Pyle PT8000CH 8-Channel Amplifier Review

[375HP2482]

Forty years ago many audiophiles were retreating from S/S back to tube amps and preamps. To them S/S in general was "harsh" and "unmusical". (FWIW, I wasn't one of them.)

Solid-state amplifiers had only been around for a dozen years or so back then versus decades for tubes. I believe the real culprit behind the audiophile contempt in the early-mid Eighties was the introduction of digital audio via the Compact Disc, and they just grouped that with solid-state amplifiers for good measure. Moans and groans about harshness, "glare," and -- my favorite -- "encoding" versus "recording." They claimed that the high-order linear brickwall anti-aliasing filters were prone to unforgivable phase anomalies in the audible band.

What it really came down to back then was the fact that the Compact Disc was a product of Sony/Phillips, and the early CD players came from other megacorporations like Panasonic (I had one, and was instantly smitten). You know, the kinds of companies that would advertise in High Fidelity and Audio magazines of the day. And that caught the boutique companies catering to the audiphile mags by surprise. Things didn't change until a few years later when the boutiques caught on and starting offering their own "high end" digital gear. "They do digital/dither right," etc.,etc.

But I've suspected the reason for this trend was that those old S/S amp had quite low THD, like the Pyle, but the harmonics were overwhelmingly 4th order and higher. Tube amps, OTOH, had higher THD but the predominant distortion was 2nd and/or 3rd order. O my technophile friends, here's some truth to dwell upon: 2nd/3rd order harmonics not only sound benign, (to many people), but also mask the unpleasant higher order harmonics.

Unless you are a arena rock guitar player, there is nothing benign about nonlinearity. FWIW, an AES preprint I saw many years ago from a gentleman now at Harmon, as an aside from the theme of that paper, seemed to correlate odd-order distortion (especially 3rd) with elevated amounts of modulation distortion, the kind we see in Amir's multitone tests. Which IMO are the most valuable amplifier tests he performs: all you really need is 15 bits at full output and you're as good as the program material is going to be. (This Pyle doesn't quite make it.)

 

[LTig]

Yup:

21IPAL 1 Ω - LF Drivers - B&C Speakers

www.bcspeakers.com

My gosh. 8 cm excursion!!!

 

[sarumbear]

Its current ratings are actually far over the ratings of the speakon connector (130A vs 40A), but considering that the former is a peak current rating and the latter is an RMS long term rating, they won't melt just yet..!

Peak rating are meaningless as the peak is not defined. Manufacturers like them as it shows a big number. They are advertising specs, meaningless...

 

[Gorgonzola]

Solid-state amplifiers had only been around for a dozen years or so back then versus decades for tubes. I believe the real culprit behind the audiophile contempt in the early-mid Eighties was the introduction of digital audio via the Compact Disc, and they just grouped that with solid-state amplifiers for good measure. Moans and groans about harshness, "glare," and -- my favorite -- "encoding" versus "recording." They claimed that the high-order linear brickwall anti-aliasing filters were prone to unforgivable phase anomalies in the audible band.

The issue of the sound of early CD players was separate on from that of S/S amplifiers for audiophiles of the '80s era. (I know, I lived through that era. As mentioned, however, I continued to use S/S amps myself.)

Fair to say that early CD player sound, (as opposed generally to the sound of the CD per se), as not good -- my first CDP circa 1985, a Yamaha CD-X1, sounded pretty ghastly on the top end. In parallel with the return to tube equipment, many audiophiles postponed a CDP purchase and/or when back to buying LPs.

The legacies today are the continued preference today for tube equipment and, likewise, a continued preference for CD sound by many audiophiles. Personally I've never used a tube power amp and haven't even played an LP in the dozen years or so.

 

[mhardy6647]

Pyle was once a brand name for unexceptional but acceptable pro audio/sound reinforcement products. I really don't know what the brand name represents today. In recent years, stuff sold under the Pyle brand had gotten pretty embarrassing.

You know what I like about this Pyle multichannel amplifier currently under review? It actually looks like a functional, even serious, product.
Interesting. I wonder what prompted them to do this?

Well -- OK -- other than the power button

 

[voodooless]

3000W pre-amplifier?

 

[mhardy6647]

In full disclosure -- I actually do own a pair of Pyle-branded products.

 

[peniku8]

Peak rating are meaningless as the peak is not defined. Manufacturers like them as it shows a big number. They are advertising specs, meaningless...

I think you're conflating marketing "peak" with technical "peak"
Peak in this context (let's take Powersoft instead of PKN, since I know Powersoft doesn't inflate/fake their specs but I know nothing about PKN), simply refers to the maximum delivered current. Since current on a sinusodial signal (voltage) is sinusodial, the "peak" figure can be converted to a RMS figure by simply dividing it with sqrt(2).
But I agree on the "like to show big number" part, I'd prefer to be given RMS specs.

 

[375HP2482]

The issue of the sound of early CD players was separate on from that of S/S amplifiers for audiophiles of the '80s era. (I know, I lived through that era. As mentioned, however, I continued to use S/S amps myself.)

Fair to say that early CD player sound, (as opposed generally to the sound of the CD per se), as not good -- my first CDP circa 1985, a Yamaha CD-X1, sounded pretty ghastly on the top end.

Let's just say that recollections may vary.

I also lived through that era while being employed by an audio manufacturer. My Panasonic player from 1983 was wonderful -- the one that came with five CDs, among them Donald Fagan's Nightfly. The first one I hit PLAY on was the CD of Schubert piano sonatas, and I remember vividly Alfred Brendel's piano emerging from total silence: no hiss, no rumble, no wow, scrape flutter or other tone variations foreign to pianos, the dynamic solo instrument which likely benefited the most from CDs.

Bop till You Drop, Ry Cooder's fine cover of R&B standards recorded digitally in 1979, got pummeled mercilessly by the 'philes for its supposed "thinness" they ascribed to its digital production. (Neil Young would have been right at home with them if he was paying attention.) They came down so hard on it that poor Ry felt compelled to announce that he was swearing off any digital productions in the future. (I also have several of his CDs from earlier times, all good-to-great.)

To sum up: You can always tell who the pioneers are -- they're the ones with the arrows through their hats.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Let's just say that recollections may vary.

I also lived through that era while being employed by an audio manufacturer. My Panasonic player from 1983 was wonderful -- the one that came with five CDs, among them Donald Fagan's Nightfly. The first one I hit PLAY on was the CD of Schubert piano sonatas, and I remember vividly Alfred Brendel's piano emerging from total silence: no hiss, no rumble, no wow, scrape flutter or other tone variations foreign to pianos, the dynamic solo instrument which likely benefited the most from CDs.

Bop till You Drop, Ry Cooder's fine cover of R&B standards recorded digitally in 1979, got pummeled mercilessly by the 'philes for its supposed "thinness" they ascribed to its digital production. (Neil Young would have been right at home with them if he was paying attention.) They came down so hard on it that poor Ry felt compelled to announce that he was swearing off any digital productions in the future. (I also have several of his CDs from earlier times, all good-to-great.)

To sum up: You can always tell who the pioneers are -- they're the ones with the arrows through their hats.

Well I can only say the my Technics SL-PS70 was I big improvement over the Yamaha CD-X1. The latter, bought in 1985, did me a favor when it broke down to be replaced by the former in 1991.

 

[fpitas]

Pyle was once a brand name for unexceptional but acceptable pro audio/sound reinforcement products. I really don't know what the brand name represents today. In recent years, stuff sold under the Pyle brand had gotten pretty embarrassing.

You know what I like about this Pyle multichannel amplifier currently under review? It actually looks like a functional, even serious, product.
Interesting. I wonder what prompted them to do this?

Well -- OK -- other than the power button

Maybe they bought the IP from a failing company?

 

[TonyJZX]

https://skylots.org/6494806410/Stereo-usilitel-Pyle-P3001AT-iz-SSHA-FMAM-tyuner-karaoke

here's that 'preamp' that somehow has banana speaker terminals on the back

I feel like Pyle is a front name for a whole slew of z-tier audio producfs like "technical pro" and 'fenton' and they basically OEM from whatever the hell china factory can make these things by the container load for $100 usd each fob... and any profit ontop is pure gravy

they dont actually design anything, nor do they care... its up to the OEM to present a design to the Pyle product planner (maybe that is a grandiose title) and as long as it will fool the average punter who will buy this and it lasts out warranty then that's all that matters

where I am there's a few professional audio outlets who sell RME Behringer JBL KRK Genelec they also sell a 2ndary line of audio products like this and they just hope it outlast the 12 months but after that its landfill because no one wants to pay $250 to fix a $100 'preamp'.

 

[Kimbrough Xu]

There are so much distortion, why do you recommend it?

 

[fpitas]

There are so much distortion, why do you recommend it?

Probably because it's cheap as dirt, yet well-built.

 

[pdodo2003]

Hello, a little help if you can. I would like to connect this to a streamer like wiim , signal to RCA. Does it start remotely , i mean with 12V trigger , or better yet, put a smart remote to power it on, but that button on the faceplate , does it stay pushed in , like allways on - then when it gets current is starts out automatically ? Thank you