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

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.

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

"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.