Tension and Scraping Sound

Yup, one of the jogs was very stiff in the rightmost setting. It was hard to move, at all.

After a couple of longer spins in both directions, it’s closer to the other jog.

To have an identical feel on both jogs I have to turn the tension to somewhere between light and middle on the one unit to match the lightest setting on the other.

I wonder if the scraping sound disappeared because it wore through whatever was causing the resistance. I had the same problem with one of three decks - one deck at tension full was useless. It just wouldn’t move while on two other decks it was moveable but still difficult.

From the sound the jog makes while turning I assume they have bearings inside now (similar to Pioneer’s mechanism). It might just be lubricant that was evenly distributed by spinning the jogs. I wasn’t heavily pushing them to break them in - just some spins.

Did it improve over time on your two decks?

TBH the scraping sound brought me a lot of doubts about the manufacturing of the units and I have an exchange for 3 CDJ-3000 on hold. I’m nervous how well the unit will behave 4 years from now. And the value the unit will hold. Even though $1400 is more affordable than $2300 it’s still pricey when buying three decks. I’m just kinda torn.

You should probably just get two Ms.

What’s “two Ms”?

Oh! You mean two 6000m decks. I thought about it but tbh I’m not into the vinyl thing. And I don’t want to spend more money on pseudo vinyl experience. I just want a consistent jog wheel experience across decks.

The 5000Ms are pretty great. You could probably get a pair for the same price as a single CDJ-3000.

And I don’t scratch.

1 Like

I’m not a fan of the 5000 series design. Though, it was the 5000 that introduced me to the new direction. I went to try one at Guitar Center. Besides all the lights and colors, I was not a fan of the cue button. That button implementation was enough to send me back to Pioneer and I bought a NXS2. But then, just a few weeks later the 6000 is about to drop. And I’m excited because i read it was a new cue button and the color palette was toned down. Very excited to try it out. So I pack up my NXS2 and order 3 decks. But damn, that tension knob. Why did they even bother to include it if it’s just so poorly implemented? That made me question the reliability of the entire unit. I would prefer not to spend $2300 on a CDJ3000 but this first experience with Denon is really sketchy for me. And I know 3 CDJ 3000 decks will operate EXACTLY the same. No questions asked. This is where Denon has to do better. You’re not going to easily convert DJs like me simply by offering a cheaper price point or more features. I need to be won over with value parity and quality implementation. I really want to keep these decks but I’m so concerned I’m going to be submitting a warranty claim. Soon though, I believe Denon is going to built seriously rugged players.

2 Likes

I guess we can close this thread. I feel torn because I can see Denon is working on some great products but I packed up the decks and sent them back today. I’ll be in the Pioneer CDJ3000 camp for a bit longer it seems. A few things I would like to note:

  1. The SC6000 felt considerably nicer to play on then the SC5000.
  2. I was impressed with the overall experience of playing on the SC6000.
  3. The Denon forums are not only easier to use than Pioneer but the people are nicer as well. This is subjective but I personally never enjoy my Pioneer forum experience.
  4. I’m not really a fan of the loop encoder. I thought I would be but turning the knob and pushing it down simply isn’t as effortless as touching a single button (4 or 8 beat loop). It’s useable, but not as efficient. Also, the encoder enables the user to easily under or over the loop points where as buttons provide incremental steps. The idea of the encoder is cool, but after some time with it - I prefer buttons.
  5. The platter seems a bit heavy. Or maybe this has something to do with the weird tension issues I had. The lightest setting is still quite heavy. But I do like the larger platter. I would love to see Denon provide a higher quality tension mechanism to provide a far lighter jog wheel to a heavy jog wheel. Currently, my experience showed an unusable jog wheel when set to heavy. This is actually the catalyst for my return. That and the scraping sound.
  6. SoundSwitch integration is cool. I’m going to miss that. Now I will have to use Serato or return to the Pioneer DMX box which isn’t as good in my opinion.
  7. Dual layered decks sound great but in practice, I still preferred 3 decks. And would buy a 4th. It’s too confusing to mentally keep track of layers when playing through music quickly. I imagine this gets more complicated after party favors. Maybe there needs to be a better implementation, for example, the wave forms can match the layer color.
  8. The price is awesome. Damn it. It’s such a great value. I’m not excited to pay $1k more for a Pioneer CDJ3000. For me, I need the Pioneer though so I’m just kinda screwed here.

Thanks for everyone’s help. And I’m going to be cheering for Denon from the sidelines. I know Denon’s time will come. I’m excited to see the where these decks go. I look forward to returning to Denon when the time is right.

1 Like

I use the hot cues a lot. The only time I ever use the main cue zero on the Prime players is to stop the track and go back to the beginning.

You speak about the loop encoder, but why not use the fixed 8 loop buttons?

Wait till you can add a 3rd or 4th deck easier. :relieved:

1 Like

I had three decks. Definitely better. As for the looping, I guess I’m just not a fan interfaces sharing multiple functions. Switching to the loops isn’t particularly bad or challenging but it’s nice to always have a quick loop available. The encoder is an attempt but i don’t believe it’s the most efficient and reliable interaction for looping. I also noticed that the performance pads are quite stiff. Many times I missed my mark because the trigger required me to press harder. Surely something I can adapt to, but I think the hot cues and cue button on the Pioneer are far more sensitive making it quite easy to effortlessly tap something into play. Again, the SC6000 is so good. I really enjoyed it but it’s just not the right player for me just yet.

do you think this is a problem? out of 3 readers all three do it

Another thing to think about: dual layers are really useful for loading streaming tracks off the internet. You can always load at least one track in the background even if you’re playing two to three tracks already. This is becoming an essential feature with getting music off Beatport Link when their network is acting up. I’ve gotten into an impressive workflow that prevents me from having to usually worry about their network problems.

1 Like

I can’t hear much in the video. But I did notice you went from the top to the sides of the jog wheel. And I heard a noise. But honestly, I’m not sure. Personally, I use the top of the jog wheel to fidget with while I play. And the side to nudge.

This topic was automatically closed 24 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.