2010 with / without Kiwa filter
 

Hi,

I just want to know is Kiwa filter an absolute requirement for 2010?
What would be shortcomings of 2010 without it. Does Kiwa filter make
major/substantial perfomance impact?

Riz

I had my Sony 2010 for 10 years before installing the Kiwa filter upgrades,
so I feel that I can aptly describe performance before and after.

The Kiwa filters are well worth it, but it's important to remember that
upgrading the filters is merely tweaking the radio. The 2010 was a great
radio for 10 years before I installed the Kiwa filters.

The factory wide filter on the 2010 is a bit too wide for shortwave. It's
great for AM, but with the 5 kHz spacing on the shortwave bands, I would
often get hetrodynes. On the 2010 that's not a problem because of the Sync
modes. With the factory wide filter, I would use the Sync mode to eliminate
the interference. The LFH-4S Kiwa filter is a bit more narrow than the
factory wide filter. This has dramatically reduced the number of hetrodynes
that I hear. I find that I am now using vanilla AM more often than either
Sync mode.

The LFH-4S Kiwa filter is a very good match for shortwave listening, but it
is more narrow than the factory wide filter. If you use your 2010 for AM
listening (530-1710), you will notice a difference. But even on AM, the
sound of the LFH-4S filter is fine. If I want high fidelity AM, I use my GE
SuperRadio.

I always found the factory narrow filter to be like mud. Everything was
muffled. While the Kiwa FM 3.5/S filter is even narrower than the factory
narrow filter, it's also sharper. An added bonus to the Kiwa narrow filter
is that it has zero insertion loss. I didn't realize how much signal was
lost with the factory narrow filter. The Kiwa narrow filter provides a much
stronger signal.

I highly recommend the Kiwa narrow filter. It is a must.

The Kiwa wide filter is quite good, and I also recommend it. I would put it
in the "recommend" rather than "highly recommend" category.

Bob


"Riz" wrote in message
m...
Hi,

I just want to know is Kiwa filter an absolute requirement for 2010?
What would be shortcomings of 2010 without it. Does Kiwa filter make
major/substantial perfomance impact?

Riz

Another alternative to eliminating the 2010's muffled audio in narrow mode is
to replace that stock MuRata 55JT 455khz filter with a MuRata 55G 445khz
filter. That's right, it's the same filter Sony used in the wide position.
There is enough circuit inductance in narrow mode to reduce bandwidth & hasten
hetrodyne whistles; whilst the 55G makes voice more intelligible, especially in
sideband mode. This mod was one of Bob Grove's "Tips of the Month" in his
October 1999 Monitoring Times column.

I've got the Kiwas in mine, as well, and agree w/ everything Bob said,
but have to mention that you lose a lot of 'sparkle' when using the
Kiwa wide filter for MW broadcast. I modified mine with a switch on
top to change between the Kiwa wide filter for SW broadcast and the
Sony wide filter for MW. Having 3 bandwidths on the 2010 make it a
truly superior radio. I also have a SRIII, but it doesn't have a
sleep timer or digital display like the Sony, and using the stock wide
filter for MW gets closer to the fidelity of the SRIII (minus the bass
response, of course). The SRIII is my 'outside doing chores listening
to the Cubs' radio.

The mod was thanks to Steve Johnston, WD8DAS. Not something for
beginners, but very worthwhile.

http://www.qsl.net/wd8das/2010.html

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 17:08:28 -0400, "Bob Sillett"
wrote:

I had my Sony 2010 for 10 years before installing the Kiwa filter upgrades,
so I feel that I can aptly describe performance before and after.

The Kiwa filters are well worth it, but it's important to remember that
upgrading the filters is merely tweaking the radio. The 2010 was a great
radio for 10 years before I installed the Kiwa filters.

The factory wide filter on the 2010 is a bit too wide for shortwave. It's
great for AM, but with the 5 kHz spacing on the shortwave bands, I would
often get hetrodynes. On the 2010 that's not a problem because of the Sync
modes. With the factory wide filter, I would use the Sync mode to eliminate
the interference. The LFH-4S Kiwa filter is a bit more narrow than the
factory wide filter. This has dramatically reduced the number of hetrodynes
that I hear. I find that I am now using vanilla AM more often than either
Sync mode.

The LFH-4S Kiwa filter is a very good match for shortwave listening, but it
is more narrow than the factory wide filter. If you use your 2010 for AM
listening (530-1710), you will notice a difference. But even on AM, the
sound of the LFH-4S filter is fine. If I want high fidelity AM, I use my GE
SuperRadio.

I always found the factory narrow filter to be like mud. Everything was
muffled. While the Kiwa FM 3.5/S filter is even narrower than the factory
narrow filter, it's also sharper. An added bonus to the Kiwa narrow filter
is that it has zero insertion loss. I didn't realize how much signal was
lost with the factory narrow filter. The Kiwa narrow filter provides a much
stronger signal.

I highly recommend the Kiwa narrow filter. It is a must.

The Kiwa wide filter is quite good, and I also recommend it. I would put it
in the "recommend" rather than "highly recommend" category.

Bob


"Riz" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I just want to know is Kiwa filter an absolute requirement for 2010?
What would be shortcomings of 2010 without it. Does Kiwa filter make
major/substantial perfomance impact?

Riz