schreef:
The question of decent audio is generally a much debated topic on this
newsgroup. In years gone by I had a very fancy Sony graphic equaliser
that had a marvellous audio spectrum analyser. In that era there was
no doubt that the Kenwood R5000 was tops by a furlong with really
stupendous audio, however it lacked synchronous detection and was thus
superseded by the Drake R8B which was superb, but did not have a wide
audio spectrum like the Kenwood R5000 did. Still, the R8B was rock
steady when listening to fine orchestral programs like the famous
"Proms" which I love to listen to.

I have two phases in my radio listening life with my table tops.
During the nightime hours it is mostly hunting for those faint far off
exotic DX, but during the day I want my table top to produce lovely
sound on AM whilst either listening to BBC or other major broadcasters
on SW, and produce flawless audio on my favourite AM BCB MW station. I
think in the upper price class to me the Drake R8B is still tops with
the AOR 7030 a close second, but then there are the super high priced
tabletops like the Watkins Johnson, NRD 545D and Ten Tec, which when
coupled to the Sherwood synchronous detector are alleged to have super
rock solid audio of AM on SW. Alas, no Sherwood has ever entered South
Africa so I have no experience there. But I would really like to see
an opinion on how a Drake R8B in synch mode shapes up to a Sherwood
detector?

So I really did myself a disservice when I sold off my R8B, something
I regret very much now, because in my shack now are an older version
Drake SW8 (without synch) and my super Icom IC-756 PRO III, which has
great audio on AM SW, but with no synch detector, suffers terribly
from fading and multipath distortion, so I am forced to listen in ECSS/
SSB which doesn't produce as nice and full audio as my old Drake R8B.

Then there is the other side of audio requirement, that of the serious
DXer who is trying to dig out ID's from the faintest most garbled
signals. After years of doing this and going over recordings post DX
session, I can attest to the fact that very good audio helps a lot in
IDing those very difficult stations, because of their broader audio
spectrum allowing you to hear the full spectrum of audible sound with
sibilants and harmonics that help you decipher that very difficult ID.

Here I can truly say that the audio on a wide 3 Khz SSB setting on my
756Pro3 is just awesome, and those who have heard my recordings of
faint far off exotic stations will attest to that, helping make
getting that crucial ID easier. There are two strains of thought on
getting difficult ID's though: there are the AM purists who insist
that a better ID results from a good AM recording, obviously aided by
good filters and a good frequency offset facility. Then there is the
other camp, which includes me, that require superb wide band audio on
their SSB. Again the Drake R8A/B are superb on AM and my 756Pro3 is
superb on SSB.

But having said the above, I challenge anyone to produce better
recordings than my MW DX buddy Gary Deacon on his Yaesu FRG-7 frog -
his recordings of exotic DX are simply awesome.

More ramblings on my audio experiences with the Drake and Icom can be
found at:
http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?t=1655

My dream had been to win the Lotto and get a top range tabletop that
would have Sherwood like AM reception and be superb in SSB DX as well,
so I had pinned all my hopes on the newly released Icom IC-R9500, but
alas!, Passport 2008 knocks it's synch detector into the ground, so I
am still searching for my dream receiver. Perhaps I will get another
R8B from eBay?

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

Nice story, had also a Kenwood R5000, good audio indeed but no sync.
During the years i also had many receivers, and I loved them all.
and I share your dreams to win the lottery..

Hans