DENON & QSC: SOLID CHOICES

This month we take a look at two innovative products from industry leaders. Our Denver-based DJ/scribe Wesley Bryant-King handles the SC5000 Prime media player from Denon DJ, while Boston’s Paul Dailey reviews the K212C powered subwoofer from QSC Audio.

DENON DJ SC5000 PRIME

It was way back in the Summer of 2017 when I first put my hands on the latest kit from Denon DJ, the Prime Series — with the SC5000 Prime media player, and the X1800 Prime mixer. Suffice it to say, I was duly impressed with both the media player and the mixer, and believed then, as now, that the Prime Series represents some of the very best that the industry has to offer the serious performing DJ. The series offers solid technology, fast performance, and a terrific interface. And if that were not enough, it offers the DJ an incredibly capable platform for performance that’s just plain fun to use.

Denon DJ, an inMusic brand, has made the Prime Series even better in the months since. The SC5000 itself has been upgraded via firmware to include a Serato DJ controller mode, support rekordbox database imports, improve pitch-resolution accuracy, enable multi-field track searching, extend the BPM analysis range, support larger libraries, and more — including support for USB thumb drive-based firmware updates (instead of having to connect it to a computer). Engine Prime, Denon DJ’s music management software, has also seen numerous improvements for those that use it.

Recently, Denon DJ rolled out a new version of the SC5000 called, simply, the SC5000M. That “M” might be one little letter, but it stands for motorized, and it gives a great media player a little something extra. Before I get into the “M” bit, I think it’s worthwhile to recap some of the things I loved about the original SC5000. And since the SC5000 and the SC5000M are otherwise identical, everything about the original applies to the new model as well.

The Basics: One of the SC5000/ SC5000M Prime’s primary features is what Denon DJ calls dual layer support. What that means is that a single SC5000 can act like two separate decks rolled into one, playing back two sources at the same time on a single unit. When you connect the deck to a mixer, all the outputs are duplicated, corresponding to the A and B “layers” of the deck.

When you use the SC5000/ SC5000M with the Prime Series X1800 mixer, you get a lot of extras, including automatic configuration of the layers when you connect the equipment with an Ethernet cable. You can share media between multiple decks, and the X1800 colorcode-matches the various decks and layers so you can see visually what’s getting routed where.

Each SC5000/SC5000M provides a lot of connectivity, with a computer USB connection, three USB inputs for mass storage connections (hard drives, thumb drives), as well as an SD card slot. Just drop material on the media — ideally using Engine Prime to prep the tracks (but it’s not required) — and plug it in. Because the deck itself can analyze tracks, it truly is plug-and-play. Even better, it supports all the major music formats you might want to use. You can also eject non-active media at any time, making DJ changeovers easy.

Both the SC5000 and SC5000M sport beautiful 7-inch color touchscreen displays that are as beautiful to use as to look at — but they are nice to look at, given that Denon DJ has implemented a very polished, visually appealing and intuitive interface.

The New SC5000M: It’s probably worth pointing out that the SC5000 and the new SC5000M are at first glance identical. But when you go to use them, you’ll notice that while all the buttons and knobs and faders and everything else is in the same place and does the same thing, there’s a rather obvious difference right in the middle: The massive platter is no longer plastic with a circular LCD display in the middle. No, it’s a beautifully-crafted turntable base with an actual vinyl record sitting on top. The net-net appearance is of a vinyl turntable platform with a 45 RPM single sitting on it, and the tonearm mysteriously missing.

In unboxing and assembling the unit, the turntable parts truly do remind me of a vinyl turntable from the cast-metal base to the felt mat to the center pin. You then carefully unwrap the vinyl record, with its metal “45 adapter” permanently affixed, and set it on the turntable platter.

Denon DJ has gone all out on this to provide a control experience that looks and feels like vinyl because it is vinyl. This is the same approach used by sister inMusic company Rane on the Rane TWELVE deck, just in a smaller form factor (7-inch vs. 12- inch).

I honestly simply could not bring myself to place my fingers on the record of my SC5000M review unit, but I can confirm the feel, weight, action, and response of the unit is indistinguishable for me from a high-quality DJ turntable. And I’m quite certain that’s what Denon DJ was going for; they can check that box easily.

The only other difference between the SC5000M and the SC5000 is the torque adjust knob. It’s in the same place — but the nature of it is slightly different, as you’d expect.

The experience of using the SC5000M is, as you may have guessed by now, identical to the original SC5000; it’s just modified by the experience of using a motorized, moving, real vinyl mini-turntable as your interaction point, vs. the SC5000’s conventional jog wheel. It’s worth mentioning that the SC5000’s jog wheel is a joy all by itself — one of the best I’ve ever used. But the SC5000M? Well, it’s gorgeous to look at with its polished metal edges and the bright surrounding LED illumination, but even more fun to use in practice.

Conclusions: At the end of my original review of the SC5000, I stated, “If Denon DJ was trying to create a superbly impressive, incredibly flexible, and intensely fun media player for the DJ market — one with great engineering and an industry-leading feature set — all I can say is that they have been wildly successful.”

I would say the same about the SC5000M, with the addition that Denon DJ has outdone itself with the addition of such an authentic vinyl control experience for DJs who prefer a more classic feel and style of control. The SC5000 remains the DJ media player of my dreams, and the SC5000M only serves to reinforce and extend that feeling.

The SC5000M comes at a street price in the neighborhood of $1,500, so it is an investment intended for serious users. But for the price, you get a top-drawer DJ experience that’s tough (or maybe even impossible) to beat.

QSC AUDIO K212C

Having been in the DJ game for quite some time, I am repeatedly impressed with the technological advances that continue to debut in the DJ sound-reinforcement market. As manufacturers squeeze more and more SPLs and quality out of increasingly compact and lightweight speaker boxes (particular full range “tops”), the rules have changed, and most DJs will tell you their backs definitely appreciate it.

Having said that, at the end of the day, bass is a place where DJs are constrained by physics. If you want good-sounding, dancefloor-moving bass, you need to move air – and to move air, you need big speakers and powerful amps. Or do you?

Enter the engineers over at QSC Audio to challenge this paradigm, with their new KS212C powered subwoofer ($1,899 list). The KS212C is a cardioid sub that utilizes dual 12-inch cone transducers, powered by a pair of Class D amplifiers (each rated at 1,800 watts peak). It’s a 6th-order bandpass design, with ported chambers on either side of the woofers, which enhance efficacy and output abilities. QSC Audio has designed these with two TFR (Turbulent Flow Reduction) ports that add high velocity air flow and takes away much of the back-loaded nature of common subs. This provides +15 dB in front of the speaker vs. the rear and takes the DJ booth out of the direct line of fire. So, you get bass on the dancefloor and not in the booth – exactly as it should be.

The KS212C is rated to produce maximum SPL of 132 dB and miraculously weighs only 88 pounds, making it a sub-speaker that most DJs can lift and load into an SUV (for example) by themselves, while still delivering killer results on the dancefloor.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Right out of the box, this unit looks great. It is built like a tank and looks the part as well, with pre-installed, high-quality 3-inch casters, and a matte-black finish that completes the package perfectly. Most subs have casters as an afterthought and, as such, mobile jocks are likely to suffer rattling during the most energetic parts of your set. Not with the KS212C – these are heavy duty, and don’t rattle at all when the unit is playing a very high SPLs. The speaker can be set upright or laid on its side, and I found that each position has its uses. In a smaller room where you are able to center the sub under your table, laying it on the side provides the optimal position and bass on the floor. When you are in a larger room with higher ceilings, keeping the sub in the upright position worked out better for me. The rear controls were simple and intuitive and will look familiar to users of QSC Audio. Out of the box, the factory mode provided great results for me. But should you wish to dive in deeper, there are plenty of adjustable customizations at your fingertips.

IN THE FIELD

For my review, QSC Audio supplied me with a pair of K10.2 fullrange tops to pair with a single KS212C. I was concerned with a single sub and so much power up top, but the results were well beyond expectations. At an event with 175 people, the bass was smooth and focused. There was more than enough power to complement the powerful tops and, best of all, the spillage behind and to the sides was minimal. If you wanted to dance, you felt the bass. If you stood on the side of the dancefloor, you could have a comfortable conversation. Seemed like the best of both worlds. There were points in the night when I pushed the speaker a bit and saw the fan come on to cool the dual amps. But never did I see the clip light or feel they were too hot or struggling in any way. The KS212C was more than ready for the task at hand. In the end, for larger events (200-plus) or in very large venues like grand ballrooms and gyms – you certainly would need multiple KS212Cs or to even dust off those bigger 18-inch subs in your garage. But for 99-percent of the events I do, this thing rocks. The unit is light, well-made, with quality sound on the dancefloor and no headache in the DJ booth. QSC Audio has a winner on their hands.

By Wesley Bryant-King & Paul Dailey