Tecsun H 501X View of the Internals electronics with some personal observations

Interesting quick look at the electronics inside the Tecsun H-501X, if you see something interesting let us know!

[@G1ZQCArtwork]

Hi, thanks for the review. Just ordered one (April 2023). The Bluetooth section is on the bottom Right of the picture, you can see the zigzag BT Aerial going Horisontally. David G1ZQC.

[@G1ZQCArtwork]

Here I am replying to myself. I am 99% sure the Bluetooth facility also has a Microphone. If you look at the board in the bottom Right, there is the BT Aerial, plus an extention to the right, if you look at the front of the radio, there is a small grille, which I think has the Microphone behind it. David G1ZQC.

[@tonypoloney8721]

My left speakers stopped working intermittently. Opened the back casing and found the speaker circuit white plug was not properly engaged. Easy fix. Very happy with the radio.

[@abelincoln7473]

I think the thing that i notice more than anything else is that each of those sections can be manually aligned, there's trimmers on all of them. Thats pretty surprising on a new portable radio. You dont need proprietary software or to connect to the JTAG header to get to the ASIC/ FPGA. Its awesome to see that kind of design, in a brand new product.

[@rondeldebbio9219]

A bit of old school in new school.

[@stoundingresults]

Thank you for your expertise opinion. This will be my Christmas gift to myself.

[@sunnyboner676]

I’m just a little disappointed about them not using a USB-C connector. It would have been nice to use the latest generation.

[@user-pl5dq1kf6z]

My solution to continually connecting and disconnecting the power is to buy a light duty power bar with a shut off switch. The one I bought has a built in 2 USP ports which makes charging and SW listening very convenient.

[@patthegunsmith]

Thank you so much for doing this review. Regarding the speakers, from what I can see in the video, the bottom "speakers" appear to be passive radiators. I have a 501X on the way from Hong Kong. I really have to resist taking the back off. For years, the very first thing I would do whenever I got any electronic device was open it up and take a good look inside.

[@user-or1ce7ez5w]

Hi.. how did it go.. I am thinking of buying one too and I live in UK. I would appreciate your experience so far thanks

[@maryrafuse3851]

One observation I like. It seems Tecsun does not use that awful glue that was so frequently applied to the printed circuit boards and individual components in 1970's & 1980's receivers. Good for Tecsun, they are learning what not to do.

[@leyland9999]

Finally a portable radio that is capable of challenging the good old Sony ICF-2001D/2010. I have both, today my brand new Tescun H-501x has been delivered. The Tecsun has more bells and whistles but the Sony is quite capable to equal or beat the performances of the Tecsun. As for sound quality, the Tecsun, no arguing that. As for the sync detector, the Sony. This fact alone made me decide not to sell my Sony. Tecsuns still have only mediocre sync detector circuitry inside. For some reason it seems to be very difficult to fix the flaws in their design. True, it is a lot better than in their previous designs but the detector still is no match for the Sony ICF-2001D/2010. On the other hand, I will have to use the radio intensively for a final verdict. As for now, both radios will be my pimary receivers while.on the go.

[@stridermt2k]

Nicely put together radio! Very tight! As always thanks Gilles! The mids/high speakers have the covers on them in order to keep the bass from vibrating them and "coloring" the sound from the lower lower speakers. Keeping the backs open on the lower speakers allow the speakers resonate and give more rage.

[@RJDA.Dakota]

This is great. Very interesting to see what the internals look like on the 501. Could you do one on the 990 x and the PL 330? Extremely useful and fascinating.

[@activelow9297]

Where's the little man inside who announces and plays the music?

[@j7ndominica051]

This radio looks finely designed. How is the sensitivity on long wave compared to other radios? Maybe I won't need to worry about it for much longer though with the last stations shutting down. In old radios, the ferrite would stretch for most of the width of the cabinet, but the windings would only cover a small portion of it.

[@jeffking4176]

Really interesting ❗️ ( I’m sold). 📻😁

[@greggaieck4808]

Gilles the Tecsun H 50,1x in side receiver is cool

[@catalinalb1722]

Yeeey super Gilles! Don't turn it on, Take it apart! 🙂 👍

[@davidwhite2011]

As Dave would say.

[@dxace1]

Thanks for this very interesting and would be more interesting to compare this to the internals of something like the Grundig SAT 500/700

[@scottbelcher9026]

Very cool!!! Looks like a nice sized ferrite bar antenna in it too! I bet it’s great on receiving AM stations!

[@NTPTM]

Hej Gill thanks for the video very interesting to see on the inside of the Tecsun H501X and everything is arranged neatly and nice. Absolutely Gill I have become so fond of my own Tecsun H-501X I use it for everything. And i must admit it's a little hard to go back to my smaller radio devices but love them too. But on Tecsun H-501X it's so nice that everything is bigger and the larger screen makes it a lot easier. I wear glasses so I see everything much better love that. Gill when you find the right one in love, it is wonderful in this case radio love take care have a nice day and week.

[@n1kkri]

Would like to see the same done for the PL-330. Both seem to hear stations about the same. Audio quality is different on each but they both hear well

[@ritmo1130]

Great radio!

[@Gordonseries385]

Nice easy to work on, Looks like the bottom right board is the Bluetooth, card board. Would be great if you can get a service manual for it with the revisions. Thank you for sharing. Love it.

[@staceyhoff5191]

Ferrite looks small actually,what's the length of it?did you measure it??

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

looks small cause the radio is big. It is much longer than almost any other portable receiver

[@st.charlesstreet9876]

Does the Tecsun pl 990x have the same length ferrite? Would be interesting if their radios have this caliber of antenna.

[@DrKunwar]

I opened up my Tecsun H-501x and found that only the upper 2 speakers are active, and the lower 2 are dummy speakers or passive radiators. There are no hidden cables to connect the lower dummy speakers. Read the user guid. It mentioned only 2 speakers. There is no mention of 4 speakers in the user guide. Those who don't agree with me can open up their Tecsun H-501x and attest this fact. And contradict me if they find 4 active speakers. Let me know back.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

All receivers with good audio have passive speakers with the main speakers...that is how good audio quality is done

[@DrKunwar]

@OfficialSWLchannel OK, Sir thanks.

[@maharaja2675]

Why is not even one of them interested to know the IC number used in this radio???? Those who know tell me...

[@davidsradioroom9678]

There goes the Warranty! It is a nice radio.

[@AbaseenPodcast]

I think DNR may be Audio Noise Reducer .

[@CARLiCON]

I agree that's probably the DSP board which processes & filters the audio, and adjusts the noise reduction level

[@raymondmartin6737]

Thanks 😊 for the review of the inside of The Tecsun H-501x. I would like to see if there is any difference from my Chinese H-501, though you stated the circuitry seems to show it's similar in both models. I wonder the H-501x is more refined than the H-501? My Chinese model of the H-501 has performed well with no problems so far. Ray, W2CH.

[@Buglet720]

I wonder what those bottom speakers are for, since the sound comes from the top ones.

[@kenharvey9714]

You're right, I have the 501, and I can't hear a thing from the bottom speakers! I've even looked inside the radio, I don't see where they are even wired in. Very odd.

[@juanzaratieguibiurrun5498]

I was also wondering, @patthegunsmith referred to them as "passive radiator" speakers. I searched for it and it appears it's some kind of speakers not wired to anything, that use the pressure waves created by the powered speakers to balance the sound. At least that is what I got from here. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_radiator_(speaker)

[@ronaldzuccala1889]

Hello. Actually how long is the ferrite ant. Thank you. Ron Z. Pgh Pa.

[@rwjazz1299]

5.5 inches

[@davidwhite2011]

What would be great is if you do a high res scan of it and put that on the internet for generations to come. Maybe with the alignment procedures if anyone can come up with that.

[@Nostrildomus]

C00L

[@roymoon1]

DNR = Dynamic Noise Reduction