Pioneer DJ PLX-500-K Direct Drive DJ Turntable, Black

Product Information

I also had to be a little bit gentler when it came to speeding up the spindle and slowing down the platter edge with my fingers – the motor doesn’t seem to have as high a torque as that of the PLX-1000, which again is understandable since this is a budget model. I did some digging: the PLX-1000 can start up in 0.3 seconds, while the PLX-500 takes up to one second to fully start. It sounds like a small thing, but this makes for a noticeable difference in performance. The PLX-500 is a direct-drive turntable with three speeds: 33, 45, and 78 RPM. It looks a lot like the PLX-1000 and the Technics 1200: it has a power knob, a start / stop button, target light, a tonearm and tonearm assembly that looks like what you’ll find in a standard Technics 1200 or PLX-1000, and a pitch fader that lets you adjust platter speeds up to -/+ 8%. The aluminum platter looks impressive thanks to the “spotted” outer flange, which is part of the classic strobe rotation control system. The launch of Pioneer’s high-end PLX-1000 DJ turntable in 2015 caused a few ‘oohs’ and also ‘ahhhs’, and also fitted perfectly into that space left by the demise of the mighty Technics 1210. Watching the platter was a necessity when manually correcting the rotation, electronics are responsible for everything here, precisely setting 33, 45, and even 78 rpm (buttons), additionally, the rotation can be changed at the pace of +/- 8% (using the slider).

With the directly driven PLX-500, Pioneer has an attractively priced turntable in its range. Its torque, synchronism, and robust chassis with solidly anchored platter provide the basis for professional application and scratching with vinyl. The sound has largely convinced me. Another argument for the PLX-500 is its integrated sound card, which sends the signal to a connected computer without additional hardware. Vinyl lovers can thus digitize their record treasures via record box. DVS operation with a record box, even an app on the iPad, is possible without additional “dongle” hardware. For me, the PLX-500 is a great turntable in its price range.

Sound Quality

Here’s where it gets ugly for the PLX-500. The combination of its plastic build and motor led to problems for me when it came to scratching. I needed a lighter touch to prevent the platter from stopping while I was doing some basic scratches, and it took a while for the platter to spin at its full speed once I let go of the record. Although you would be hard-pressed to tell the PLX-1000 and the PLX-500 apart from just looking at them, however, once you get them in hand, the differences become more apparent. Unlike the PLX-1000 (which has a full metal body), the Pioneer DJ PLX-500 has a mostly high-grade plastic shell. Although the platter and the tonearm are made from metal. Inside we see a three phase brushless motor with electronic brake. This setup enables seamless transitioning between the three rpm settings. This not only increases the amount of control a DJ has, but also makes for much easier and more precise mixing, which is very important when starting out as a DJ. The S-Shaped Tonearm comes with a Fully Detachable Headshell. But is This Important?

Using the PLX-500 with Rekordbox DJ was the last thing on my list. It doesn’t come with a Rekordbox DVS licence, and you still need to hook up a Rekordbox DVS-enabled mixer or DJ controller to your laptop. I have a licence and timecode vinyl that came with my DDJ-RZ, so I tried it out. Getting it set up and calibrated was a breeze (as is the case with DVS these days). Next, I wanted to try ripping some tunes, so I hooked one PLX-500 to to my laptop via USB and fired up Rekordbox, which has a vinyl recording feature. Again, no issues and it worked fine. So far, so good. My expectations are being met, which got me excited about my next test, which was spinning. DJing Setting the Pioneer up is reasonably straightforward and should not prove too challenging, especially if you have access to a stylus force gauge. Once up and running, the Pioneer does a fair amount right – but not everything. Listening to Biffy Clyro's Only Revolutions, the PLX-500 has some traditional direct drive attributes. The sound has a rhythmically engaging and propulsive quality and as you might expect, pitch stability is pretty much absolute.You can, for example, listen to Beatles ‘She Loves You’ at “natural” speed (on official releases, apart from some Japanese releases, the song is accelerated by several percent, of course consciously, by George Martin’s decision from 1963). The S-shaped arm is static-balanced, meaning the user can also adjust the tonearm’s height and weight thanks to the counterweight and anti-skating dial. But remember to dis-engage the anti-skating if you are going to be scratch DJ’ing. Tonearm Type: Universal type S-shape tone arm, Gimbal-supported type bearing structure, Static balance type The Pioneer DJ PLX-500 has been designed with a wide range of DJing styles in mind. Perfect for any beginner or a seasoned professional for that matter. The tone-arm shoulder looks a little low-cost, however you’ve obtained ta maintain expenses down somewhere? And also, justice, it doesn’t mess with efficiency – if you calibrate the weight, height and also anti-skipping dial to match your stylus as well as needle set up, after that you’re golden.

At first glance, maybe glimpsed in a darkened club, the PLX-500 could easily be mistaken for a classic Technics turntable. The PLX-500 is a slimmed-down version of the PLX-1000 that Pioneer introduced two years ago, and is actually a rebrand of a copy. It's made for Pioneer by the Taiwan ODM specialist Hanpin, which manufactures a huge range of cheap and cheerful turntables. Hanpin turntables are often rebranded by companies that no longer have the expertise or resources to make them in-house.

Specifications

Looking from above, we see the On/Off switch, the large Start/Stop button, and the three-speed selector. This offers you a choice of 33, 45, or 78 rpm. Pioneer have also kept the +8/-8 pitch fader, which works great for pitch bending (even though the motor is not as powerful as the PLX-1000). Turntables are fussy things – they rely on a tiny needle sitting in a record groove. This is why the best DJ turntables are built like tanks, weigh a ton, and often expensive. The added mass and weight make them less prone to unwanted vibrations and bumps, especially when you’re stood next to a pair of bass bins. When you cut corners to make a DJ turntable, compromises are inevitable.