Recently, the 300w Pioneer Amplifier I have in the Z decided to die, not unexpected after 6 years of use driving my mids 4 mids and highs. I am looking to replace the amp, but not really interested in paying the $$ I paid for the Pioneer all those years ago. My question is this, it seems that "Pyramid" amps are readily available at very affordable prices, how is the quality? Obviously, you usualy get what you pay for but I am curious if anyone can offer an opinion/review of these.

The amp I am considering is a Pyramid Arctic series 300x x 4 channel amplifier.

Details

Pyramid PB251 Arctic Series 300 Watt 4 Channel Amplifier
Key Features
Manufacturer Sku: PB251
Brand: Pyramid
Product Line: arctic
Model: PB251
Number of Channels: 4
Min Frequency Response: (what's this?) 15 Hz
Max Frequency Response: (what's this?) 30 KHz
Protection Circuitry: (what's this?) Overload, Short Circuit, Thermal
Power LED: Yes
Power supply topology: (what's this?) MOSFET
Signal to Noise Ratio: (what's this?) 85 dB
BizRate Product ID: 7224423
Features
Gold Plated Connectors: (what's this?) Yes
Remote Control: (what's this?) Yes
Output Power
Peak Power Output (Watts x Channels): 75 x 4
Dimensions
Height: 2 in
Depth: 8.6 in
Width: 7.6 in

 

Ive used a few ebay special Pyramid amps, you do get what you pay for... I wouldnt use one except in extreme case for a sub in your beater car, definitely not a dailey driver.

Min Frequency Response: (what's this?) 15 Hz
This is on the high end, amps should have a maximum of 5hz, this is not as important for mids.

Max Frequency Response: (what's this?) 30 KHz
This is the maximum frequency the amp will respond to. 30khz is acceptable.

Protection Circuitry: (what's this?) Overload, Short Circuit, Thermal
This is auto shut off protection in case during installation or subwoofer failure, the amp is exposed to beyond capacity current, temperature, or voltage. The amp will shut off until its fixed. In my experience, Pyramid amps DO NOT survive ground outs(shorting the output lead to ground) that makes me not like them much.

Power supply topology: (what's this?) MOSFET
MOSFET is standard amplifier technology. FETs are the circuts that increase the voltage of audio.

Signal to Noise Ratio: (what's this?) 85 dB
This is the 'sensitivity' to noise of this amp. the lower the number, the more static you will hear. The lower the number the more detail in your sound you will be lacking as well. 85db is rather low for any amplifier, especially mids.

Gold Plated Connectors: (what's this?) Yes
Gold plated connectors supposovedly reduces the resistance between connections. This is generally standard on amplifiers.

Remote Control: (what's this?) Yes
Could be a number of things, either a remote gain which lets you control the volume from up front, a remote power on which simply turns the amp on via a wire, or a remote control which would really be gay.

Peak Power Output (Watts x Channels): 75 x 4
Peak output should NEVER be the only power rating on an amp, since this is pyramid, I would assume the RMS rating is more like 20watts x 4 RMS

In summary, this is a below average amp which will give you unsatifactory sound. If you need an affordable amp look around on TR or PM me and I can get you a decent alpine 4 channel for wholesale.

 

Pyramid = crap at best. Normally cheap as hell, available at your local flea market, to match fine rockwood subs.

 

Haha, well that solves that. Looks like I'll just go with the RF I was looking at to begin with. Thanks guys.

 

look at hookedontronics.com they have awesome deals i got an audiobahn a6004t for 150 shipped and got it the next day. They are brand new not refurbished. I havent hooked it up yet but it is supposed to be a good amp for 150

 

^Thats a brand to look into. Still alot of people haven't heard of Audiobahn, they're pretty underrated. But I've used and installed a few of these and I was impressed by the performance to dollar ratio.

Or stay with your idea on using RF. They're still one of the best, but also one of the most inconsistent brands. One year it's great stuff, next year it's garbage, then good again, etc. If you are a Rockford fan but you want to save money, the best advice I can give from my experience using/installing RF for years is to go on Ebay and get the stuff they made anywhere up to 1998. Due to it's age you'll get it cheap, but it's the best stuff they ever produced.

Can I babble to explain? They recently (around 2001-2003 or so) made two levels of amps after they sold out for Best Buy. The punch series and the power series. Because now they wanted to "relate" to the lower price competition and put their name on mass produced junk, but at the same time offer some decent stuff which most of would only be found at car audio shops, not electronics mass retailers.

Here's an example- During that run of products they made and amp called the BD1500.1 This was their most powerful at that time and it was a great amp. BUT, for 1/4 of it's price tag, go online and find the older 225.2 and I bet it would kick the 1500's ass.

 

Youre kidding right? Audiobahn is the most whored out brand of stereo stuff that people swear is good, its like bose of car audio.

 

+1 back home there were so many people that were "audiobahn" sponsered. Those are the only people to have it as well, it sucks, and is highly overrated. But then again I think RF isnt that great either.

 

This just sounds funny because Bose does make car audio LOL

And trust me, not everyone is into the audio scene. I installed for years and still do alot of backyard installs for people and many of them have no idea who the company is. But sure, I agree anyone into this stuff knows audiobahn. My point is that it's just not a pioneer / sony/ kenwood kind of recognition. Alot of these same people also don't know Xtant even though it's become a much bigger name ever since Tweeter picked them up (Tweeter is a huge nationwide custom mid-high end audio chain based in Massachussets, but down here they are Sound Advice- they keep the names of the companies that they buy rather than plant a new store that nobody has heard of, but remodel and inventory that purchased chain to mirror their look/stock).

 

Oh, and speaking of Bose, you might or might not know that they are factory integrated systems only and modifying them either involves a few adaptors with some know-how or gutting the whole system due to it's integrated design. But, did you know that Bose makes a huge line of aftermarket car audio in Japan, comparible to a Boston Acoustics kind-of line. They use some of their stuff in competitions over there just as we would here.