Pioneer DJ VM-50 Review
We don’t often review studio monitors, but with more people working from home, more people are recording, mixing, and editing all manner of media from home as well. At $169 each (or $338 for a pair), the Pioneer DJ VM-50 speakers are relatively budget-friendly studio monitors. There’s no Bluetooth or wireless streaming here, no Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, and no headphone jack. These are powered studio monitors, plain and simple, and they're ideal for near-field monitoring in a medium-sized room. There are some quirks in the design that might scare away purists seeking an unadulterated signal free of DSP (digital signal processing), but if you're looking for pair of studio monitors or computer speakers that provide a relatively accurate audio representation, you're in the right place.
DSP vs. EQ
Available in black or white models, each VM-50 measures 11.9 by 7.8 by 10.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 12.2 pounds. The aluminum front face has no protective grille, which is all the better for showing off the angular edges of the MDF enclosure for the 5.25-inch aramid fiber woofer and the 1-inch soft dome tweeter. To the left, the Pioneer DJ logo is emblazoned between the two drivers, and to the right, an LED strip—horizontal, and also with sharp angled edges—glows white when on and red when in standby mode.
The drivers are bi-amplified, each receiving 30 watts of class-D amplification with DSP. They deliver a frequency range of 40Hz to 36kHz.
Below the ported bass-reflex duct, the back panel houses input connections for XLR, quarter-inch balanced TRS, and (unbalanced) RCA. There’s a volume knob, as well as an auto standby on/off switch, and a master power on/off switch. Near the power switch, there’s a connection for the included power cable. The volume knobs have detents and markers so you can match each speaker precisely, though the detents are closely spaced and a little slippery, so in testing it took multiple tries to be certain we had each speaker matched at the same level.
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