Measurements were made in cw bandwidths. All receivers had BW choices at or close to 500 Hz except the R-390A with choices of .1 and 1 kHz so I split the difference. Blocking and two-tone DR were pretty much identical in the two BW, as expected.
SS-1R writeup ready soon...
Didn't do the 2 kHz tests because the receivers on the 'old' performance list weren't measured at that spacing. Will have a look as time permits. Yes, there was certainly a downturn in performance with the first solid state receivers - a lot like the situation with the first solid state stereo amps.
Agree...have no reason to think Bob Sherwood's measurements aren't good as gold - met him back in the 70s and he's a straight shooter. The real test would be to measure the very same receiver on both test setups. I've seen several dB difference (occasionally more) between the same model receivers. These differences may be less on newer equipment with fewer alignment adjustments. Also, would put day to day measurement repeatability at about 1 dB. Recently picked up a K3 and when the cw roofing filter arrives that will make for a very interesting test.
Yes, tube receivers seem to have a 'warmer' sound than solid state. <Note: not spoken as an audiophool.>