Pyle PLR14MPF radio review

[Custom/Ten]

I see a lot of people asking about this radio but no one who owned it actually answering any questions. It's only $20-30$ depending on where you get it which is why there's so much interest in this Pyle. We'll I decided to pick one up and give it a try and we'll...... It's a pile......of junk. I've done my fair share of stereo installs and have taken basic and advanced electrical classes at the college where I will be graduating from in a few weeks with a degree in automotive technology. Just putting that out there to explain that while I may not be as experienced as some of the tradesmen who have been doing this for decades this is still pretty simple stuff for me. I'll start out with the install. It's listed as a direct fit and replacement for our 67-72 trucks. To make it fit threw the holes you have to open it up and move the knobs outward which is no big deal since it IS designed to do so. The problem with this is that the trim/faceplate only has holes to fit the knobs in the inward position and no way to remedy this without drilling new holes, leaving the old ones exposed and just looking terrible.. Luckily I had an old faceplate from a broken radio that did fit and popped it on, problem solved, that's the faceplate/trim you see in the picture. The real problem is the performance. This darn thing buzzes all the time. I checked my grounds which looked pretty good. I then decided to run a ground straight to the battery just to check if that was the issue. There was no improvement. I then ran the positive straight to the battery to try avoiding any interference and it still buzzed. I could have tried an rf blocker but before resorting to that I decided to hook up a modern sony CD player. We'll no real suprize the newer sony cd stereo worked great which pretty much rules out external issues causing the buzzing in this Pyle of junk. I'll post a pick of the sony stereo which I decided to keep and install permanently in my truck. May also be worth mentioning that the Pyle only has one negative speaker wire that is intended to be used for two speakers and that it is only intended to be used with two speakers not four, pretty lame.




Anyway, bottom line Is I do not recommend buying this stereo as it is truly one of the parts where inexpense means junk, I believe in the saying that you get what you pay for but sometimes a cheap part does work out, in this case it does not. Stay away from this!

[Custom/Ten]

as you can see it has the typical problem of being able to see part of the ring but that is an easy fix that many have done on here with a piece of trim(some better than others) or by reshaping the metal. I consider it to be a small issue and easy fix. I understand that some people absolutely hate these stereos and this is not for them. I can respect an original truck that has survived the years but in all honesty when you have a 1400$ truck like mine that is going to get a complete frame off build I think the only way to go is with mods. I actually hate the idea of doing a complete build on a truck only to put old outdated parts back on it. Save what you can and want to but upgrade the old worn out parts with newer more advanced technology, to a certain extent anyway, I'm not saying you need to swap over every carb to Fuel injection just because it needs a rebuild lol. I'm just saying I believe in doing what you want and I like upgrades. I just hate it when some young kid gets talked out of cutting his dash or goin low because someone says he/she is ruining the integrity and value of their truck. I say cut it, bag it, lift it, paint a dang dragon eating a Popsicle on it if ya want(ok that last one might hurt the value haha). There are people out there that are gonna want what you want(again dragon lovers could be hard to find). Personally I love having a radio that answers my phone, yea that's what that button that says call does.

THE END ; )

[Custom/Ten]

If I haven't said enough bad stuff about the Pyle it is also worth mentioning that it only works with mp3 format and since my entire library of music is on my computer in a different format (I think acc something or other) I had to convert everything over which I don't have to do with any of my other stereos as they play pretty much every format. Way to much of a hassle! -1 out of 5 stars Pyle!

[Willie Makeit]

they are named PYLE for a reason ... pyle of $#!+