Pyramid doesn't seem to care about how they lure people into buying low cost products that on the surface appear to be quite attractive while getting the basic job done.  Because I like to dee jay cassette tapes and have in my possession many old tapes of programs that are near and dear to my heart...especially while driving...I found this Pyramid 2606D car am/fm cassette player w/auto reverse to be possibly an answer to a prayer.   I purchased the unit at the asking price of $30 from a vendor on Amazon.

This was approximately three years ago. My digital radio in my Neon that I was ressurrecting at the time had given up the ghost after just sitting for a good five years.  It was becoming more and more difficult at that time to find a radio with a cassette deck for the automobile as almost all new players being offered at the time were am/fm cd types barring a few used classics from the past.

No...I wanted something new and Pyramid was the only one out there offering a radio with this feature for a more than decent price.  The company claims the model to have four channels of output with a total of 200 watts output.  Installation hardware is said to be included but is limited to the typical sleeve with bendable tabs so as to lock the player to the particular nose one chooses to purchase separately...and the rear mounting bolt.

FEATURES:

AM/FM 2 BAND RADIO, AUTO REVERSE CAR CASSETTE PLAYER, LCD DIGITAL DISPLAY, DETACHABLE FRONT PANEL, ROTARY TUNING CONTROL, BAND FUNCTION, CLOCK FUNCTION, MUTE FUNCTION, LOCAL/DISTANT FUNCTION, BASS & TREBLE CONTROLS, AUX-IN ON FRONT FOR PORTABLE MP3 PLAYERS, RCA LINE OUT AND 4-CHANNEL OUTPUT


THE LAYOUT:


On the far left are 2 buttons marked bnd and mut.  To their right is the vol knob followed by a somewhat bright and generous lcd.  To its right are tiny bass and treble controls above which are set, h, m and a larger tun button.  To the right of them is a loc button with the main pwr button and aux in jack below.

This is fairly neat enough but hold on...the shock is about to make a grand entrance!  Please note that nowhere on the box or owner's manual that the word STEREO is indicated.  That is because there is none!  you get four channels of left channel MONO!

Another not so pleasant surprise was that the wiring schematic which is clearly displayed right on the unit offers no typical hookup as do the big boys like JVC, SONY KENWOOD AND PIONEER.  Instead you get 2 grey and 2 green colored wires representing the four speaker positives.  All 4 negative terminals are to be grounded to the front and rear dashes which in turn get connected or grounded to the single black grounding wire.

Only the red battery/ignition wire is supplied as there is nothing to connect to your o.e.m. wiring harness's all important yellow coded memory wire.  THIS MAKES IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP CLOCK AND STATION MEMORY ALIVE WHEN THE CAR IS TURNED OFF.  It is also unadvisable to tie the yellow and red wires together as this coud be an unsafe condition in some cars.  It worked in the CHRYSLER arrangement but not in my GM BUICK OR OLDS.


LISTENING TESTS... 


HORRIBLE HORRIBLE sound quality as only the Neon would accept the radio.  The 2 GM cars wouldn't accept the wiring configuration at all and I've been installing this stuff for almost 40 years now!  The only positive thing I can offer about this unit is the fact that the tape players auto-reverse works pretty smoothly although pitch is slightly fast.  The unit looks nice when lit...if lit!  The stations constantly drift off frequency.  The controls are cheap with a rubber band-like feel, scratchy and sport too much friction.


CONCLUSION...


STAY AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCT!!!  It most definitely is unsafe and like the co.'s model 693 6 x 9 triaxial speaker system...A COMPLETE DUD!...PJSII

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 30