With Pioneer beginning to move beyond the DJ controller and CDJ scene, they’ve now put out the DJ VM series speakers. In this review, we’ll be going over none other than the Pioneer DJ VM-70 speaker set.
We’ll take a look at them and how they fare in this potentially oversaturated studio monitor marketplace to see if Pioneer can make it out as a speaker company as well as a DJ controller company.
Are the Pioneer DJ VM-70 Monitor Speakers Good?
The Pioneer DJ VM-70 Active Monitors produce a punchy, natural sound with low distortion, a fast attack, and a super-solid bass response for a powerful speaker performance. The VM monitor speaker range helps bridge the ever-decreasing gap between DJ & Producer.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- DSP Allows For Impressive Tonal Control
- Visual Design Is Very Appealing
- Multi-Faceted Jack Input
- Fixed Low-End Bass
Cons
- Does Not Come In White
First Impressions – The Physical Build
Starting with first impressions, when compared with their earlier S-DJX active studio monitors, Pioneer DJ has stepped up their game. While all of the VM series models are excellent, the VM-70, in particular, seems to offer a lot for its price tag, even at the start with its visual build and style.
Physically, the VM-70 is rocking some respectable woofer sizes at 6.5-inches along with a 1-inch dome tweeter.
The tweeter is given a bit of slight protection via a small guard while the rest of the cabinet is covered by a high-quality vinyl MDF material.
Meanwhile, the speakers also sport a faceplate for the tweeter cone, bass speaker, and power light, all of which are made from thick aluminum that is impressively durable.
The Specs
The VM-70 is a Class D amp that can crank out around 112dB at max SPL. It can produce around 30 watts of power along with the HF amp while also putting out around 70 watts for the LF.
Along with the rest of the VM series, the VM-70 opted to put the port out on its rear face.
And, while this has some benefits, one of the biggest and most obvious missteps is that you’re pretty much going to have to position this someplace away from a wall if you want to avoid excessive booms from your sound when playing.
Spec Breakdown
- Length: 13.43 inches (341mm)
- Width: 9.02 inches (229mm)
- Depth: 12.28 inches (312mm)
- Weight: 17 lbs. (8kg)
- Woofer Size: 6.5 inches
- Tweeter Size: 1 inch
- Max SPL: 112 dB
- Frequency Range: 37Hz – 36kHz
The Design
The VM-70 style may not be for everyone, but I find it very interesting. While, yes, you do pretty much only have the option of getting it all-black, that doesn’t take away from its unique visual style and appearance.
If you compare it to a standard studio monitor, its oblong shape should immediately stand out as more of a work of art than just a simple piece of speaker machinery.
What’s more, the fact that this is useful for reducing vibrations and improving the overall sound quality makes this aspect even more of a plus than otherwise.
The speakers have a slightly imposing look about them that gives off a slight sense of awe and authority as if you’re dealing with something that’s more than “just” a speaker set.
Again, mileage on this may vary, but for me, it only found me thinking about these speakers even more after testing them out.
Taking A Deeper Look – Features & Sound Quality
Now that we’ve gone over the physical build of the speakers as well as their overall specs and design, we’ll now take a look at what the VM-70 has in store for us in terms of its general sound quality as well as the various features included.
Sound Quality
With sound quality being the most important facet of a speaker’s use, the VM-70 needed to get this right.
We reviewed the VM-50 prior and, while they did very well, their size was just a bit too small to warrant a home run, at least from the low-end bass standpoint.
Here, the VM-70 is just barely big enough to correct that issue, tipping the low-end in just the right way to give the fullest “punch” that most people are looking for.
What It Gets Right
As with the VM-50, the Pioneer DJ VM-70 sounds pretty amazing all the way around. While it may take a bit of finagling to get the “sweet spot” with the studio monitors, once you do, you’re pretty much in for a real treat.
Not only are the VM-70 capable of filling up a small-to-mid-sized studio quite easily, but they bring with them a full and engaging sound that just feels “good” to listen to.
What was impressive, however, was the improvement placed on the low-end. While the VM-50 had already been well enough along with its bass, and low-end frequency, it wasn’t perfect. Yes, they were still quite clear and enjoyable to listen to, but if you wanted to enjoy the deep base, you were going to need to add a subwoofer to bridge the gap.
The VM-50 was always an impressive contender in terms of its mids and high-level frequencies, and the VM-70 takes this even further.
Both are given even more clarity in their sound while continuing to avoid any hissing or cracking when hitting the upper limits of sound.
That’s not the case here.
Yes, a sub will make the experience better, no question. However, for the vast majority of people that want to feel “the beat” with the bass, you’re not going to be disappointed in the slightest.
In addition, these things are crazy loud! Unless you’ve got a soundproof stage, you’re probably going to be waking up your neighbors if you have them cranked to the higher volume settings.
Features Offered
Connection Options
As with the others in the VM series, the VM-70 comes with a fairly varied and extensive set of connection points, making it a favorite for many simply due to the variety offered. The main connection port is a combined multi-jack port that works for either TRS or XLR connections. In addition, the VM-70 has an RCA input port too.
This means that the speaker works well with both balanced and unbalanced cables. And, while this should naturally be a given, the fact that so few speakers have this as a general rule automatically adds a sense of appeal to the VM series as a whole.
In the back, the VM-70 also has an IEC power jack, as well as an on and off, switch as well as an auto-standby selector switch.
Tuning Options
Probably the crown jewel of the VM series as a whole, the VM-70’s biggest feather in their cap is their incredibly useful tuning options; in particular, their DSP control settings.
Sitting along the back of the studio monitor, the DSP (digital signal processor) controls come with two options. There is a “Low” and a “High” setting, both of which come with four additional settings you can play with.
The “Low” settings affect the low-end bass frequencies whereas the “High” settings instead influence the higher-end treble frequencies. While they have multiple settings, they’re meant less as a “continuous tweaking” and more “set and forget” type of situation.
Once you’ve determined what works best for you, you’re supposed to just stick with that setup and enjoy it unless you are taking them someplace with different acoustics and sound setup.
The “Low” bass settings, as mentioned earlier, have four different settings to choose from. These are “Low-End”, “Flat”, “Boost”, and “Big Boost”.
Meanwhile, the “High” treble settings are the same but geared toward the higher-end frequencies.
These include “High-End”, “Flat”, “Bright”, and “Intense Bright”.
While it may seem a bit “gimmicky”, the reality is that this feature can pretty much completely alter the way your sound comes across almost instantly.
The one issue I have is that I wish the settings were a bit more customizable.
That said, the reality is that pretty much everyone will be able to use the pre-established setup just fine even if there aren’t more advanced or specific customization options.
Final Thoughts – Is it Worth Your Time?
The VM-70 is, simply put, an upgrade on everything offered by the VM-50 as well as all other previous Pioneer-made speakers.
They retain everything that made the VM-50 such an awesome option while improving on all of the minor outpoints. Again, I would be hard-pressed to say this was a perfect set of speakers, however, the number of errors is so small, that I’m just as hard-pressed finding what to say is objectively wrong with it.
So, ultimately, “Is the Pioneer DJ VM-70 worth your time?“
Simply put, yes it is. Just as the VM-50 was an excellent option for everyone starting, while being a great option for those looking for a backup, the VM-70 holds to this even more so.
If you’ve been in the game for a while now and want something with a bit more clarity and “oomph”, the VM-70 is the setup for you. If you’re someone that is a professional and wants a good set of studio monitors that aren’t excessively costly, the VM-70 is for you.
If you’re a casual listener that just wants to really “feel” the music, the VM-70 is for you.
Pioneer DJ VM-70: The Verdict
When taking a look at the VM-70, my ultimate question was, how much better were they going to be than the VM-50? Was the difference going to be large enough to justify paying the extra cost or were you better just skipping over to the VM-80 if you needed an upgrade?
Overall, while I can’t say that they were so impressive that someone who had a VM-50 would need to run out and upgrade to it, I can recommend anyone that is just looking at the VM series to start with the VM-70 as it is factually a better version at a marginally increased cost.
