How to connect a DJ Controller to Bluetooth Speakers!

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Last updated on May 23rd, 2022 at 07:53 pm

Who likes cables, am I right? The world would be a wonderful place if everything could be wireless.

As far as connecting your DJ Controller to Bluetooth speakers goes, sure, you can connect them via Bluetooth without the need for any cables.

However, is this the best approach? Should you connect them using regular cables? Or is it exactly the same, only more practical?

In this article, I will explain how to connect your DJ controller to your Bluetooth speakers, what issues this might cause, how to improve said issues, and a simpler and better way of doing things.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started!

How to connect a DJ controller to Bluetooth speakers: If the controller has Bluetooth, you can pair it to the speakers just like you would with any other device (Enable Bluetooth, select the device you want to pair it with, and pair it). It’s worth noting, however, that there will be some latency issues that might make mixing and beatmatching almost impossible.

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Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty!

How to connect the DJ Controller to the speaker via Bluetooth (Latency and why it can be a problem)

Let’s first quickly go over what latency is and why it might be a problem:

In this particular case, since the Bluetooth protocol has to encrypt and then decrypt the audio, it introduces some latency (depending on what Bluetooth technology you’re using it can be as high as 150ms or as low as 20ms).

Essentially, latency would be the time it takes for the audio signal to be sent from the DJ controller to the Bluetooth speaker and reproduced.

Note: The latest Bluetooth protocol (Bluetooth 5) has a latency between 20ms and 40ms, but you can always purchase a separate Low Latency Bluetooth transmitter if you’re having latency issues, but more on that later on.

Why is latency a problem?

Latency is mostly an issue when beatmatching, especially through headphones, because if, let’s say, there’s a latency of 100ms between what you hear through the headphones and what is actually going on with the two songs you’re trying to mix, when you try and beat match song A to song B, the beat will always be 100ms behind, or in other words, out of sync.

This is also the case when CUE-ing or finger-drumming since you’ll be basing your inputs on what you hear through the headphones, but since you’re hearing everything with 100ms latency, the songs will end up out of sync.

However, this is not as much of an issue when you’re using speakers since, even if there’s latency happening, you can always mix on your wired headphones and only use the speakers for amplification.

How to connect the DJ controller to the Bluetooth Speaker:

  • To connect the DJ controller to the Bluetooth speaker simply pair them like you would with any other device, like a phone. Depending on what DJ controller you have, you may need to refer to the user manual and follow the specific steps.

You may a low latency Bluetooth transmitter

Like I just mentioned, the newer Bluetooth 5 protocol’s latency is usually around 20-40ms, and in this case you might not benefit from a Low Latency transmitter since these generally manage to get the latency lo about 40ms.

However, most Bluetooth devices these days don’t feature the newer protocol, which means that getting a low latency transmitter might actually give you a much better result than not using one.

What you’ll need to get is an aptX low latency Bluetooth transmitter, which as I mentioned can lower the latency to about 40ms.

There are plenty of them around and you could probably use any of them and achieve the same results, but here are my three recommendations:

How to connect the DJ controller to a low latency Bluetooth transmitter

Connecting your DJ controller to the Bluetooth transmitter is a fairly simple process; simply take the RCA-to-Aux (3.5mm) cable, which should come included with almost all transmitters, connect the RCA end to the Master Out of the DJ controller and the Aux end (3.5mm) to the Aux input on the transmitter.

Next, all you need to do is pair the speakers to the Bluetooth transmitter and that’s it!

Not all transmitters are the same, so the pairing process may vary depending on which one you have, so refer to the user manual if you can’t figure out how to pair the devices.

Lastly, make sure aptX low latency mode is enabled, otherwise you won’t reap the benefits of having purchased the transmitter.

Alternative: Use aptX low latency speakers

I assume that if you’re reading this post it’s because you already have a Bluetooth speaker as well as a DJ controller, so your most practical option would be to go with one of the transmitters I just listed.

However, there are many aptX low latency speakers out there that you can use which already have that low latency you’re looking for, such as the LG XBOOM Go PK7.

Will you be able to mix this way?

Like I previously mentioned, latency is never a good thing, but it’s not as bad on speakers as it is on headphones since, if there’s any latency going on between your equipment and the speakers, you can simply use your wired headphones for beatmatching, CUE-ing, finger-drumming, etc., and only have the speakers there for amplification.

Better alternative: Connect to the Bluetooth speaker using a 3.5mm cable

Unless you’re absolutely dead-set on transmitting the audio via Bluetooth to the speakers, it might be smarter to just use a cable to transmit the audio that way, otherwise latency might be too much of an issue, even when using a low latency transmitter.

Bluetooth speakers generally don’t have the typical speaker connectors (XLR, TRS, etc.), but they do offer a 3.5mm aux input which you can use instead.

99% of DJ controllers have an RCA master output which you use to send audio to the speakers, and in this case, you can use an RCA-to-3.5mm jack cable to transmit that audio from the controller to the Bluetooth speakers.

Conclusion

It’s definitely possible to connect your DJ controller to Bluetooth speakers, but remember that latency might be an issue, causing you to not be able to beat match correctly.

While you could get a low latency Bluetooth transmitter to lower the latency, it’s still not recommended to mix using this setup, but rather to mix on your wired headphones and use the speakers for amplification.

I hope this information was useful!

Have a great day!