Direct Drive Full Manual Turntable DJ-I 600D

R

RapAttack

New member
Hello ,

I received a Direct Drive Full Manual Turntable DJ-I 600D (that's all that is written on it , I don't know the brand or the manufacturer) and I didn't find too much information about it .
In the back , it has 2 RCA outputs and also a remote start/stop . It also has a little anti-skating wheel and a DC12V 350mA jack input ,just as info ; maybe some of you know more details about this model .

I want to use it mostly for listening to vinyls and for sampling , not necessarily for DJ-ing/scratching .

From what I've seen , the output that it produces is "phono" and I have no phono/line switch .
I connected it to one of my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 external sound card's inputs , I selected "instr" (between line and instr) and also turned on the Direct Monitoring and I can hear the sound to a decent volume . With other settings or with an ordinary sound card , the volume is very,very low .

I have to turn up the GAIN wheel almost to the maximum (but without going into clipping) and the volume is still lower than on almost any other audio recording I listen to . Specially the bass/low frequency seems to be pretty weak ,speaking of volume . But however it's a decent volume .

What do you think ? is it normal for a turntable to sound like this ? or do I need a (pre-)amplifier / mixer ? I have to mention that my vinyls are pretty old , maybe that's the way they should sound . Just to know if it's worth to spend money on a mixer or amplifier , because I'm not into DJ-ing .


Thank you .
 
Yeah you need some sort of pre-amp to boost the signal. That is normal. They can be picked up for pretty cheap though. Just check amazon.
 
This may seem a little bit off-topic, but I just bought an Akai XR20 and, connecting it to one of my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface's inputs, I got the same weak sound: a low volume, specially on low frequencies and an inconsistent response (for example, hi-hats sound much louder than kicks). And also, without the Direct Monitor turned on, I cannot hear anything.
BUT I just realized that the inputs also support XLR jacks. I only used TS and TRS jacks on them.
Do I need to use XLR? And also, is it suitable to use line input or instrument input? (there is a switch for each input on the interface)
 
makes no difference if you use the XLR or the TRS these are both balanced - you only have TS outputs on the akai (so it is not balanced) - so using anything other than TS ion the inputs is wasted (you cannot convert unbalanced to balanced simply by plugging an unbalanced line into a balanced input)

I would suggest that you read the manual for the akai thoroughly (http://www.akaipro.com/stuff/conten...5cc6c7a/file/xr20_reference_manual___v1.3.pdf - you may have to sign in and sign up for their e-mails, not a big hassle) before proceeding much further with alternative solutions) - it may be that you need to setup the internal volumes on the akai before you try to do anything else (haven't read that far into the manual yet

good luck
 
I don't think that it's about adjusting any internal volumes on the XR20, because it sounds good when connected directly to some speakers or phones. It's about how I connect it to the interface properly.
I tried now with an XLR jack and the sound is OK. The strange fact is that I can still hear the sound when I turn down the Gain on the interface input to the minimum.

---------- Post added 09-24-2013 at 12:00 AM ---------- Previous post was 09-23-2013 at 01:57 AM ----------

For anyone who may have similar problems; I found the solution:
I connected each output (L and R) from the Akai XR20 to a separate input on my Scarlett 2i2 interface (so I used both inputs).
I used mono RCA cables and TS (mono & unbalanced) adapter jacks at all 4 ends.

I have one last problem now, I would like to monitor the exact volume from each input, to be sure that they are at the same level. I didn't manage to setup the Plug-in Suite properly and use it.
And also I can still hear the sound when I turn the Gain knobs to the minimum. Maybe that's normal..
 
RA-- You don't necessarily want your Left and Right channels to be exactly the same in volume; it depends on the source material, but there are lots of reasons why one side of a stereo signal might not be completely equal in volume to the other.

To the OP/- It looks like your turntable was made by a company called Qtek.

GJ
 
For the turntable, you will need a dj mixer or a riaa preamp. A cheap dj mixer would probably be more feasible. Stanton, Gemini, or Numark.
Peace be with you............Rob Mixx On a side note, they are called records not vinyls.
 
they are called both vinyls and records,

as for the use of rca - rca cables with ts adapters, that is no different to using ts - ts cables and actually introduces two points of possible failure/signal degredation

@gj: this is the op asking an additional obliquely related question
 
Oh, right-o, Coach; they were one and the same guy! Shows you how carefully I read...

GJ
 
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