In the original post about the R-600, we did not learn which types of
broadcasts were expected to be enjoyed most often by that Kenwood bedside
radio. I would tend to guess that we're dealing with a program listener
here, since he says he likes the sound with the 12 KHz filter and the 6 KHz
one is acceptible. That does not sound like a utility chaser, or even a
dedicated ham coms listener to me.

So, now for the two radios under discussion, I currently own an R-1000, and
I have had and enjoyed having, a Kenwood R-600.

I liked the R-600's metal cabinet. It's an aesthetic preferrence, I just
like wood and metal better than plastic, especially for a bedside or table
radio that is not going to be expected to operate out and about and on the
go most of its life.
The R-600 does have a front-mounted speaker which lives behind the sturdy
plastic slats of its grille cover. NOw, if my memory serves me correctly,
the R-600 is just a little taller than the R-1000, and its speaker is
considerably smaller than the nearly five-inch diameter round one on top of
the R-1000. It has a much narrower audio range, highly favoring the trebble
end of that range, and that speaker is served by a less powerful, less
punchy amplifier. Even with the top-firing speaker, that R-1000 will do
more right by the folk music from the Voice of Greece and the Voice of
Turkey than will the speaker/amplifier combination in the R-600.

The controls on the two radios are remarkably similar. The have about the
same tuning knob, 1MHz-step band selector, same types of switches for wide
and narrow filter selection, same volume and tone controls. R-600 claims
tripple conversion super-het circuitry, R-1000 has double-conversion.
R-1000 is much more stable than the R-600, which is especially important
when you do want to hear hams comparing the local weather across the world,
or when you are trying to hear an interesting program on a weak signal right
next to the strong signal in a language you don't understand.
That's partly because the R-1000 has more and better filters than
has the R-600. The R-600 was positioned as a step up unit from the
R-300, with the R-1000 being something like Kenwood's
lowest-level consumer/professional receiver.

You can see information on both the R-600 and the R-1000 as well as
that R-300, at:
http://www.dxing.com/
under the "modern shortwave receiver survey" section.

I'm not sure exactly where they got some of those prices they say were
the original retail price range for some of those units, because I
remember most of them being considerably higher. For example, I
remember the Yaesu FRG-7 selling in the late 1970's for between
$650 and $750, not the $300-400-something listed at dxing.com .

You can go down to your local Radio Shack and get one of those external speakers in
the heavy metal case about 5-inches wide and about 8 inches high, with the
separate woofer and tweeter. Get a cord with bear leads at one end to
connect to the spring-loaded clips on the speaker, and plug the 3/8-inch
"mini" jack on the other end into the external speaker jack on the back
panel of the R-1000. Set that speaker on top of the R-1000, aiming its
mouth in the direction where you want the sound to go. I think you'll like
the results, and for around $40 bucks or so, you get a front-firing speaker
system far superior to the speaker already in the R-1000 or the squeaker in
the R-600, and somebody not quite as far along in the shortwave listening
hobby can enjoy that R-600 and have a very nice little starter radio, or
even first step-up radio, and you will overcome your only serious objection
to your R-1000.

Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA
Email: Phone: 1-404-814-0768

wrote:
In the original post about the R-600, we did not learn which types of
broadcasts were expected to be enjoyed most often by that Kenwood bedside
radio. I would tend to guess that we're dealing with a program listener
here, since he says he likes the sound with the 12 KHz filter and the 6 KHz
one is acceptible. That does not sound like a utility chaser, or even a
dedicated ham coms listener to me.

So, now for the two radios under discussion, I currently own an R-1000, and
I have had and enjoyed having, a Kenwood R-600.

I liked the R-600's metal cabinet. It's an aesthetic preferrence, I just
like wood and metal better than plastic, especially for a bedside or table
radio that is not going to be expected to operate out and about and on the
go most of its life.
The R-600 does have a front-mounted speaker which lives behind the sturdy
plastic slats of its grille cover. NOw, if my memory serves me correctly,
the R-600 is just a little taller than the R-1000, and its speaker is
considerably smaller than the nearly five-inch diameter round one on top of
the R-1000. It has a much narrower audio range, highly favoring the trebble
end of that range, and that speaker is served by a less powerful, less
punchy amplifier. Even with the top-firing speaker, that R-1000 will do
more right by the folk music from the Voice of Greece and the Voice of
Turkey than will the speaker/amplifier combination in the R-600.

The controls on the two radios are remarkably similar. The have about the
same tuning knob, 1MHz-step band selector, same types of switches for wide
and narrow filter selection, same volume and tone controls. R-600 claims
tripple conversion super-het circuitry, R-1000 has double-conversion.
R-1000 is much more stable than the R-600, which is especially important
when you do want to hear hams comparing the local weather across the world,
or when you are trying to hear an interesting program on a weak signal right
next to the strong signal in a language you don't understand.
That's partly because the R-1000 has more and better filters than
has the R-600. The R-600 was positioned as a step up unit from the
R-300, with the R-1000 being something like Kenwood's
lowest-level consumer/professional receiver.

You can see information on both the R-600 and the R-1000 as well as
that R-300, at:
http://www.dxing.com/
under the "modern shortwave receiver survey" section.

I'm not sure exactly where they got some of those prices they say were
the original retail price range for some of those units, because I
remember most of them being considerably higher. For example, I
remember the Yaesu FRG-7 selling in the late 1970's for between
$650 and $750, not the $300-400-something listed at dxing.com .

You can go down to your local Radio Shack and get one of those external speakers in
the heavy metal case about 5-inches wide and about 8 inches high, with the
separate woofer and tweeter. Get a cord with bear leads at one end to
connect to the spring-loaded clips on the speaker, and plug the 3/8-inch
"mini" jack on the other end into the external speaker jack on the back
panel of the R-1000. Set that speaker on top of the R-1000, aiming its
mouth in the direction where you want the sound to go. I think you'll like
the results, and for around $40 bucks or so, you get a front-firing speaker
system far superior to the speaker already in the R-1000 or the squeaker in
the R-600, and somebody not quite as far along in the shortwave listening
hobby can enjoy that R-600 and have a very nice little starter radio, or
even first step-up radio, and you will overcome your only serious objection
to your R-1000.

Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA
Email: Phone: 1-404-814-0768

That's an interesting and comprehensive comparison of two classic
receivers, thanks for posting it.
Although I have not had the opportunity to use either of those Kenwood
receivers, I have used both a Kenwood R300 and Kenwood R5000. Although
the contrast between those two receivers is certainly great, I would
have to say that I enjoyed tuning around on the R300 and it would catch
a lot of stations. Sitting at that dual drum receiver one could
imagine that it was an old glow-in-the-dark tube radio for at least a
moment. OTOH, the high-performing R5000 is an example of how quickly
receiver technology changed and how much receiver performance improved
within the short space of one decade.