Aaah… another empty box that needed ticking in Pioneer DJ’s expansive product offerings. Having taken us all by surprise by releasing a high-end DJ turntable, now they’ve realised that making a high-end product group means that a budget end gap naturally appears. And this low-end turntable gap has been neatly filled with the new PLX-500.
Many many words follow:
Vinyl revolution: Introducing the PLX-500 –
Direct drive turntable for DJs and vinyl lovers3rd August 2016: We’re releasing a new direct drive turntable to offer a more versatile vinyl solution for DJing and leisurely listening at a competitive price. The PLX-500 is ready to use straight out of the box thanks to its line output, which lets you plug it into your sound system or powered speakers with no need for an external amplifier.
Drawing on our heritage in making high-quality decks, the PLX-500 inherits the layout of the PLX-1000 professional turntable and produces warm, clear analogue sound. The high-torque deck is ideal for scratching and comes with everything you need including a cartridge, stylus and slipmat, and its USB out means you can easily make high-quality digital recordings of your vinyl collection in our free rekordbox software. You can use the PLX- 500 and the rekordbox dvs Plus Pack to play and scratch digital files when you combine them with a compatible DJM mixer and the RB -VS1-K Control Vinyl. And you can choose between the black (PLX-500-K) and white (PLX-500-W) versions to match your set-up or the design of your home.
The PLX-500-K and PLX-500-W are available from September at an SRP of €349 including VAT.
Watch our introduction video for the PLX-500 series and find out more here.
KEY FEATURES OF THE PLX-500
1. High-quality analogue vinyl sound
The PLX-500 series inherits design features from the PLX-1000 professional turntable to produce the high-quality sound you expect from vinyl. The shortest possible audio routing from the stylus to the outputs reduces distortion, and the phono and line outputs mean you can connect directly to your sound system or powered speakers to enjoy warm sound.
2. Easy digital recording
An in-built USB output means you can record your vinyl collection to high-quality digital WAV files by simply connecting the PLX -500 to your PC or Mac. Digitising your tracks is easy using our free rekordbox application and, once they’re in your rekordbox collection, you can play them using the PLX-500 and a rekordbox dvs set-up, or on a DDJ controller, or on CDJs via USB. You can also enjoy them on your mobile devices whenever you want.
Using its audio analysis technology, rekordbox detects the silence between tracks and creates a separate file in your collection for each one, so you can just press play and record a whole album from an analogue source to individual tracks without resetting the recording in between songs. After you’ve finished recording you can name and tag all your new tracks.
How to record your vinyl to high-quality digital files:
- Connect the PLX-500 to your computer with a USB cable.
- Open our free rekordbox application (version 4.2.1).
- Click the record button in the software and it enters Record Standby mode.
- Press play on the PLX-500. rekordbox begins recording when the music starts and ends when the track finishes. If you’re recording several tracks, they will be automatically recorded separately.
- When you’ve finished your recording session, press stop. A window opens in rekordbox where you can enter information for each track including name and artist. The tracks then appear in your rekordbox collection and you can search for them by name, artist etc.
3. High-torque direct drive turntable for DJ performances and rekordbox dvs
The high-torque, direct drive PLX-500 is ideal for mixing and scratching on. You can also combine it with the rekordbox dvs Plus Pack to play and perform with your digital files when using a compatible DJM mixer and the RB-VS1-K Control Vinyl (available separately).
4. Dust cover with record sleeve stand
You can enjoy the vinyl sound of your records and their artwork at the same time thanks to the dust cover that incorporates a stand for displaying record sleeves when open.
5. Layout inherited from the PLX-1000 professional turntable
The PLX -500 inherits its slick design from the professional PLX-1000 turntable and you can choose between the black (PLX-500-K) and white (PLX-500-W) versions to match the colour of your gear or the interior of your home.
How to use rekordbox dvs:
Buy the RB-VS1-K Control Vinyl from a Pioneer DJ authorised dealer .Visit rekordbox.com to download the latest version of rekordbox for free, then buy rekordbox dj (€139) and rekordbox dvs (€129) licence keys. Alternatively you can subscribe to rekordbox dj for €9.90 per month and get rekordbox dvs as part of your subscription plan. Find out more about rekordbox dvs.
The silver coloured PC-HS01-S headshell included with the PLX-500 will be available to buy separately from December 2016 in three colour options. Choose from the PC-HS01-K (black), PC-HS01-S (silver) and PC-HS01-N (gold) to complement the look of your set-up.
PLX-500 specifications
Power requirements AC 100 V, 50 Hz/60 Hz Power consumption 11 W Main unit weight 10.7 kg Max. dimensions (WxHxD) 450 mm x 159 mm x 368 mm Output RCA × 1, USB (type B) Turntable Servo type direct drive Drive method Motor 3-phase brushless DC motor Braking system Electronic brake Rotation speed 33 1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, 78 rpm Rotation speed adjustment range ±8% Wow and flutter 0.15% or less WRMS S/N ratio 50 dB or above Turntable Aluminium die-casting Diameter: 332 mm Starting torque 1.6 kgf・cm or more Start time Within 1 second (at 33 1/3 rpm) Tone arm Arm type Universal type S-shape tone arm, gimbal-supported type bearing structure, static balance type Effective length 230.5 mm Overhang 16 mm Tracking error Within 3° Arm height adjustment range 6 mm Stylus pressure variable range 0 g to 4.0 g（1 scale 0.1 g） Proper cartridge weight 9.5 g or less (single cartridge) Cartridge
Cartridge type ： VM type
Included accessories
Slip mat, Dust cover with jacket stand, Adapter for EP record, Balance weight, Headshell (with cartridge), Shell weight, Power cord, USB cord, Audio conversion cord（Stereo pin plug (female) – Stereo mini plug (male)), Operating instructions
Headshell specifications
Weight ：10.0 g
Shell length ：52 mm
Finger Length ：21 mm
WHAT IS THE PLX-500?
It’s a gap filler, one that aims to ride the wave of vinyl resurgence at a price that everyone can feel happy about buying a Pioneer product, with the promise of excellent performance. The video is less about the product and more about how bloody awesome vinyl is, and as ever Pioneer called up a few legends to underline it, but I think we already knew.
Unlike the PLX-1000, this turntable does not look to be a Hanpin super OEM. Rather, it seems to be a Yahorng unit, just like the Audio Technica AT-LP120 USBHC and Numark TT250USB. My personal experience is to look elsewhere for pro DJing and especially scratching. But for those beginner DJs wanting to learn mixing, the PLX-500 is a safe bet. And for digitising vinyl right inside rekordbox, this ticks boxes. The Pioneer DJ logo does generally instil a certain quality level after all.
UPDATE: Upon further inspection and a heads up from reader Mike Cullen, this does appear to be a different Hanpin unit with added USB, but not the super OEM that we’ve become accustomed to.
One thing I feel compelled to clear up — there is much mention of rekordbox DVS in the PR and video. I’m pretty certain however that rekordbox DVS control via USB is not happening here. Do you have 2 x spare USB ports on your laptop? Theoretically possible seeing as you can digitise right into rekordbox via USB, but from a practical perspective it makes no sense. It’ll still be good old RCAs into your mixer I think.
AND THEN?
Seeing as Pioneer DJ is releasing a cheaper turntable, this would logically tie into my original thinking that a cheaper S9 would be released (perhaps called S7?), and one that would be rekordbox specific too. There’s been logic in putting out say a basic S5 with a matching separate audio interface to totally nail every box in this sector. This would give Pioneer DJ a relatively cost-effective DVS setup that’s lighter on the Pioneer tax than normal.
SUMMING UP
The PLX-500 is available in separate black and white models for $349/€349/£269 and will be available in September.
GALLERY
