Can't comment on the price but back in the day these were quite well regarded for a general SW/broadcast receiver, I owned one not long after the model was released, I was lucky, I got a good staff discount (woz chief service tech at Sony of Canada back then) I bought it so I could listen to back home via the various BBC frequencies and also because from a nipper I've always been interested in SW reception of radio Hams etc, the receiver performed as was expected, which was very well considering it's size/portability etc, I used a short wire antenna slung out of the upstairs window in Vancouver.
The receiver is of the dual conversion type, 10.7MHz/455kHz, bandspread tuning (+- 125kHz) is on the second conversion, the bandspread tuning is linear and in that respect it makes logging and resetting the tuning very good indeed, it even has a scale lamp.
Second conversion tuning employed a Hartley osc, SSB detection was via a dedicated balanced mixer, link to schematic:
http://www.radiopics.com/1.%20Manual...%20Manual).pdf
Lawrence.