[Premium-Rx] The "Sound" Of Receiver IF Amplifiers

[Gary Follett]

I used to think that the TR7 audio was really great. Then I heard some 
of the "premiums", including a Harris RF590 (with mechanical filters), 
and a Collins KWM-380 and now my Signal One 1030. These radios quite 
simply raised the bar for me.

I had in the past always wondered why I always found the TR7 fatigueing 
to listen to (I owned 8 of them with serial numbers from 1203, my 
first, to 12, 877, an TR7A and I have owned two R7'a and one R7A).  
These receivers did, as you say, an excellent job of passing only the 
signals you wanted and the passband tuning was second to none. That is 
why I had so many of them over the years, including a setup with the 
TR7/R7 operating in the dual watch mode. All the time, I always told 
myself, "there has got to be something I can do about that audio", 
because I would still be using them today were it not for that issue. 
They can be had for tiny money, they are extremely reliable, I am very 
familiar with them and can repair them in my sleep. Everything going 
for them, even great looks. Just irritating audio.

Gary

PS: The R7 is very much the same as the TR7 in most ways. IMHO, the AGC 
in the R7 is worse than in the TR7 in terms of its impact on SSB audio 
and I wonder sometimes if Drake didn't optimize the R7 for AM, thinking 
most owners would be SWL's. After all, (in their minds) with the 
extremely high performance of the TR7 receiver, why would most Hams 
pair that radio up with the R7, which cost the same as the TR7? Dual 
watch was something hardly anyone had ever experienced at that time and 
no  one knew how to use it. Only the Signal One CX7 and CX11 had that 
feature at that time and they didn't sell many radios (too expensive!).