Does it sound anything like the sample in this thread?
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Pre amp on ddj-1000 issue. distorted sound spinng vinyls.
Hi all it's been a while since I've made any new posts - this is for those who may or may not have noticed what I've figured out to an internal preamp problem on the Ddj-1000.
I decided to kick it old skool and with my friend we went down our locker and came home with a good selection of vinyls. we were reminiscing about the good times of real vinyl etc and we were looking forward to having a mix with our lost treasures.
upon playing several tracks into our session we noticed the sound having a distortion present in the mid and high range about 20% over the tracks master volume. vocals are screechy and the hats sounded dull and fuzzy. strings and other noticeable instruments were all getting this treatment. the more we played more it became annoying so we had to stop and our all excitement slowly faded away :(
we did the usual process of elimination... check tonearm settings, switched cartridges and needles, cables, etc but still persistent.
continuing the line of elimation process we pin pointed it down to the preamp in the ddj1000 as both decks play nice on my classic rotel amp via Phono stage in the sitting room ruling them out.
back into the den playing digital tracks sounded sharp and crispy via Rekordbox Dj in its purpose controller mode so this putting my power amp and speakers in my setup not to blame neither.
ive never noticed this until now as I use DVS with no problems. Also my last mix using old wax was on my ddj-rz. the Ddj rz played nice no with problem. so all was believed to be sweet using the ddj1000 as an external mixer like before.
does anyone else have this problem with their ddj1000 whilst spinning vinyls or do I have a defective circuit board in my 1000's preamp?
my question to Pioneer - is there a setting to change the input level under phono. I know in the Dvs settings there is has a noise threshold slider. is this actually the volume setting to the Phono input via standalone mode? it's on 50%!
the coloured distortion can also be heard in headphones on the ddj1000 but not as aggressive!
Regards
Stu.
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Hi Pulse thanks for the reply.
unfortunately it's totally different.
I'm talking about using it solely in standalone mode. no pc or usb connection. just simply the mixer section and two vestax pdx2300mkii.
I've done some more tests and im coming to the same conclusion.
it not my vinyls, needles nor my tonearm setup.
playing tracks in the software the sound is sweet so amp and speakers are good. Also dvs signal picks up fine (with auto adjustments made in software for a good scope)
my ddj1000 is having problems playing real vinyls clearly.
however I'm yet to test a direct line input source to see if I get the same result from toggling the Phono/Line switch at the back.
Stu.
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I just tested the DDJ-1000 vs a DJM-S9 with a regular vinyl playing from a PLX-1000, and just in casual listening, it seemed that the DDJ definitely had a bit less high-end (the crispness wasn't there like on the S9).
I'll pass this feedback along to the product team, but I'm not sure if that's something they can change in firmware or if it's a limitation of the quality of the phono pre-amp circuitry.
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Hi Pulse. so I've done some deeper re-search on this and i found something called "azimuth" .This is where the stylus is not perpendicular to the vinyl surface. if the stylus tip is facing a record groove wall it will produce unwanted noise esp distortion in the mid to high frequencies. this affects E tip stylus more than S tips due to the shape. I have E tip stylus.
when I hooked up my turntables to my vintage amp they sounded fine as the speakers connected to the amp don't produce the clarity like the ones in my den. thus fooling my ears.
in all my years of vinyl djing I've never new this term nor ever considered it a problem as tbh I've used S tips through out the years. My current Elliptical tips are new and are the first ive owned.
now that I've discovered my headshell retaining collar on both arms was off ever so slightly I've followed the steps and re aligned them square again and this has solved my problem.
I'd recommend if you spin vinyl to check this "azimuth" out and possiby adjust your arms (if required) as it greatly improved my audio listening pleasure.
check out on youtube "Technics SL-1200 MK2 Tonearm Azimuth Adjustment" to understand what I mean.
Stu.
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Thank you for taking the time to investigate this on your own and sharing this knowledge.
Learned something new
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