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Hi all,

Probably heard this question a million times, am looking to purchase a pair of CDJs.

Budget around £400 - £600, so sadly no Pioneer 800s/1000s for me.

FIrst off second hand...? yes or no? (Bear in mind I don't have a lot of mixing experience).

what's your view on the Pioneer CDJ-200s? Top brand I understand just looks like I can get a little more budget brand's better version maybe?

What about the Gemini CDJ-600s? These look pretty decent and I could purchase a pair of these for around £400, only downfall is people have reviewed the brand Gemini to be unreliable.

What about the Citronic MPCDX1?



Any percy recommendations?

what's your set up?
Any decent 4 channel mixers to recommend also?

I know very little about CDJs but the CDJ-200s are awful.

Sure the CDJ-200's aren't great compared to the 1000's, but i'd rather have them than any of the imitators like Gemini/Citronic.

The Stanton C-324's seem really nice for the price, and i know a few people who are happy with them. Do a quick google search though, and it seems they don't last longer than 6 months, all kinds of problems so i'd steer clear.

The other nice value CDJ's are the Numark NDX400 and 800's, heard good things about them for the price. When i was looking for my CDJ's i was very close to buying the Denon DNS 700s/1200s but opted for the CDJ350's in the end. They were a fair amount of money but i thought fuck it, i'm going to look at it like an investment. I want to know how Pioneers feel, and get a good feel for the layout so when i start playing gigs i'll know exactly what i'm doing. Plus reliability will be great, and if you do feel the need to ever sell them on they wont lose value, unlike the shitty Citronics or American Audios.

Denon

You can pick up a pair of CDJ 800 Mk1's for about £500, and the Mk2's for £650 fairly easily. I picked up the Mk2's for £600 in Feb.

Gumtree all the way.

if your in london you can have my CDJ 400s for £700, slightly over your budget but pm me me if your interested.

and from the voice of experience, and of salesman haha i'd stick to pioneer or denon but preferably pioneer for a few reasons

PERCEPT wrote: The other nice value CDJ's are the Numark NDX400 and 800's, heard good things about them for the price..

I've had the ndx800s for about 6 months (about 4 hours of use a week), and the cue button on my left deck is starting to give me problems

Prolific___ wrote:

PERCEPT wrote: The other nice value CDJ's are the Numark NDX400 and 800's, heard good things about them for the price..

I've had the ndx800s for about 6 months (about 4 hours of use a week), and the cue button on my left deck is starting to give me problems

I considered these, I'm not brandist at all and would happily rock some donnays over some air maxes (actually nah way lol) but i think it is generally you get what you pay for, although there are a shed load of functions on the ndx 800 no one knows if they take the test of time, and 6 months with a problem like that is not good things.

Denons DN-S3500 are great value decks.
The DN-HS5500 was great and added usb/int hard drive capability, but its been replaced by a newer model (i think the dn-s3700). willing to bet the value is still great though.

In short, seconded @ Denon

edit: though i love the pioneer cue & play/pause button so much more

2nd hand pioneers always gonna be your best bet. i got the 350s when i was in a situation similar to yours.

What is generally wrong with the Gemini's, they seem to have some real good features and a decent layout?

What makes Pioneer the best?

Because i get the impression that for the price of the lower end pioneers you can get the higher end budget brands.

pioneer are the best. ive had 200's and 800's an ive used other decks. everything else just does not compare. regardless of effects or anything else, pioneer are head and shoulders above the rest

Stuuka wrote:What is generally wrong with the Gemini's, they seem to have some real good features and a decent layout?

What makes Pioneer the best?

Because i get the impression that for the price of the lower end pioneers you can get the higher end budget brands.

Geminis will do what the pioneers will but they wont last as long i imagine..

wanna buy my gemini CDJ then?

Sheff wrote:wanna buy my gemini CDJ then?

Why do you say it like it's an issue?

What are they?

The thing with Pioneer is I don't want the 100s, sure they will last 10 years but their so basic!
The 200s look pretty basic too.
350s and 400s go out of my price range

The Stanton C324s would be amazing but go out of my range
Stanton C314s seem to have a re-occuring problem with their cue buttons, which everyone seems to get, so forget that.

While Gemini seem to get a bad review overall as a brand. The CDJ 600s look pretty decent and I like the large jog wheel + scratch effects + layout etc on these. They are also reasonably priced too.

If you ever plan to play in a club?

Save up and get a used pair of Pioneer CDJ800s.

There are some decent knock-offs out there, some with even better features vs price point, but the issue is if you are going to be playing clubs then they will have pioneer setups, so you better be used to them. You can't really cart in your own decks to most venues (and why would you want to?) so I always advise go pioneer.

If you're just learning in your bedroom, then grab something cheaper. Denon makes some sick decks. I'd stay away from Gemini. Numark NDX800s are wicked as far as features go, but the auto cue and separate play/pause is annoying and sort of trains you wrong for when you are playing a pio setup. They are super cheap for what you get though, so pretty good for learning if you can get past the non-standard cue.

Numark V7s are realllly sick decks, if you ever consider going pure digital. I prefer them over most pioneer decks, but you won't find them in a club. They're also retardedly cheap for what you get.

i didnt mean it to come across that way.
and its a single gemini 202...65 quid its yours

When I paid i'll have a buzz around for a couple of the decks mentioned here and see what comes up.

I'm not really looking to become the next Mala or Chef, so cheaper CDJs are on the agenda.

cheers for the offer Sheff, but just really want the scratch effects on the CDJs however frowned upon it may be!

no worries then mate!