I own a 1000W Pyle amplifier and in general haven’t had any problems with it. But I also don’t have anything to compare it to - does anybody with more experience want to chime in on whether the speaker products are reliable in the long run and whether they roughly match the advertised wattage numbers?
Are the speakers for single speakers or pairs like most are sold? Often powered speakers have a main and a second one without all the controls and inputs. I guess I can’t figure out if I need to buy 1 or two. - Michael
They’re all singles. 
Pyle grossly overstates the wattage on their products. As a general rule,figure the real output is less than half the claimed number.
If they claim 2 channels at 500 watts, the true output is usually around 225 when used in a reasonable manner. They rate based on peak, not RMS, and at extremely high distortion levels.
Look at their spec on the amp listed: 2550 Watts x 2 Power Amplifier 1275 Watts x 2 RMS
They are already showing their 5100 watt claim is overstated- since it’s half that for RMS.
If this thing truly did 5100 watts, it would draw more amperage than a regular circuit could provide- and I assure you that is not the case. 5K watts costs a lot more and needs a much bigger amp.
I’ve been looking to replace my American Audio DCD-Pro 400 dual CD Deck and decided to look into the PDJ480UM (dual DJ controller with SD/USB) here…
the manual is available directly from Pyle’s website, but a quick search yields a direct download link of the manual here (among many other places):
http://www.qualitycaraudio.com/store/manuals/PDJ480UM.pdf
edit: the manual is poorly written, full of typographical errors as well as being inconsistent with itself and actual product functionality. the manual also shows and states that this can handle a power source of ~100-240V, 60/50hz, but the picture on the techwoot page doesn’t seem to have the same labeling nor does it appear to even have same power cord type (though the same specs are also listed here on techwoot). without any actual verification, I would proceed with caution if not plugging into a standard U.S. outlet.
I could only find two videos on youtube dealing directly with this piece of equipment. the first one is a review of this exact device:
the second video is of a brand/model with exactly the same layout and functionality suggesting that this pyle equipment is just re-badged psudo-pro equipment similar to the knock-off Gen/Ion equipment found at novelty and gadget stores at the mall:
they are calling it “pro”, but judging from the manual and reviews, this device leaves much to be desired.
the first thing I noticed is that it does not have XLR or digital outputs. no biggie - my actual pro equipment has both XLR and RCA jacks to work with, and since I’m not planning on installing this in a club or studio, balanced audio isn’t a priority.
the second thing I saw was the built-in mixer’s lack of features:
- only low and high on the EQ -no midrange
- no booth output/control
- headphone cuing is by assigning channels only (no cue/master mixing, and no adjustment for split/mono listening)
- VU meter is for master output only and only has one row of 5 LEDs by which to visually judge your output.
- no mixer bypass for connecting directly into another, more fully featured mixer
- no details on the built in crossfader
the crossfader is replaceable though, so that’s a small plus. but given that the attached media playback units have “scratch” capability, it would be important to note what kind of taper the stock crossfader has. the common preference for scratching is a crossfader with a very sharp taper, but I’m willing to bet that this one is more linear for DJs that like to set and forget their channel faders.
on the playback units themselves, it looks like all the standard features are there: cue, loop in/out/repeat, time display mode, pause/play, pitch control (switchable from +/- 8, 10 and 16 [according to the first video review (the manual states +/- 12, however]), jogwheel for cuing and scratching. there is a button for giving the start/stop function a slowdown/speedup effect to simulate a cheap turntable with bad torque.
judging from the video it looks like the scratch function may have a quite noticeable delay from tactile input to audio output, which makes it mostly useless. but it also appears to have touch sensing you can hold the position of the track for as long as hold your finger on the jogwheel in that mode- which again is mostly useless if the there is a significant delay in using it.
the loop function also has a button to reverse the loop playback which I find neat. the loop function doesn’t have any editing mode outside of in/out; no playback division. there is also no beat counting/timing syncing, so in/out/repeat setting is strictly manual- no biggie.
edit: according to the manual, it looks like the reverse function applies to playback as a whole, and not just the loop.
the SD card reader is labeled as a “3-in-1”, but nowhere have I found what that actually means. is it SD, MicroSD and MacroSD? is it SD, Memorystick and somehow also compactflash (which I doubt)?
and then from the manual it says the maximum capacity for the SD card reader is only 4gig and not SDHC compatible!! huge downer, I’d say. there are no listed compatibility specs on the USB port. given the severe limitations on the SD card, the USB options are a very important need-to-know if you are actually planning on using the PDJ480UM for live gigs in front of actual people. can the USB port support a USB hard drive?
edit: I should also note that the manual says that only the MP3 format is supported, but no specs on encoding settings are listed. I don’t really want to have to convert my FLAC, OGG or WAV files just to be able to play them.
also, judging from the available materials, it looks like this device is actually three separate components all stuffed into one unit (channel 1, mixer and channel 2). that said, the left “deck” most likely cannot read from the right side’s USB/SD inputs. organizing your portable music can get tricky, especially if you’re limited to 4gig of space. either way, you would need to pre-plan your mix in that any two songs that you would ever want to mix together not coexist on the same memory card/USB stick, or have two copies of every USB stick or memory card in your library. another option I guess, would be to bring a laptop to constantly load and re-load your portable storage options.
I should also mention that this device also has inputs for a channel 1 and 2 external audio source such as CD players and turntables. it looks like it also has built-in preamps for turntables with magnetic cartridges.
also, no midi or USB out for control of external devices.
and one final issue, pulled straight from the manual:
“Use of controls or adjustments or performance of procedures other than those specified herein may result in hazardous radiation exposure.”
Are you telling me that this sucker is nuclear?!?
on pricing, this is the best deal I can find right off. on eBay and Amazon and other DJ equipment stores, the price ranges from about $175 to $200 or so for this exact model. looking for other brands and models with similar or better features and quality, the prices jump up to and well over $500 for brands in the league of: Denon, Numark, Pioneer, etc. seeing that, this item doesn’t look all that bad anymore, given the features that it does have, even with all its downfalls.
Taking all of that into consideration though, combined with how much use I would actually get out of it (seeing as I rarely “gig out” anywhere these days, if ever). even at the sub $200 price tag, I will pass on this and continue to laptop the digital file portions of my sets and use my dual CD deck and pair of Technics 1200s on my Pioneer DJM-800 for vinyl and CD.