Galaxy 2547 vs. cobra 2000

[BOOTY MONSTER]

how does the 2547 compare recieve wise to a 2000 . im thinking the 2000 shoud be better , but having a new 2 year factory warranty is kinda nice and ive read some of these older radios are having problems with the caps going bad and needing to be replaced . i ve herd a few 2547s on the air and they always sound great , but the more i learn about cb the more important i feel the recieve is since most any radio can be a good talker . i hardly ever get any noise on the grant or the washngton , but most evenings the 78ltw get a horrible buzzing so bad it really takes away the enjoyment of being on the radio , the old radios never give a hint its there . the 78ltw is pretty quiet during the day though....... usually .

can or does the 2547 have ears and noise rejection comparable to the 2000 ?
also ..... taking the 10 and 12 meter capability out of the equation and ignoring the base/mobile difference ....... would a 2950DX be better than the 2547 ?

 

[nat19]

Oh my gosh!!!!! I was just about to post the same thread except it was going to be about the whole radio combined..

Now to answer your question. I have a galaxy 2547 and get around 20 watts on AM. I have a turner 454 non amplified desk mic and it sounds great. I don't even have the internal modulation all the way up! One of the locals has a Cobra 2000 and if you compare them mine sounds almost as good as his. As far as receive I think my Galaxy has exellent receive but I think his radio is slightly better. In my opinon it is really close. If I were to choose which one to buy I would get the Galaxy 2547 because it has the two year warranty. The Galaxy definitely gives the cobra 2000 a run for its money. I haven't used ssb much on my radio but I plan to In the future. Maybe I'll let you know how that goes. This is just my opinon but there are probably others that will agree.

 

[nat19]

Sorry I posted 20 watts don't know what I was thinking. Mine is the newer version which has Mosfet finals in it and I see 30 watts output on AM from a 7 watt dead key. Or I can dead key 2 watts and still swing over 20. Again it will give the Cobra 2000 a run for its money.

 

[Warbird]

I've never fooled with a 2000, Grant, or 148, I do have a President Washington (3 button) and I think its receive is quieter and as sensitive as my 2547 and 949. I think the Galaxy/Ranger receivers are noisy; the signal is there but it gets tiring listening for it.

 

[nat19]

A lot it of might be how much white noise you have in your area, I have very little where I live. A good friend of mine has a washinton base which is also the three button and my galaxys receive beats his hands down.

 

[loosecannon]

i have not owned a 2547, but i have owned a 959 which is the same radio without the power supply.
just stating that to qualify my opinions.

we have to be careful how we quantify "better receive". if you mean, "i hear you on this radio with an S9 and this radio with an S5", then most likely one radio (or both) needs a receive alignment and also maybe an S meter alignment.

most CB radios have similar sensitivity specs, so they should all receive the same level of signal with relatively the same reading on a meter, providing the meters are set correctly. (cant trust the manufacturer for this usually)

so thats receiver sensitivity.

the two other main factors that affect receive quality IMO are adjacent channel rejection, and the quality of the audio amp circuit responsible for the sound out of the speaker. (this one is obviously subjective, and completely up to one's personal tastes)

adjacent channel rejection refers to how strong a signal on the channel next to you can be before you hear it "bleedover" onto your channel.

with many of today's radios being bleedboxes that splatter over half of the 40 channels when transmitting; this becomes a big issue in a receiver.

now to compare the 2000GTL and the 2547 with regard to these factors.

the receiver sensitivity spec for the 2000GTL is .5uV for AM and .25uV for SSB.

the 2547 is .5uV for AM and .15uV for SSB.

so, very similar in how sensitive they are to picking up distant signals.

the adjacent channel rejection for the 2000GTL is -60db for AM and -70db for SSB.

the 2547 just says -60db.

again, quite similar. there are qualifiers for these specs that could skew the actual numbers, but thats all they gave us, so thats all we have to go on.

so, both receivers should receive the same signal with relatively the same strength, and both should reject a signal from an adjacent channel up to about the same level.


ok, those are the numbers; now for the opinions.

the 2000GTL wins hands down in my opinion.
it just sounds better!

i have spent many hours listening to both radios with no signals coming in, and i never turn my squelch up.
i can say that i can listen to the 2000GTL all day long without fatiguing my ears, but the 959 gets annoying to listen to before an hour is up.

(this is using the same external speaker, which also makes a big difference in how your radio sounds on receive)

the 959 sounds almost like FM (TV snow), while the 2000GTL sounds smooth as silk.

i think this comes down to component quality more than design differences.
mainly the crystals responsible for filtering signals as well as those supplying a steady frequency.

both radios had the 2999 and diode upgrades done to them.

the noise blanker/ANL in the 2000 seems to work much better than the 959 chassis also.

as for which one to buy, i think that depends on what kind of hobbyist you are.
the 2000's are getting old, and will need parts replaced at some point.
i am the type of hobbyist who replaces all the electrolytic caps in the radio as well as doing other upgrades, so a 2000 is a better choice for me.

if you are someone that wants the radio to work without doing all that work, then the 2547 is probably the better choice.

i will say that the 2547 will provide you with the TX sound that many seem to like these days, whereas modding the 2000GTL, while it will make it loud, will give a TX sound that some love and some dont.
i have done all the TX mods around to my 2000 type radios and have come full circle. i now like to leave the whole TX/modulation section alone, and adjust them for 100% modulation.
its the best AM CB sound around IMO.

good luck with your choosing,
LC

 

[C2]

My opinion, the Galaxy has a stronger tx and more sensitive rx. It is a bit more noisy, but that comes with the sensitivity. It sounds sharper.

It's newer and will likely last longer, and it looks better.

 

[junon600]

The Galaxy hands down. Anything else is just nostalgia, and bias fueling bad information. 2K is past its prime, and most are just plain junk due to golden screw drivers and age. Finding a good one that does not need more work than the radio is worth in money is rare. Even if you do, it will likely need major work done at some point. They are both very close out of the box as new, but the Galaxy is the only one you can be sure you can get out of the box as new. I have owned 7 2Ks and every one (even the nice ones) were a sad sad disappointment. Too much hype and not enough radio.

 

[Marconi]

I agree with Junon600. The 2000 is a great looking rig, but the 2547 is hard to beat. Mine has a great receiver, I don't like the clarifier, it is too sensitive. The radio is temperature sensitive, but does great when it warms up a bit. Noise blanker and squelch work great also.

The receive is so good, I prefer to have it on most of the time, even compared to my KW HF rigs.

 

[Simbalage22]

Isnt the 142 initially the same as the 2000? I love the old cobras. people around here call them starter radios, But I love the way this 142 sounds both receive, as well as the tx (With a small amp)

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

thanks for all the replies guys

sim22 , the 142 , 148 uniden grant and washington are all basically the same radios with the 8719 pll . the 2000 and madision use the 858dpll with a few extra bells and whistles .

 

[Highlander_821]

I don't think the 142 is the same chassis as the 148/Grant/2000 dual conversion. The 142 I think is more like the Uniden Washington---it is just a single conversion RX. Someone once explained here on the forum why the RX in the Galaxy 959/2547 chassis isn't as good. It was something like too wide of an IF bandwidth in the front end, and too much amplification at that stage. Like others say, this means that the signal is there, but you have to listen to a lot of "stuff" that the 148/Grant/2000 doesn't let in. The result is "fatigue" in your ears after a while. As far as the TX power and audio, both platforms can sound really great if set up right, or horrible if not....

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

i was just going by pll version so i could be wrong . i know my 3 button uniden washington and my uniden grant both have the 8719 pll . they both perform very similar rx wise but the washington wins on tx with my locals by a slight margin .

single vs. dual conversion ..... i asked about that a while back . the impression i got from the replies was that either one can do very very well when the circuit is implimented correctly ..... and of courst either can do not as well when not setup properly or less premium parts are used to make it . on a old school cobra or uniden i dont think a person can go wrong with either if the radio is working properly .

http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-band-cb-radios/33471-dual-conversion-vs-single-conversion.html

 

[1342]

how does the 2547 compare recieve wise to a 2000 . im thinking the 2000 shoud be better , but having a new 2 year factory warranty is kinda nice and ive read some of these older radios are having problems with the caps going bad and needing to be replaced . i ve herd a few 2547s on the air and they always sound great , but the more i learn about cb the more important i feel the recieve is since most any radio can be a good talker . i hardly ever get any noise on the grant or the washngton , but most evenings the 78ltw get a horrible buzzing so bad it really takes away the enjoyment of being on the radio , the old radios never give a hint its there . the 78ltw is pretty quiet during the day though....... usually .

can or does the 2547 have ears and noise rejection comparable to the 2000 ?
also ..... taking the 10 and 12 meter capability out of the equation and ignoring the base/mobile difference ....... would a 2950DX be better than the 2547 ?

6900 board and 3600 board both use the same 2sc1674-2sc1675 receive transistors and with a proper alignment would be hard to notice the difference,if the cobra was a uniden board might be a slight edge but to close to notice likely.

 

[Klondike Mike]

>>... the 2000 and madision use the 858dpll

Correction: the 2000 uses a MB8734 for the stock PLL, and a 8719 to get the extra frequencies. I think the Uniden Madison is the same board as well.