According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

mike0219116 wrote:
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

Not surprising. High-end shortwave radios were a niche market to begin
with. With the implosion of the hobby it stands to reason even fewer
people will buy the NRD.

wrote in message
ps.com...

mike0219116 wrote:
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

Not surprising. High-end shortwave radios were a niche market to begin
with. With the implosion of the hobby it stands to reason even fewer
people will buy the NRD.


Maybe they should consider dropping the RRP price a little.

wrote:
P50 wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...

mike0219116 wrote:
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

Not surprising. High-end shortwave radios were a niche market to begin
with. With the implosion of the hobby it stands to reason even fewer
people will buy the NRD.


Maybe they should consider dropping the RRP price a little.

It isn't a problem of manufacturers supplying radios at a given price
but at is a problem of consumer demand for radios at all prices. There
are very few companies supplying portables at entry level prices (under
$200.00) and even fewer companies supplying advanced portables and
tabletops at higher prices because not many consumers want to listen to
radio programs shortwave frequencies these days.

I could be wrong, but I wonder whether the the real target market for
the NRD-545 and other, comparable tabletop receivers isn't the
community of utility listeners and/or DXers. Most of the folks I know
who've purchased expensive receivers like this purchased them primarily
because they wanted to hear utilities or because they wanted to chase
DX. If this is true more generally, then the shrinking audience for the
big broadcasters isn't so much of a factor here (though it'd be a huge
factor where lower end receivers are concerned).

A separate and interesting question is whether the audience of utility
listeners is shrinking. I have no idea.

In article ,
says...

wrote in message
ps.com...

mike0219116 wrote:
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

Not surprising. High-end shortwave radios were a niche market to begin
with. With the implosion of the hobby it stands to reason even fewer
people will buy the NRD.


Maybe they should consider dropping the RRP price a little.




When a couple of previous JRC models were discontinued, they dropped the
price down to just about what a really good used one was going for. THe
515, normally $1499 was dropped to $999, and they went fast. I couldn't
swing one then, but a year later, I bought a loaded used 515, memory
box, and speaker for $895. I still have it 20 years later. It's had some
problems over the years, almost all either cold solder joints on the
VFO, or issues with the phono plug interconnects they used for some odd
reason. They didn't even solder the plugs on. Strange way to cut a tiny
amount of the cost of making a 1500 buck radio.

I think the 525 was 999 when they closed it out too.

BDK

Steve wrote:
wrote:
P50 wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...

mike0219116 wrote:
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

Not surprising. High-end shortwave radios were a niche market to begin
with. With the implosion of the hobby it stands to reason even fewer
people will buy the NRD.


Maybe they should consider dropping the RRP price a little.

It isn't a problem of manufacturers supplying radios at a given price
but at is a problem of consumer demand for radios at all prices. There
are very few companies supplying portables at entry level prices (under
$200.00) and even fewer companies supplying advanced portables and
tabletops at higher prices because not many consumers want to listen to
radio programs shortwave frequencies these days.

I could be wrong, but I wonder whether the the real target market for
the NRD-545 and other, comparable tabletop receivers isn't the
community of utility listeners and/or DXers.

I'm sure that utility or dxers are the ones that bought the NRD and
it's competitors. I was using listening in a broad sense.


Most of the folks I know
who've purchased expensive receivers like this purchased them primarily
because they wanted to hear utilities or because they wanted to chase
DX. If this is true more generally, then the shrinking audience for the
big broadcasters isn't so much of a factor here (though it'd be a huge
factor where lower end receivers are concerned).

A separate and interesting question is whether the audience of utility
listeners is shrinking. I have no idea.

No matter their specific listening interest the group of buyers for
high-end radios including the NRD is shrinking. It is shrinking to the
point that it doesn't make financial sense for a business like Japan
Radio to tool up a production line for radios that may not have buyers.

My sense is that utility listening has always been a relatively small
subset of the SWL group. And it was indeed a lot of fun to chase
those signals when there was a lot to decode.

Good riddance I say.

I owned a 525 but never bought a 535 or 545. JRC never did fix a handful of
nagging issues with these receivers that separated them from being world
class. It's a shame to think what these could have been.




"mike0219116" wrote in message
ups.com...
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

I don't agree. I have several high end receivers and the NRD-535D is an
absolute joy to use. It looks like a receiver should, has a great tuning
knob and is built like a tank. It's the best utility receiver I own.

--
Brian Denley
http://home.comcast.net/~b.denley/index.html

"Mark" wrote in message
...
Good riddance I say.

I owned a 525 but never bought a 535 or 545. JRC never did fix a handful
of nagging issues with these receivers that separated them from being
world class. It's a shame to think what these could have been.




"mike0219116" wrote in message
ups.com...
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

In article ,
says...
I don't agree. I have several high end receivers and the NRD-535D is an
absolute joy to use. It looks like a receiver should, has a great tuning
knob and is built like a tank. It's the best utility receiver I own.



They, and none of the JRC radios is really set up correctly for optimum
AM sound quality. I couldn't care less, but some people do.

I'll get a 535 one of these days, and probably a 545 eventually. My 515
and 525 aren't going anywhere.

BDK