyl is being picked up more and they sound much louder which very annoying.

If i descrbe my setup hopefully somebody will pick up on what i am doing wrong. First of all i have a Kenwood Ampliifer, i think it's a fairly good one i remember paying £150 for it a few years back and the sound has been excellent until i connected the new mixer. So i have Mixer output 1 going to my phono input connections in my Amp. I have deck 1 connected to phono 1 on the mixer, i have the switch to phono on the back of the mixer and also on top of the mixer. This is identical for deck 2 going to phono 2 etc. Now if you think of my volume knob on my amp as a clock face, i have my Amp volume at 9pm, the 0 level starts at 7pm so you can see i haven't got it up much. I have my deck 1 & 2 trim set to about 11pm and my mixer master to 12pm (sometimes less depending on the record). Everything seems to work ok but the sound isn't as crisp as i am use to and also when i put the channels levels to 10 it isn't loud enough, i'm not a loud music freak all i want is alittle volume, this really isn't loud. I try messing around with the amp volume and the trim and master volume on the mixer but it then starts to distort. The current setup is the best i can get it without distorting but the sound is just too low for me to enjoy. I am pretty sure the mixer is fine, it's brand new out of the box. I have technics 1200's that have serviced me well, i have used them with 2 previous mixers with no problems. The amp is also good and doesn't get used much, only weekends for a couple of hours.

I will hopefully take some pictures and put them up later so people can see exactly how everything is set up.

Any advice or help on this will be grately appreciated.

Thanks

Sorry i forgot to mention my EQ setup. I have my Bass around 9pm (quite low), Mid and treble set to 12pm sometimes to 11pm. Even with the EQ set up like this it isn't souding great. With my Numark mixer i would have Bass, Mid and treble set to 1pm and the sound was really good. I guess people are wondering why i moved to the Pioneer if the Numark was so good, well i've had it for a number of years and i new mixer with modern features and gadgets.

Anyway back to you guys, hopefully someone out there holds the answer.

Sounds like you might have a bad mixer. It shouldn't do that, not at all. Are the meters in the red at all?

-r-

quote:

So i have Mixer output 1 going to my phono input connections in my Amp.

There's your problem.

The output from your mixer is a LINE LEVEL, not phono. Use one of the line inputs and it will sound okay.

Hey, thank for the feedback.

Please click on the link here to see an image of how i have set up my cables.

http://www.imagecross.com/07/image-hosting-view-02.php?id=8764djm400_back.jpg

Pulse - are you saying the switch needs to be set to "Line" instead of "Phono" or the input on my Amp needs to be Line ? I hope i am making sense!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DJNovice,

Ah, I didn't read right. Pulse has the correct fix.

If you're going OUT of the mixer (output 1) into a phono INPUT connection on the amp, that's definitely the problem.

It MUST be plugged into a LINE or CD in on the amp. Your mixer is otherwise fine.

-r-

Thank you both for your advice, your solution worked. All sorted.