Stanton Magnetics

It's fair to say that Stanton have made some pretty bad mixers, but luckily this isn't one of them! Despite some innovations like the focus fader, most of Stanton's early mixers had the THD spec of a portable radio and were really not fit for purpose. The SA series was essentially Stanton's first attempt at addressing this, and the sound quality on offer here is actually very good. The EQs are a little soulless if I'm being critical, but this is unlikely to be of too much concern for its intended user & I'm used to better gear. The build quality is still very much Stanton - there's nothing to complain about, but it's quite agricultural. It has a solid metal case and the pots & switches are all great, but the overall feel is still of a modern day small-scale electronic item from China. Competing products from Allen & Heath, Rane and Ecler from this era are far more refined but this will be more than acceptable next to the better budget kit. Faders are acceptable for scratching but obviously you could do much better - think clacky old school Vestax. You could of course put a modern fader in if you wanted. I think this would be worth picking up in 2021 if you can find a good one. These days the scratch boom is long past and the best mixers are also sadly out of production, so the benchmark is lower in general. This is available for very little money now, and I can recommend it on sound quality alone.

I've been using it for a month now. I have previously used hercules, american audio vms4, and behringer mixers, plus Denon and Pioneer complete sets. In terms of mixing, it's the easiest way to mix. If you know your songs, it's impossible to get it wrong. In terms of use, it's at the same level as traktor or Virtual dj. What I like most about it is its ease of use, the fact that it's all-in-one (no need of a PC) and that you can play back songs from a USB drive and even an iPod. There is a couple of things I don't like in terms of quality, for the price, it has a plasticky look (even if the knobs and slider are great), no gain control per channel, no possibility to extend to a CD (unlike the vms4), and how long it takes to estimate a beat if you don't use the beatgrid software. I'd surely buy it again If it cost the same I paid for it originally, because it's an all-in-one. If you are hesitating about getting it, try it out and trust your first impression :-)

The Stanton STR8-80 is a direct drive turntable (Meaning the platter is turned directly by a motor instead of by a belt). The STR8-80 Stanton's highest torque direct drive motor to date. 3 speeds - 33, 45, 78 RPM, Selectable pitch adjustment (± 8%, 12%), Blue 33 and 45 RPM Pitch LEDs, Remote Start S/PDIF digital output, which you can plug straight into Mac/PC or CD-R. It comes witha Stanton 520 SK DJ Cartridge pre-mounted on a silver headshell. The mixer's straight tonearm is great for scratching and mixing, and the platter is very responsive and has good resistance. The needle never skips and is not too hard on your records, though it could be better with some kind of suspension system. I use a pair of these as backup decks on gigs, and sometimes use them for practice and scratching on recordings. They are very full featured, and sound good. These turntables have straight tone arms. The S-shaped gives superior sound quality, however the straight arms are better for DJing and scratching. The only gripe I have with the STR8-80 is that the body is made of plastic. If you want your turntables to last a very long time, plastic is unacceptable. Another feature that this turntable doesn't have that the two aforementioned do is the ability to change the height of the tone arm for stability. Overall however, these are good tables that have lasted me a good amount of time, and were well worth what I paid. I really like these decks and they get a pretty good amount of use on at least a weekly basis. I would recommend these as a good and cheap pair of backup or travel decks, maybe a good present for your kid if they want to get into DJing since they are so cheap. These are really good tables for beginners.

The stanton t.60 is a pretty decent direct drive turntable for a beginner learning to spin some vinyl. I like the size of it as it fits perfectly on my desk with my other set up. The colour is very nice also with the black and grey finish, it has a tracker light and also you can change speeds from 33 rpm to 45 rpm which is all I need really since I have no old albums to play. It comes with a 7 inch adapter circle piece of plastic that you put in the middle of your 7inch records so it spins around perfectly. It also comes with a standard cartridge and stylus that I still use but I am saving up for a better one since some quality is lost but not a lot to be fair. The slip mat is pretty horrific that comes with the turntable also as it is very thick but its all about taste really, do not think you will be scratching straight away if you get this and do not have a thinner slip mat. The one thing that really aggravates me with this turntable is that the torque on the motor is not that great. It takes just a little too long in my opinion to fully start up and be spinning at full speed which can impact on your beat matching severely in my opinion. Another down fall about this turntable is that it is made out of plastic so any slight knocks that you may give the desk you are spinning at will cause it to skip which is definitely not something you want. But for the price I paid for this turntable I must admit it is a great piece of kit to start learning to spin vinyl on but if you had some more money definitely invest in something a little more expensive which is what I am going to in the future.

All you could need for scratching and juggling, for beginner/intermediates at least. Hampster switch, up fader reverse, Headphone Mute button near the fader, very handy! When using the Focus fader there is no curves for the Xfader, only cut option. The up faders are hooked into the curve control tho, so if u werent using the focus fader and u still wanted a sharp cut in on the fader, the up faders would also be sharp.. not good for fades etc. but with the focus fader u can pretty much sort this out. £170 UK pounds UTILIZATION Very easy to use, nice spacious lay out of the main controls. SOUNDS Sounds good for the money. OVERALL OPINION I like the focus fader, feels so slick after coming from a low end numark. Quite durable, no match for the big boys like vestax 06/07 etc, but I feel pretty confidant it whackin my faders around It cant be true love, because I dont wanna spend the rest of my DJ-life with it. I reakon I'll have her for a year, and if i'm getting good by then I'll up grad. But until I can afford a sweet ass vestax or rane, my stanton should surfice. Also note -this is a battle mixer. If you want to skratch/beat juggle then its a good buy. If you want to mix, or play house, DnB, techno etc there wud be better options. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: johnh85 ( 8-, 2005)

If I had to pick one turntable to have in my studio for the rest of my life... it would have to be this one! Reasons: 1. It has a reverse button which I need when I'm experimenting in the studio. 2. Short straight arm for less skipping when I'm skratching all wild and crazy. 3. Extra wide pitch control range, which is nuts important when I wanna mix whatever. 4. Built to throw off a building... I asked the creator of the table at the NAMM Show, and he said one of his goals was to make it as strong as a tank, and he tested multiple table prototypes by dropping them from a two story window, and finally this version wouldn't break. Kinda overkill to me, but this definitely gives it an edge over the all in one plastic Vestax tables like the QFO that I designed. Anyways, this Stanton table has everything but a fader... maybe one day, they'll make one like that... and you could throw it out of a building too ;)

As a long time user of Stanton equiptment, i thought it was about time I dropped a review of the Stanton T.62. I paid full price for these brand new from Best DjTurntables Stanton T62 which gave a great review of them. I originally had the T60's so I knew what to expect, and for what has to be described as a budget turntable, you certainly do get good quality for your money. I've had the T62's for almost 4 years now, and never had a problem. I've replaced the cartidge, which is easy to do, only cause I like to do that every couple of years. It has a great vinvyl to mp3 sound conversion feature, so now i have all my vinyl records on mp3. If you are new to either DJing, or just need a quality set of turntables, then this Stanton will see you good, trust me on that. I'll still be using it another 2 years from now!

The Stanton SCS.1m can control any software, I used it with about 3 different programs and it never gave me any issues. You can use this as a mixer or as a control, or both! There are EQ controls right on it and every single option can be synced with your programs functions. The only issues that I ran into were when trying to save presets so that I didn’t have to re-MIDI everything up each time I wanted to turn on the device and use it. UTILIZATION This unit connected to my computer via fire wire connection. I experienced no issues with the communication back and forth between the SCS.1m and my PC. The latency was very low and pushing all of the buttons/knobs was very responsive and the lag was very minimal. GETTING STARTED Outside of using this with my PC I also used it directly with my CDJ and turntables because there is an auxiliary input to use. The auxiliary input is a great addition to have with this type of unit because it makes it useable with any set up for any DJ. I did hear a loss in audio quality when using my CDJ’s and running them through the aux in puts on the SCS.1m. It was more like just a volume loss and not really a overall sound quality loss. OVERALL OPINION I say that this mixer/controller is priced right where it should be. It is affordable and has all of the functions that I needed. The build of it is pretty solid though it is not has “heavy” or durable as I like my gear to be. But the functions and portability make up for it. In this price range you will not find something with the ability to work with any computer and CDJ or Turntables as smoothly as the SCS.1m can. This is great for bedroom DJ’s and performing DJ’s as well.

The Stanton M .203 is a two channel mixer that cost just less than 100 dollars. Being that this unit cannot be racked caused a serious issue for me after traveling with it for a while. I like to be able to have my mixers racked every now and then. I didn’t understand why they didn’t make it rackable because at this price it would not have been any more trouble to do it than some of the similar Numark mixers that are in this price range like the M101 from Numark. UTILIZATION With this mixer you are getting a rugged steel unit and you will not have to worry about anything happening to it because it is very solid. There are 1 phone switchable line in and 1 RCA input per channel. It also has a ready to go EQ 3 band system right in it and a complete kill at -64 dB as well. This mixer has a lot more bells and whistles than the M101 does and they are basically the exact same price. So if racking isn’t an issue to you I think the M.203 is a much better choice in terms of options. SOUNDS The M.203 gives mic input with tone control and a cue pan fader. All in this unit that only weighs about 6 pounds. It is also made for the road but because it was not rackable it didn’t last long in my set ups. This is not the “beginner” mixer if you really want something completely basic but if you want to have a mixer that you can start with and use for a while without having to worry about upgrading than this is the way to go. OVERALL OPINION I am very happy with the quality and features of this unit from Stanton and recommend that they make this exact same one rackable for those who need it.

The DJ PRO 3000 MKII DJ headphones are very clean; they have a wide frequency range with a pair of 50mm drivers that can handle just about any mixer output that is made. These headphones are very comfortable because I have had them on for hours before and it was hard to tell that I even had them on. They also do a great job of enclosing the ear to keep all outside noise absent from your listening. They cord is detachable for storage, or if it needs to be replaced it is not that hard to do. The price of the DJ PRO 3000 MKII is pretty decent at right around 100 dollars. They have passive high and low pass filters and blue LED lights that blink to the beat/bpm of the music which is pretty cool especially if you are a performing DJ it never hurts to give me of a visual to your crowd with cool blinking lights. The sound is very clean and the best part about them is the noise cancellation capabilities. You do not have to worry about hearing anything other than the music with them even in a loud club you will not hear anything but what is coming through the headphones. My only complaint with them is that they could have been made a little better. The quality of materials does not seem to be as good as I think it should be. It just seems like the build of them does not match the sound quality and maybe that is what comes with headphones in this price range but it would have been nice to have a better construction to them so you can travel worry free with them. They seem like they could break at any time and that worried me a lot. But the sound is extremely good and I highly recommend these, just make sure you take great care of them! These can be purchased in the standard Pro 3000, or the MKII Pro 3000 from Stanton.

The Stanton T.92 USB is a battle style turntable with a high torque motor. It does have a USB output and comes with all of the connections you need to get your sound out to your audio source or even your computer. The Stanton T.92 USB comes with an (S) shaped arm that will give you low distortion and high sound quality. The Stanton T.92 USB is the ultimate battle style turntable, when you purchase this turntable you will also get your RCA cables, USB cables, slip mat, Cakewalk LE, and a dust cover. The T.92 is truly ready right out of the box to battle or to do your mixes with. The T.92 does have a pitch control fader that will let you change the tempo of a record without changing the pitch, which is crucial for a battle style DJ to have in his arsenal. The T.92 by Stanton is very rugged as well, it will last you a long time and you can take it with your wherever you go and not have to worry about it getting damaged. There are no digital inputs on the back of the T.92 but it has 1 digital output S/PDIF. The weight of the turntable is about 20 pounds which surprised me, but that is good because it lets you know that it is made out of solid heavy material that will last you a long time. The T.92 by Numark is the perfect turntable for the battle scene, and the club/performer scene. I have been using this turntable for 2 to 3 years and nothing has ever broke or went down on me. I will continue to use it until it just doesn’t work anymore, which I don’t see happening for a very long time. I have used many other models from Stanton and various other companies but this one has for some reason remained one of my favorite and most used turntable.

The Stanton DJ Pro 2000 S where out before the 3000’s where. To me the 2000 S have a way better sound then the upgraded or so called upgraded version 3000’s. The sound is very isolated and the ear cups are very comfortable. They have a pretty wide frequency response range allowing you to really sink into the music. I have used the Pro 2000 on multiple occasions and even having purchased multiple pairs of them. The issue with the Pro 2000 is that they are not built to last. Yes, you can replace the interchangeable cord if you need to but the headphones themselves will not last long. A little wear and tear will break these things apart in no time. The Pro 3000 are way better built than the 2000 S , but I still say go with the 2000 S because the sound is a lot better and they cost less. The quality of sound on the DJ Pro 2000 is very good for a 90 dollar pair of headphones, but I have used and purchased 2 different pair of Pro 2000 S headphones within a 14 month time frame because one pair just got smashed during a travel and the over heard arch part cracked, and the second pair I took better care off but offer time the ear cup foam got really bad and someone the cord input spot on the headphones got a little loose. The Pro 2000 S headphones are not built to last you a long time, but they will give you a good sound. So enjoy them while they work because before you know it you will need to replace them and buy another pair. But I wouldn’t change my decision for anything because if you are tight on money you can get this for really cheap and they will work. I would by them again without a problem if I needed a good pair for a show and didn’t have the budget to get a better pair.