SW4ever wrote:

R8B manual shows sensitivity on AM as 1.5 microvolt nominal...100
-30,000 Khz with preamp Off. and less than 1.0 microvolt with preamp
on. What does 'less than' indicate as to actual value ? R8B is a great
receiver, but R9500 is broad spectrum and in my opinion overall is a
better receiver,

In my several decades in the hobby, virtually all of the 'broad spectrum'
receivers had serious faults. In most cases it might be better (and more
economical) to obtain separate receivers that are more optimized for the task at
hand. And, at better than 10k for the 9500...one can get a bunch of good stuff!
(Heck, ya can get a couple hookers!)

BUT here we go--lots of opinions coming.
To each his own, and time and a plethora of reviews probably won't
change too many minds. I am continuing my perusal of the PDF manual
and am really impressed. Icom, I believe has come up with a real
classic receiver. QST reviewer calls it "the best reciever I've ever
used" (January 2008 Issue.)

dxAce wrote:
SW4ever wrote:

Icom R9500 operating manual, almost 150 pages,available as a PDF file
at: http://www.radioworld.ca
Jan. 2008 QST ran a product review, and astonishing AM sensitivities
were shown, as follows:
At 1 MHZ 2.8 microvolts Preamp Off
0.82 microvolts Preamp 1 On
0.52 microvolts Preamp 2 On
However some confusion arises with AM sensitivity shown as 6.3
microvolts from .01-1.8 Mhz, still impressive. This latter sounds more
like it, but if 1 Mhz figures above are right. what an awesome AM
broadcast receiever !!

I just grabbed the manual for the R8B and at least according to that it
certainly has better sensitivity than the R9500.