Price Paid:  $81.00 from nowonsale

Summary:
Hello, I'm simply updating on the Pyle outdoor speaker. We had a rather large Independence Day festival around the old building where I have the Pyles installed. They worked very well, many positive comments. Music was played through them all day - announcements were made as planned. I'm still very satisfied with the Pyles!

Price Paid:  $81.00 from Nowonsale.com

Summary:
I was searching for outdoor speakers to use for a permanent installation on an old historical building that hosts outdoor events during the warmer months. I needed speakers not only to provide music but double as a PA syestem for announcements and such during our events. With a peak rating of 350 watts and high SPL, I chose the Pyle PDW R63. I plan to have at least two per side of this building, six currently in place on three sides, hopefully two more soon after some maintence work is completed. So far, I am very pleased with the Pyles. The music is background and outside so I'm not expecting any loud or thunderous bass. The Pyles give a pleasing sound, able to get louder than we need. They work well as the PA, which for us, is their most important function. Not as loud as a horn system, but adequate. As we complete the installation and use them more, I will update but for the money and good construction, Pyle has a good speaker.

Strengths:
350 peak watt rating
I currently use two per channel for a 4 ohm load to a single channel of a stereo amp rated at 175 per side at 8ohms.
Great outdoor construction. Rugged cabinet. Off white but could be painted. Connection terminals easily accept #12 wire. Terminals are covered by a rubber like cover. Good aluminium mounting bracket, allows for easy positioning of the speaker. Has an Indoor/Outdoor switch to boost bass a bit for outside. Likely due to high mount and outside, can't tell much difference here.
Sold in pairs.

Weaknesses:
Due to being mounted high and outdoors, a bit weak in bass. Only a six inch woofer but bigger than most in these outdoor types.
May be a bit larger than some may want, not a issue for me due to high mounting. Just over 12 inches tall.

Similar Products Used:
No experience with outdoor speakers. I have used my portable PA outside, of course, but the Pyles are the first true outdoor speaker I have used.

Price Paid:  $90.00 from online

Summary:
The Pyles ended up being larger than I anticipated, and so they are being used to provide music in my garage rather in my backyard as I had originally intended. I am currently seeking something a little smaller to tuck under the roof around back. Still, it makes listening to music in my garage a lot more enjoyable. They are currently replacing the standard speakers that came with a Sharp minisystem and impressively fill a 3 car garage with sound using very little power (estimated at a couple/few watts).

The sound is forward and dynamic, if a little light in the bass, with a tonal balance and efficiency similar to Klipsch SA series speakers, for a substancially lower price. However, I believe that the Klipsch's are a better speaker for critical listening since to me they sounded more refined. However, I don't do any critical listening in either my backyard or my garage, so I could not justify spending a whole lot more money for use in those settings.

I also gave these things a work out with my Carver TFM-25 amp and they played without audible strain for extended periods at very loud SPLs. I suspect that they would make a good college party speaker since they are mostly "spilled-drink resistant."

As for my scores, I can identify about as many speakers that suite my tastes better as worse than these Pyles, so I think they are about or slightly above average. However there are no speakers that I am aware of that provide the efficiency or sound of these units at anywhere near the price. I believe that efficiency is an extremely important characterstic in outdoor speakers when the audience will be listenting from a good distance away. I can turn my whole backyard into a music-filled playground and the speakers sound like they are accomplishing the task effortlessly. In my experience inefficient speakers, regardless of their power-handling ability, rarely sound good when playing loudly. BTW, most outdoor speakers do not have high efficiency.

So, if your goals are to generate a convincingly big sound in a big place for a convincingly smaller budget, I'd heartily recommend these Pyles, and you needn't have spent a lot on the receiver or amplifier to power them either.

For a point of comparison, my other equipment includes:

an old Sharp minisystem (still doing garage duty)

NAD 1700 Tuner/Preamp
Carver TFM-25 Power Amplifier (225 W/C into 8 ohms)
Rotel RCD-855 CD player
KEF Reference Model 102's with KEF Cube
TEAC RWH300 CD-R/W player/recorder
Parasound Z-amp (30 W/C)

NAD C740 Receiver
PSB Alpha Mini's
Technics SL-MC7 CD jukebox

Klipsch Quintets (for TV watching)

My musical tastes include blues, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and a lot of new age.

Happy listening!

Strengths:
Efficiency, Power-Handling, Well-Constructed, Easy-to-drive impedance

Weaknesses:
Slightly light in the bass, somewhat larger than I expected, not the most elegant appearance.

Similar Products Used:
I've owned nothing similar (weather-resistant), but auditioned many other products