AR-DV1 audio quality on AM?

[johnmblack]

I must be the only one who cares, but IMHO the DV1 works well on everything but AM. There is absolutely no low end audio and the radio sounds so tinny as to be unlistenable. It's a sensitive radio on HF, and AOR's other radios sound above average, overall. It even sound very good on FM broadcast. Why can't they give us decent AM audio quality?

Anybody else agree?

John KB5AG

 

[MStep]

I must be the only one who cares, but IMHO the DV1 works well on everything but AM. There is absolutely no low end audio and the radio sounds so tinny as to be unlistenable. It's a sensitive radio on HF, and AOR's other radios sound above average, overall. It even sound very good on FM broadcast. Why can't they give us decent AM audio quality?

Anybody else agree?

John KB5AG

Bearing in mind that this is a communications receiver, and not a high-performance BOSE AM/FM system, you might try (when feasible) upping the AM bandwidth to the maximum of 15 KHz. You might be able to do that in the AM broadcast band--- it would certainly be more difficult in the shortwave bands, when stations can practically by on top of each other. Once again, being a communications receiver, there are no compensating Bass (Or Treble) controls.

This is one of the shortcomings on a radio which is designed for the communications enthusiast as opposed to the audiophile.

 

[marlbrook]

Well Said

Bearing in mind that this is a communications receiver, and not a high-performance BOSE AM/FM system, you might try (when feasible) upping the AM bandwidth to the maximum of 15 KHz. You might be able to do that in the AM broadcast band--- it would certainly be more difficult in the shortwave bands, when stations can practically by on top of each other. Once again, being a communications receiver, there are no compensating Bass (Or Treble) controls.

This is one of the shortcomings on a radio which is designed for the communications enthusiast as opposed to the audiophile.

One cannot expect quality AM audio from a 6cm shallow speaker, but given that the AR-DV1 audio quality seems very acceptable overall.

As you say, 15khz is essential for signal on the AM broadcast band via the AR-DV1, and it is important to switch NR off too.

One cheap alternative for those who do not want to add an external speaker, is to simply connect the radio to the P.C. and use its sound card, via a standard stereo 3.5 mm cable and the audio socket at the front of the receiver. Naturally that depends on the quality of the computer's speakers too. With many sound cards it adds the ability to control the tone.

The bottom line is, as you so rightly point out, this is a communication receiver, and compact size means a small internal speaker.

As a final comment, one of the 'unsung' big leap forwards in communications is the incredible improvement in small speaker design and performance over the last 20 years. Even the tiny speakers in mobile phones produce good audio. Being ancient, I can remember when a 3 inch speaker really did sound like a tin can, lol. However the Laws of Physics can only be stretched so far, eventually "size matters".

 

[johnmblack]

They can certainly do better!

I understand that this isn't a Bose radio, but it wouldn't be hard to increase the bandwidth of the radio in the low end. The AR8600 sounds much better, the AR5000 sounds much better, even the AR8200 sounds better.

I went through this when the Commradio CR1 came out, and got the same responses; i.e. this is a communications receiver, but someone at Commradio heard me and they increased the freq response on the low end in one of the software updates, and then everybody commented on how much better it sounded.

If this is going to be only a communications receiver, why include FM wide (which sounds pretty good), and all the broadcast bands?

As for the speaker, it's not bad at all. It's what's going into it that's bad. Sounds just as bad with headphones.

It's a good radio; I use it for DMR and P25 all day long. Just wish they would fix this one thing.