Before I bought a R8B, I suspected that Passports claim that, "...the
R8B is the only non-professional receiver tested that gets everything
right...," was hyperbole. It turns out they were dead on with that
statement. I agree with your assessment about the R8B. I don't know
if there has ever been a more well-rounded receiver. I've told my
wife that if the house catches on fire, I'm saving (1) the R8B, (2)
her, and (3) the cats, in that order. I'll go back and get the 545
if it's convenient to do so. I should really qualify my
disappointment with the 545. Compared to the R8B, it not a good
broadcast rig. It's main problem is that there is only one AGC speed
(unless you're in SSB mode) and it's much too fast. The DSP
features like the fully adjustable filter, automatic notch, digital NR,
etc... are nice, but I've never picked up a station on my 545 that I
couldn't get on my R8B sans all the bells and whistles. I think that
if I did some more utility/SSB stuff, the 545 might pull ahead there
because the DSP can really clean-up those kinds of signals. One of the
major reasons I haven't sold it is that I have the wideband board
installed, and it's a surprisingly sensitive wideband rig. I have an
AOR discone up on the roof and the two play well together. The major
drawback is that the 545 wideband option suffers from a TON of birdies.
Oh...it's also a damn good looking rig and its silky-smooth tuning
knob is a joy to use, but it ain't a Drake by any stretch.