Hi. The R2000 is a fine receiver in many respects, but it's design is
somewhat dated so as a consequence it will not have many of the signal
refining features that are on it's stablemate the R5000.

For example the R2000 has digital display to 100hz, two selectable
filters, 1 mhz up/down buttons, 10 memories, noise blanker, dual clock,
RF attenuator, selectable tuning rates down to 50hz and a nice sounding
front firing speaker. It doesn't have direct keypad frequency entry
and the 50hz tuning rate means ecssb is dicey.

The R5000 has digital display to 10hz, four selectable filters, direct
keypad frequency entry, selctable AGC, RF gain, IF shift, RF
attenuator, 100 memories, dual vfo's, noise blankers, notch filter,
dual antenna inputs, dual clocks, 1 mhz up/down buttons, selectable
tuning rates down to 10hz, computer interface. The top firing speaker
is barely adequate, but the addition of an outboard speaker reveals
some of the clearest audio available from a communications receiver.
The 10hz tuning rate means ecssb is pretty straightforward.

For the right price an R2000 would be a very nice radio. To be honest,
with the prices R5000 are going for I would look seriously at one of
those units too.

IF he gets a cahnce he needs to at least listen to both.,
The R5000 is a much better, as in more sensitive, and qiuter noise
floor, but the audio is worse then merely bad. The Kenwood engineers
ahd to stay up[ many long nights to get audio that bad. It couldn'thave
been a accident. the audio actually gives me a headach after several
hours of listening.

And while the R2000 on displays down to 100Hz, it tunes in 50Hz steps.
More then good enough for any SSB reception. And if you want to
go whole hod, there is a mod posted by FC on teh R2000 mods
page that allows the BFO to be shifted over a several 100Hz range.
It makes ECSSB reception of weak AM signals fun.

The R5000 also has a well known failure mode when the potting
compound for the ?PLL? dries out and fails. While not all that hard
to repair, it isn't something I would wish on a newbe.

Terry

wrote:

IF he gets a cahnce he needs to at least listen to both.,
The R5000 is a much better, as in more sensitive, and qiuter noise
floor, but the audio is worse then merely bad. The Kenwood engineers
ahd to stay up[ many long nights to get audio that bad. It couldn'thave
been a accident. the audio actually gives me a headach after several
hours of listening.

Bad audio on a R5000? Seems to me it was known for having excellent audio.

The one I had certainly did.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Audio on R-5000: I loved everything about that radio except the way it
sounded. I tried every possible outboard speaker and notch filter and IF
shift, still, the dang thing wore me out after a half-hour or so. I
don't give a damn what the magazines or reviewers say about it, the
radio really was a pain in the ear. Had to sell it. Also, the radio is
sold with 3, not 4 filters. Yes, the knob has 4 positions, but there are
only 3 filters installed as sold new. I did later install the 4th one,
but it involved drilling and cutting the circuit board and creating a
new circuit trace. Turned out OK, though. Still did not improve things
enough to keep the thing.

"Also, the radio is sold with 3, not 4 filters. Yes, the knob has 4
positions, but there are
only 3 filters installed as sold new."

JS Actually, no the R5000 came standard with a marginal 6khz filter
and a very nice 2.4khz filter. Most everyone bought the optional 6khz
filter which was much much better. A 1.9khz ssb and 500hz cw filter
could be added to the other slots, or other widths could be purchased
from outside vendors.

"potting compound for the ?PLL? dries out and fails."

JS Not sure I understand...I''ve never heard of this.

Actually, a side-by-side test of an R5000 and a R2000 using an outboard
speaker on both will reveal a much clearer audio on the R5000. The
R2000 can sound a bit muffled by comparison. I ran numerous
side-by-side comparisons in the former local SWL store before deciding
on the R5000. The king of muddy audio has to be the Japan Radios
however.

"John S." wrote:

"potting compound for the ?PLL? dries out and fails."

JS Not sure I understand...I''ve never heard of this.

Actually, a side-by-side test of an R5000 and a R2000 using an outboard
speaker on both will reveal a much clearer audio on the R5000. The
R2000 can sound a bit muffled by comparison. I ran numerous
side-by-side comparisons in the former local SWL store before deciding
on the R5000. The king of muddy audio has to be the Japan Radios
however.

Followed up or equaled by the earlier ICOM's.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

In article ,
says...


"John S." wrote:

"potting compound for the ?PLL? dries out and fails."

JS Not sure I understand...I''ve never heard of this.

Actually, a side-by-side test of an R5000 and a R2000 using an outboard
speaker on both will reveal a much clearer audio on the R5000. The
R2000 can sound a bit muffled by comparison. I ran numerous
side-by-side comparisons in the former local SWL store before deciding
on the R5000. The king of muddy audio has to be the Japan Radios
however.

Followed up or equaled by the earlier ICOM's.

dxAce
Michigan
USA




I would rank the ones I had/have like this, all with an external speaker
that is the best I could find.. Worst to best..

Icom R-70. AM is pretty bad. I did a mod that made it much worse. The
guy who wrote the mod was obviously hearing impaired.

ICOM R71A, there's a distortion there that really annoys me on AM, SSB
is better. I had a EEB modded one, and now a stock one, and there's not
all that much improvement, but the modded one was able to play a lot
louder without distortion.

JRC NRD515. OK on SSB, nasty on AM unless you run a line out to an ext
amp and then it's not bad at all.

JRC NRD525, Great on SSB, Ok on AM, mines one of the last ones made, the
hiss is very slight.

Yeasu FRG-7700. Not bad at all, really good on an old 8" speaker I found
in my friend's attic.

Yaesu FRG-8800 Nice audio, not so great filters.

Kenwood R2000. Very nice audio, fair radio, stinky filters.

Kenwood R5000 Nice on internal, awesome on ext.

Kenwood TS-450 Very nice on internal speaker, great on SSB on ext. On
the old mobile underdash speaker that I regutted with a 5" full range,
it sounds like someone is in the room talking.

Hammarlund HQ100 Modded to the max, extra tubes, crystal BFO, etc. It's
amazing on a good AM station. Some of those old hams down on 75M running
AM sound incredible. If only it were a little more stable...

BDK

From: "John S."
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Date: 28 Apr 2005 08:21:32 -0700
Subject: Kenwood 2000

"potting compound for the ?PLL? dries out and fails."

JS Not sure I understand...I''ve never heard of this.

Actually, a side-by-side test of an R5000 and a R2000 using an outboard
speaker on both will reveal a much clearer audio on the R5000. The
R2000 can sound a bit muffled by comparison. I ran numerous
side-by-side comparisons in the former local SWL store before deciding
on the R5000. The king of muddy audio has to be the Japan Radios
however.

I know.

Greg
NRD-525