Stereophile's Sam Tellig RAVES about Sony XDR-F1HD

[hipporadio]

I must admit that my Meduci “gratification” comes via 1580 WIFE Connersville, IN... This is a recently retooled facility with a new Broadcast Electronics solid state TX and top-shelf Omnia audio proc that Bob programmed on his bench for a few weeks prior to delivery. The OTA result is OUTSTANDING—THE BEST AM audio I sampled in my 53 years!

It’s a great format and good listening to boot

 

[KB1OKL]

The Sony is the best on AM I've seen, aside from the Drake R8. Yes, I have an outdoor antenna. Yes, I know no one else does

I have many outside LW and dipole antennas with phasers, big loops etc. and many receivers that far out perform the Sony on AM such as Collins R390's, R-390A's, R-388's, National HRO's, Hammerland SP-600's on and on they also sound MUCH better with their 5 and 6 step selectivity controls, and are able to pick up splits like Denmark 1062 which I pulled in on my R390 the other night, also most of them can open up to 15-16 Khz. Also The Meduci makes the Sony sound like a 50's $4.98 6 transistor.
I use(d) a C Crane twin coil tunable rotatable loop with the Sony, was not impressed at all, well I was impressed by one thing, it threw more heat than my 26 tube R390A

 

[KB1OKL]

I will also stick to my Superadio 2 and Superadio 1....Thank you...

I have one of each in my arsenal also, bought them at yard sales, each less than 5 bucks and work like a charm and the batteries last a long time, you can never have too many radios, unless of course they're HD radios.. then one is one too many.

 

[hipporadio]

I have the first edition [circa 1982] of the GE SuperRadio [no X-band]. It is a “favorite” in my AM arsenal for quality listening and casual DXing.

KB is correct – you could heat your bedroom with the Sony XDR-F1HD... That cannot contribute to long-term reliability and lifespan given its lackluster ventilation scheme.

The uncontested AM audio quality “champ” is the “project box” Meduci... It’s downright pedestrian in its cosmetics, but it delivers BETTER THAN FM AUDIO QUALITY from a modern well-engineered music-intensive AM station. I favor it over my Carver TX-11.

 

[Chuck]

This weekend, I was messing around with trying to get one of these beasts to run off of 12 volts DC so it would be a reliable receiver for a translator application. Thinking this would be an easy task; I rounded up some stuff from my junk box to convert 12 volts in to the required 5-volt and 10.5 volts the Sony is happy with. For my first attempt, I used some garden-variety regulators chips that you can buy at any Radio Shack. With good heat sinks, they can usually handle about one ampere. I built my prototype, using the aluminum cover of a small handy box as the heat sink. When I substituted it for the Sony’s internal power supply, it worked fine, for about three, maybe four minutes. The radio then let out a very disgusting ripping noise, and went silent. Upon investigation, the 5 volt regulator was WAY too hot to touch, and was no longer functional. Out of curiosity, I put an ammeter in series with the Sony power supply and noted that the 5-volt supply delivered a whopping 1.25 amps. No wonder there is no battery powered version of these radios. Four D cell would last just a few minutes.

The 10.5 supply is no problem. It runs cool and should be quite reliable. The 5-volt supply is another question. My current version uses two 1.5 amp regulators in parallel, mounted on a piece of scrap heat sink from a dead PC. It is about 2" square and has the appropriate fins. Although it seems to work OK, it still gets very hot to the touch. The only way I feel comfortable with it is to use a fan. I can do that, but it seems like just one more thing to go wrong. To do this right with no moving parts, I can see that I need a very big heat sink and a high current regulator.

I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise, but in my wildest dreams, I never thought the power requirements would be this high. Now I know why it runs so hot.

Freebird mentioned he has done this already. What did you use for a 5-volt regulator? A LM 123 looks like a decent choice, since it can do 3 amps at five volts. I suspect it still needs a big heat sink

 

[KB1OKL]

This weekend, I was messing around with trying to get one of these beasts to run off of 12 volts DC so it would be a reliable receiver for a translator application. Thinking this would be an easy task; I rounded up some stuff from my junk box to convert 12 volts in to the required 5-volt and 10.5 volts the Sony is happy with. For my first attempt, I used some garden-variety regulators chips that you can buy at any Radio Shack. With good heat sinks, they can usually handle about one ampere. I built my prototype, using the aluminum cover of a small handy box as the heat sink. When I substituted it for the Sony’s internal power supply, it worked fine, for about three, maybe four minutes. The radio then let out a very disgusting ripping noise, and went silent. Upon investigation, the 5 volt regulator was WAY too hot to touch, and was no longer functional. Out of curiosity, I put an ammeter in series with the Sony power supply and noted that the 5-volt supply delivered a whopping 1.25 amps. No wonder there is no battery powered version of these radios. Four D cell would last just a few minutes.

The 10.5 supply is no problem. It runs cool and should be quite reliable. The 5-volt supply is another question. My current version uses two 1.5 amp regulators in parallel, mounted on a piece of scrap heat sink from a dead PC. It is about 2" square and has the appropriate fins. Although it seems to work OK, it still gets very hot to the touch. The only way I feel comfortable with it is to use a fan. I can do that, but it seems like just one more thing to go wrong. To do this right with no moving parts, I can see that I need a very big heat sink and a high current regulator.

I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise, but in my wildest dreams, I never thought the power requirements would be this high. Now I know why it runs so hot.

Freebird mentioned he has done this already. What did you use for a 5-volt regulator? A LM 123 looks like a decent choice, since it can do 3 amps at five volts. I suspect it still needs a big heat sink

Maybe some kind of a squirrel cage blower contraption (with outside exhaust of course.)

 

[dxho]

The Sony is the best on AM I've seen, aside from the Drake R8. Yes, I have an outdoor antenna. Yes, I know no one else does

I have many outside LW and dipole antennas with phasers, big loops etc. and many receivers that far out perform the Sony on AM such as Collins R390's, R-390A's, R-388's, National HRO's, Hammerland SP-600's on and on they also sound MUCH better with their 5 and 6 step selectivity controls, and are able to pick up splits like Denmark 1062 which I pulled in on my R390 the other night, also most of them can open up to 15-16 Khz. Also The Meduci makes the Sony sound like a 50's $4.98 6 transistor.
I use(d) a C Crane twin coil tunable rotatable loop with the Sony, was not impressed at all, well I was impressed by one thing, it threw more heat than my 26 tube R390A

You're just jaded . Of course the Sony doesn't come near the big iron you mentioned. It doesn't come near the same cost, either. And the SRIIs, at least, suck on FM reception (and lack the X band).

As a dxer, I wanted a sensitive AM and FM HD box, and the Sony is it for now. No argument about its sound.

 

[Play Freebird]

This weekend, I was messing around with trying to get one of these beasts to run off of 12 volts DC so it would be a reliable receiver for a translator application.

Freebird mentioned he has done this already. What did you use for a 5-volt regulator? A LM 123 looks like a decent choice, since it can do 3 amps at five volts. I suspect it still needs a big heat sink

I just used a single 7805 in a TO-220 package, but it's mounted to a 3 X 4" aluminum heatsink (fins on the front side, flat on the back) bolted to a steel shelf. The 78XX series of regulators can handle about 1.5 amps as long as you provide ample heat dissipation.

Assuming 1.2 A of current and a 13.8 volt supply, the 5 volt regulator will need to dissipate about 10.5 watts of heat. This is a lot more than a small heatsink can handle, but if you use something much larger (perhaps with a fan) you should have no problem.

 

[Chuck]

This weekend, I was messing around with trying to get one of these beasts to run off of 12 volts DC so it would be a reliable receiver for a translator application.

Freebird mentioned he has done this already. What did you use for a 5-volt regulator? A LM 123 looks like a decent choice, since it can do 3 amps at five volts. I suspect it still needs a big heat sink

I just used a single 7805 in a TO-220 package, but it's mounted to a 3 X 4" aluminum heatsink (fins on the front side, flat on the back) bolted to a steel shelf. The 78XX series of regulators can handle about 1.5 amps as long as you provide ample heat dissipation.

Assuming 1.2 A of current and a 13.8 volt supply, the 5 volt regulator will need to dissipate about 10.5 watts of heat. This is a lot more than a small heatsink can handle, but if you use something much larger (perhaps with a fan) you should have no problem.

It appears that a bigger heat sink is in order. The only one I had in hte junk box was off of an old computers processing chip. With a fan it works OK, but the fan is just one more thing to go wrong. I guess I'll go shopping for aluminum. For a while, I had delusions that I could build a power supply that was smaller than the radio. I guess not.

It does explain why the radio runs so hot when it is plugged into AC.

 

[KB1OKL]

The Sony is the best on AM I've seen, aside from the Drake R8. Yes, I have an outdoor antenna. Yes, I know no one else does

I have many outside LW and dipole antennas with phasers, big loops etc. and many receivers that far out perform the Sony on AM such as Collins R390's, R-390A's, R-388's, National HRO's, Hammerland SP-600's on and on they also sound MUCH better with their 5 and 6 step selectivity controls, and are able to pick up splits like Denmark 1062 which I pulled in on my R390 the other night, also most of them can open up to 15-16 Khz. Also The Meduci makes the Sony sound like a 50's $4.98 6 transistor.
I use(d) a C Crane twin coil tunable rotatable loop with the Sony, was not impressed at all, well I was impressed by one thing, it threw more heat than my 26 tube R390A

You're just jaded . Of course the Sony doesn't come near the big iron you mentioned. It doesn't come near the same cost, either. And the SRIIs, at least, suck on FM reception (and lack the X band).

As a dxer, I wanted a sensitive AM and FM HD box, and the Sony is it for now. No argument about its sound.

Sorry for hijacking the thread but how about a Hammarlund HQ-129 or 140? They're not that expensive, good ones go for between 200.00-300.00 and they excel at BCB DXing.

 

[dxho]

The Sony is the best on AM I've seen, aside from the Drake R8. Yes, I have an outdoor antenna. Yes, I know no one else does

I have many outside LW and dipole antennas with phasers, big loops etc. and many receivers that far out perform the Sony on AM such as Collins R390's, R-390A's, R-388's, National HRO's, Hammerland SP-600's on and on they also sound MUCH better with their 5 and 6 step selectivity controls, and are able to pick up splits like Denmark 1062 which I pulled in on my R390 the other night, also most of them can open up to 15-16 Khz. Also The Meduci makes the Sony sound like a 50's $4.98 6 transistor.
I use(d) a C Crane twin coil tunable rotatable loop with the Sony, was not impressed at all, well I was impressed by one thing, it threw more heat than my 26 tube R390A

You're just jaded . Of course the Sony doesn't come near the big iron you mentioned. It doesn't come near the same cost, either. And the SRIIs, at least, suck on FM reception (and lack the X band).

As a dxer, I wanted a sensitive AM and FM HD box, and the Sony is it for now. No argument about its sound.

Sorry for hijacking the thread but how about a Hammarlund HQ-129 or 140? They're not that expensive, good ones go for between 200.00-300.00 and they excel at BCB DXing.

Sure, if that is one's preference. I essentially traded an SP-200 for the Drake, as it only covered down to ~1230khz. Great reception and sound, but talk about heating a room...

 

[KB1OKL]

There are three different models of the SP-200, you had an SX version, 1250-40,000, also another version that starts at 540 and covers straight up to 20 Mhz the SP-200X, one last one skipped the broadcast band but had two long wave bands, 100-200 Kc and 200-400 Kc, called the SP-200 LX, the audio in those radio is great, 8 watts of undistorted power from a 6v6 driving a push pull pair of 6V6's. I have one of each, two of mine are 200's, the other is an 210 being a military model actually is a BC-779, SP-210LX. I also have have a couple of SP-400s an X (BCB) and an SX 1250-40,000, very similar radio. Look for the 210X or SP-400X they cover the BCB and work great when restored.

 

[hipporadio]

Thank you for the information, hipporadio. After hearing an audio clip and looking at meduci.com, I may go ahead and buy it. I don't have the Dymek DA-9 antenna but I have both the Terk and the Twin Coil antenna...

I’m not sure that you could buy a *new* Dymek DA-9 indoor amp-assisted/tuned antenna today – maybe a used one from an eBay client... BTW, I dial-in ZERO pre-amplification from the Dymek when it feeds this tuner! The Terk works well on the Meduci also. I own a C Crane TCF, but have not connected it to the Meduci [it feeds the MW input on my Icom IC-R71A and is a perfect performer there, and am unconcerned with it's unadjustable pre-amplification into that receiver]... I understand that the TCF’s design delivers an inherently lower AM receive bandwidth [it requires re-tuning when the receiver tuning is changed by just a mere 20 kHz]. That may work to the advantage of one who needs to minimize IBOC interference!

 

[ddsparxx]

I don't intend to buy the DA-9, too expensive new and unused. I looked at Esoteric Sound online, which sells phono turntables, and it's the only place I know that has the amplified antenna. However, I like the way the antenna/tuner/amplifier combination looks.