Time to update the setup - Advice from gearheads wanted

[Beater Pan]

In the last months Ive been pondering whether or not to upgrade my turntable setup in order to also be able to incorporate in my sets music that has never made its way onto vinyl.

My more and more failing old-ass belt-drive Reloop doubles are forcing me now to upgrade rather sooner than later. Beatjuggling/matching is becoming painstakingly difficult as the bottom plate does not accelerate once fading in a song due to the loosened/coarse belt.

In any case, I have been assessing what I want and can afford vs. what I need. Of course the current market/club standard would be a used and well maintained set of Technics 1210 MKII or the more or less identical refurbished PLX 1000 recently put on the market by Pioneer. Right now seeing as I want a complete overhaul so these two have a too hefty price tag for me right now, even though I know there is not much else matching these turntables right now.

The compromise Ive now come to fancy is this high-end model by Reloop: http://www.reloop.com/reloop-rp-7000

I want to combine these with the Traktor Kontrol Z2 mixer by Native Instruments, which will allow me to vary mixing straight from vinyl as well as digitally via time-code vinyls (and the mixer offers lots of more nifty effects and other stuff).

http://www.native-instruments.com/de...or-kontrol-z2/

As to Speakers/Hi-Fi systems Im still pretty undecided, but as our company is offering discounts on Teufel speakers I am looking especially at their models right now.

Id be happy on any thoughts/advice as well as what your setup looks like. I will mainly make use of it at home (mixes for Soundcloud and the like) and the occasional small pub gig.

[tjh392]

Before I sold my DJ turntables I used Vestax PDX-2000's. High torque, much greater pitch alteration albeit a slightly weird futuristic design (which in the end I actually liked)

They're excellent turntables and the second hand price for one is surprisingly low

Those reloop turntables look pretty good. To be honest I've never heard of them! (Shows how long I've been out of it then!)

[Col Wolfe]

I have 2 x Numark TTX direct drive decks and a PDX mixer spare.

Would trade for a nice record or two...

[Beater Pan]

Before I sold my DJ turntables I used Vestax PDX-2000's. High torque, much greater pitch alteration albeit a slightly weird futuristic design (which in the end I actually liked)

Yeah, have those on the radar too. Got to use them once and they are probably up there with the Technics, but as you said, the design is rather peculiar.

They also come off a bit better in tests then the Reloops I mentioned. The Reloops offer good quality for decent prices, but many parts come from Original Equipment Manufacturers, who also cater to Stanton and a few other makers, so this might be a bit of a tradeoff of quality vs. cost. Tests also doubt the Reloops would be 100% reliable in Club use, however I doubt that I will use them in such an environment with such a heavy bass impact. My main worry is that Ill start to have problems if I would buy a used pair of Vestax's, as you said I could get used to the design too, though.

I have 2 x Numark TTX direct drive decks and a PDX mixer spare.

Would trade for a nice record or two...

Thanks for the offer, but as mentioned before, Im probably going to go with something fresh off the shelf, unless somebody comes around and offers a pair of Technics for cheap (which I doubt will happen). Come to think of it, I might have to ask at the radio station at which I had a show a while back, they had 3 doubles in their studios and seeing as to how little they were used they might be willing to sell..

[eclectiktronik]

Used DJ gear is extremely abundant, often people get into it then the kids come along and the spare room gets cleared out...you get the idea. I wouldn`t bother buying new as there are bargains to be had if you go for lightly used (home) gear.

If you are generally happy with the features on your Reloops then why not just replace the drive belt(s)? See cpc and ebay after measuring the old one. There is not that much to go wrong with turntables and they should last decades unless they have been abused. You may also need to give speed selectors and pots/sliders a shot of servisol or other switch cleaner from time to time.

[Beater Pan]

Used DJ gear is extremely abundant, often people get into it then the kids come along and the spare room gets cleared out...you get the idea. I wouldn`t bother buying new as there are bargains to be had if you go for lightly used (home) gear.

Seems like youre reading my mind. While searching on ebay used listings for Germany I was surprised that the offerings for used Technics were less then I remembered from a search a while back. Also I found a shop nearby that refurbishes used Technics, so even if there might be some minor defects they can take care of them.

Definately not wanting to stick with the belt drive system as it really loses the comparison to direct drives for DJing in particular, in my opinion at least.

Thanks for the feedback so far though, guys!

[Beater Pan]

Used DJ gear is extremely abundant, often people get into it then the kids come along and the spare room gets cleared out...you get the idea. I wouldn`t bother buying new as there are bargains to be had if you go for lightly used (home) gear.

Seems like youre reading my mind. While searching on ebay used listings for Germany I was surprised that the offerings for used Technics were less then I remembered from a search a while back. Also I found a shop nearby that refurbishes used Technics, so even if there might be some minor defects they can take care of them.

Definately not wanting to stick with the belt drive system as it really loses the comparison to direct drives for DJing in particular, in my opinion at least.

Thanks for the feedback so far though, guys!