Currently, I just turn mine on with a backpack sleeping pad or yoga mat over the players (mixer still off) for half hour or whole hour before using them. They get nice and warm without the fans even coming on. After that, they’ll hold their speed until shut down I find as long as it’s not freezing temperatures in the ambient air around them.
I should probably get around to replacing the grease with something that’s softer at room temperature, but I’ve been lazy.
Sorry, but it’s important to be very precise with this sort of things. You only need one extra beer: one before you start the work, and two for when you finish. I don’t recommend having a beer between working on the first and second player, as it may suggest that you are rewarding yourself for finishing the job but you actually have another player to do.
The motor assembly comes with a board, its not 100% a motor issue, could be a capacitor or capacitors on the board as well.
its cost me £189 per deck to have a new motor in each of mine, done by inMusic…( both my decks developed music lag when first turned on,which lasted for 10minutes to start and after a month or so became 50minutes,the issue goes if platters turned off and motor not running).
I was just not bothering with using the motor until the decks had been on for an hour and from there on they seemed fine,after a while decided to just get them serviced and repaired with new motor assembly.
I will get to keep the old motor and board assemblies and replace and service them as spares for the future, incase the new mortor assemblies eventually fail too.
I’ve had my sc5000m’s 5 years so was not expecting them to fail so soon as my old sc3900’s are still going strong with a friend so are like 12-13years old and been hammered.
If you are brave enough to get in and service them yourself go for it.
Please post pictures if you do as the pictures around don`t show much detail of dissassembly and re-assembly.
@Freddy_Gang has the step by step guide with pictures on each step and they are pretty easy to follow. I can understand if it’s something people don’t want to take on but it’s the cost of grease and a little bit of time so if it’s something anyone thinks they can take on then it’s worth it.
You’ll know if it’s the grease that needs changing as the decks speed are inconsistent until the grease warms up.
If you’re a working DJ and feel the outlay is worth it then I suppose a few gigs will make that outlay easier. I can imagine the decks have paid for themselves many times over already.
Now I’m wondering if letting the units warm up under a pad is possibly bad for the electronics in there even if it does melt the grease. Don’t you shorten the life of things like resistors & caps with more heat?
I think the added heat from letting them warm up under the pad may have actually slightly warped the vinyl. I don’t recommend that method now. Better to let them warm up for an hour without something like that over it than to let it warm up faster (and possibly get too warm) under something that traps the heat.
I do not know what kind of CPU the players have inside of them, but I think that blocking the cooling mechanisms or the air vents is generally not such a good idea. At least with laptops or PCs it is possible to fry the CPU by overheating. I think that the SC6000M has a built-in fan, there is an outlet on the left side of the chassis. I am not sure, if the system will warn you if things are getting too hot …
Even in the case that is does not damage something, heat can be problematic on stage. I have been to a hot summer festival twice, where the sun was beating down without mercy, and several acts had issues with their equipment. Vinyl records start warping at about 60°C. If the material on the platters of the SC6000M is similar, I would not be surprised if it warps too.
And by the way, to anyone DJing in the sun, take good care not just of your gear, but of yourself as well. Getting dehydrated and sunburned is not worth it …
Rockchip system on chip ARM stuff. No side vents are blocked. The players aren’t even directly up against each other.
When it’s just sitting there idle, I suspect the chips are probably the least of the worry since they’re not doing much processing to generate their own heat. The PSU and discrete components are always generating heat, though, and the latter parts have limited life spans that are probably only being shortened by making it harder for the heat to escape.
It certainly gets warmer faster with the blue workout/yoga mat (wanna say Weider) still over the top of it after I’ve switched the players on rather than immediately taking the mat off. Makes sense the vinyl might warp considering the vinyl is at the top and the insulating mat’s right above it, so the heat’s got nowhere to go.
The other thing I noticed is the metal, plastic, and laminate layers (or whatever they all are) on the horizontal top surface around the platter (not the platter itself) temporarily creak a little bit to the touch after it warms a lot. Probably another sign of too much heat. Oh well, it was an educational experiment.
My god I got this Numark DMC-1 on PCDJ Red in the early 2000s. I think it’s probably the first PC controller in the world. Even if it was ultimately just a remote control that was plugged into a serial port and which required a mixing board.
But it worked really well and never gave me any problems. Apart from the printing which tended to fade at the pitch level. On the other hand, mine had a chrome finish and took fingerprints horribly. A real mirror
My old sc3900 decks went to a friend in Brighton, they still have them now and when visiting I always have a little go on them, they are at least 12 years old now I I think I got them 2012ish.
The motors still work great and they have been very well used.
My sc5000m motors failed but were replaced when you could get out of warranty repairs in UK.
Basically InMusic Brands own Rane Numark Alesis Akai Marantz etc etc even own Moog now.
All their equipment is now built cheaper, they have bought up inovation and make ground breaking (FOR THE COST) equipment.
Just like Behringer make cheap clones but at a good price.
I still buy InMusic equipment because I can not buy the best Pioneer on my wage, so I could moan about Denons now shorter life span on equipment life cycle but this would apply to all studio budget/not budget equipment these days.
DJ or Producer, I can not afford to buy a roland 303 bass line at £2000 so got the cheaper clone, same for 808 909 clones.
What InMusic has done is make it affordable at a cost.
We live in a throw away cheap world today.
We also live in heaven or hell…you choose.
At least the choice is there, to a degree…
Also have to say my 1997 technics 1210’s still work…so proves things are now built cheaper,also things like solder no longer lasts as lead is not allowed and chemicals used in production back in the day did make electronics last longer.
So money aside, if your rich why ask, and if your poor…Denon all day.
Also…turning platter beats a jog wheel…but everyone loves buttons.
The further and further we get away from the “golden” days of vinyl, the less and less new DJs will ever have held a spinning record on a turntable. With that in mind, I suspect they’ll see any desire to own a model today with a platter that’s motorized.
I feel todays new DJs will see more benefit in having pitch sliders and channel faders which are motorised, than a platter that’s motorised
I’ve not owned a digital motorised deck, but I still own and use on occasion, my old Denon DN 5000’s. I take it out when gigging at local haunts with some friends who are die-hard CD Djays, and set it either side of my MCX8000. A lap top is also set up for the serato heads, and I use the stand alone USB (can’t beat the MCX for that three-way seamless set up). The 5000’s are like tanks, everything works as day one, looks good (I am OCD with my equipment), but that was when Denon was DENON, and quality was the name of the game. The guys love them (as well as the double layer feature). Okay, not the smoothest motorized decks, but when you get used to something you just know how to manage it. When I use them, it takes me back to the days when Decks were the only option (I had my 1210’s which I gave to my godson, then regretted it, but 10 years later he is still rocking with them and they look just like when I gave him).
The only thing stopping me from getting a new motorised deck is the fact that I have the MCX, P4, MSP, XZ and several other smaller controllers. I’ve done the modular for years so the 6000’s are not on my agenda (only reason as they are great and I am integrated into the engine ecosystem). I can’t justify buying another unit, and any I want would be £1000+. Also, I literally have no more space (and I have my music room, the loft and the shed!). Saying that, I do like the Rev7…but with the Perfourmer around the corner……
Yep…When Denon was DENON.
Same for Akai etc, and as I said even MOOG.
I can not just blame InMusic Brands for this, it is a modern world thing.
Cheaper construction done on mass abroad.
I never gave my old tecnics 1210s away or sold them (got them in 1997) and they still are going fine.
I do after holding back right until about 2010 now prefer digital for its ability to do more when mixing then my mixing just on vinyl could do.(I am not a turntable gymnast,just a dj ).
I don`t think you need the digital motorised turntable deck like a sc6000m unless you’re gonna be scratching a little or doing turntable gymnastics (scratching spinbacks figure of 8’s etc etc).
I do prefer to cue and drop a track with my platters running but if not doing anything with the spinning deck I turn the platter off and use it in jog wheel mode.
It more or less comes down to individual preference,what you need and want to do, plus your wallet.
- i can see the condensation from here… 
