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New 'tube' receiver for $160.99 - too weird

I wonder if this receiver will turn out in the end out to be less laughable than most everyone thought it would. I notice that Pyle also has a few higher end models in the line and for the money, if any of them actually work , they are attractive to me as least as much a scouring a thrift store for an old mid level receiver that is popular just because it's old and cheap.
This stuff is new and cheap and offers so many features I've never seen before in one package.
I'm way far away from the Miley Cirus set and I yet think this stuff is cool...
......if it works that is. Maybe as a platform for upgrades?
 
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Well, so far I do actually like it. I've been yelled at from the excessive bass coming from my room a couple times now actually, I had to turn the loudness mode off, and turn the bass from +14 to +6. It does put out a lot of bass.

But the hissing is so annoying, but I think that might be the tubes.. My Fisher 800c has a hiss too, but only when turned up all the way. It honestly seems like the tubes are full gain constantly, and the volume is done digitally, so the hiss is constant.. I'm watching the new movie "Alice in Wonderland" on it, and the symphony music doesn't sound that bad actually, but with all the quietness in the film, the hiss rears it's head.. But luckily does NOT get louder when the volume is turned up. Also, I find that when the volume is turned to zero, it auto mutes, and the mute function actually turns the relays off, thus eliminating that hiss.

Still burning in though.. The AUX/USB input is trash though, you can hear a faint "beep beep beep beep", which is the USB "tx" lines, trying to detect a USB device being inserted, which may be a part of the hearing the cooling fans DC motor in all inputs (next to the hiss, a high pitched whine). So probably is fixable by means of a grounding-mod..

The transformer is what stands out to me. It's a toroid, as mentioned, and I've not seen one in any cheap amp.. But 2000 watts? Yea right. 600 watts RMS? Yea right. ;)

However, I have found that the EQ spectrum analyzer, is NOT a spectrum analyzer. It is just an oscilloscope. Because when I send it a 20Hz sine wave, it sweeps from right to left, not just in the left side. So, it's an oscilloscope, NOT a spectrum analyzer. Besides, the analyzer is marked in frequencies, which "would" make sense if it WERE an analyzer, but it's also marked SL, FL, C, FR, SR, SW. Know what that means? Surround Left, Front Left, etc, which this amp is NOT surround sound. But under a flashlight, reveals Pro Logic and DTS digits on the VFD, of which are not connected to the mainboard. Just a re-used VFD.
 
I looked at the PDF manual and they broke it down by impedance and claim
250 watts @ 8ohms. Total hogwash huh?
They would be better off saying nothing than putting 2000 watts right on the faceplate. I've read that they're getting hipper over there to avoiding that obvious sham stuff.
Still it would be great to know which if any of the shortcomings could be remedied or improved with mods or upgrades. Thanks
 
Great to hear your impressions on it!, it doesn't look too bad internally, the wattage rating is complete bull though. I think that was to be expected, though. The t. transformer is certainly a unique thing to have in there. I couldn't help but notice the transformer is 220v in, is that correct?, or is it a split primary transformer, which would be 110v in from outlet voltage.

About the hiss, Grounding may be some of it. If the tubes are indeed in the audio path, and mixed brand, have you tryed moving them around to see if the problem moves with it?. Does look like a good tv unit, for sure, at least looks the part.

srinath said:
Its about heat dissipation. Weight is proportional to wasteage, not wattage.
Old amps waste a lot. You can build a LM3886 based amp that makes 35 watts a channel and weighs nothing. You could put in a tube buffer in it and still have no weight. In my amp the transformer is nearly 80% of the weight. Its still only ~10 lb. A bridged 3886 amp will put out more power and not weigh much more.
Cool.
Srinath.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, very true. But for the advertised watts, you'd have much more weight, just in the transformer. I haven't looked into 3886 much...may have too. Thanks for the correction:yes:.
 
I haven't tried moving the tubes, not yet anyway, I can try later and see what happens. The transformer is indeed rated at 220v, but there's a switch on the back, which I have in the correct US setting.
 
I removed all tubes, and the ringing went to the right side. Odd huh? Removing all tubes MOVED the ringing. Oh, and it still played audio clearly, but I had to turn it up quite a bit to get it to volume..

I did the microphoncs test on all the tubes, tapping them with my finger nail, EACH tube produced a sound out of the speakers.

LOL!! These tubes are junk. I bet with better tubes it'll run better..

EDIT: Ehh, after warmup, it is whistling on the left channels without tubes, it just goes away on the right side.. With tubes it's no more audible.

So it's not the tubes doing it.
 
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hakemon said:
I removed all tubes, and the ringing went to the right side. Odd huh? Removing all tubes MOVED the ringing. Oh, and it still played audio clearly, but I had to turn it up quite a bit to get it to volume..

I did the microphoncs test on all the tubes, tapping them with my finger nail, EACH tube produced a sound out of the speakers.

LOL!! These tubes are junk. I bet with better tubes it'll run better..
Click to expand...

Sounds like you were right in your assumption they run the tubes at max...

I've found that most tubes have some ringing, although i'll also point out that the chinese tubes my little dot came with rung alot more than the better ones in it now.

Yeah, try installing the tubes again, but in different channels. Maybe the tubes are drawing different amounts of current or something?...i'm no tube expert, by any means.

Oh, I saw the video, I couldn't think of anything in particular, but i'd like to say, that's a nice setup. Strangely, the little tubes in the viewing window look perfect with a nice flatscreen:yes:.

edit; not the tubes...huh...:scratch2:
 
Yea, it's not the tubes. BUT! I did find that each tube does both channels, as tapping each tube had the "plonk" sound in both speakers, but depending where i tapped, the which speaker changed..

EDIT: If it wasn't for the ringing sound, I'd honestly use this amp for a bit, it puts out more bass than my Sony (then again, my Sony, in the sig, was designed for use with a subwoofer)... Perhaps a special low-pass filter in the line for the speaker can eliminate it? The ringing ONLY comes out of the speakers tweaters..
 
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If other then the ringing you like it, then can you return it for another unit?

Surprised at the guts. Looks much better/cleaner inside then i expected.
 
jdrum1 said:
If other then the ringing you like it, then can you return it for another unit?

Surprised at the guts. Looks much better/cleaner inside then i expected.
Click to expand...

I broke the warranty sticker. ;) Doubt it'll exchange.

Either way, fixing it will be my challenge.. I might reroute some of the wires AWAY from the transformer (as some seem to go under it)
 
Wow..that ringing is annoying. I'm happy you finally got it though and are running it through its courses.
 
Ed in Tx said:
Sounds like some microprocessor noise getting into the audio to me.
Click to expand...
There is CPU noise when I insert a flash disk into the USB port, but it's out of both speakers, and sounds much lower...

Why it's only one channel though is weird. There just has to be a fix for that. Perhaps crap caps?
 
hakemon said:
There is CPU noise when I insert a flash disk into the USB port, but it's out of both speakers, and sounds much lower...

Why it's only one channel though is weird. There just has to be a fix for that. Perhaps crap caps?
Click to expand...

Could be the way the boards are laid out, maybe one channel of the audio path in closer proximity to the CPU and the noise source. Might need some additional shielding or re-routing of unshielded wires.
 
Oh yeah, that's pure digital hash. Wonder if a well-placed film cap may help clear it up... just a small non-polar to send the excess noise to ground. Don't know where you would place it at, though. Seems odd to only be on one channel, do all the components look/smell okay?:dunno:.

edit; forgot to say, yes, that's a really annoying sound, can't imagine it all the time. Fun note; our older computer (04 emachines) puts out the same sound through the headphone jacks, it's weird, because you can even hear it loading programs, etc.
 
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