29years old. Electronics Engineer currently designing DigitalTV stuff.
Adore gadgets and gizmos bu...
29years old. Electronics Engineer currently designing DigitalTV stuff.
Adore gadgets and gizmos but flatly refuse to play the "brand-name" game when possible.
Adore films and home cinema. I'm going to try and review every new film I see!
Mad abou...
Sherwood stuff is sold in the UK by Richer Sounds. (In the US it's sold in lots of places from what I've seen). As it doesn't have a bigname brand many audio geeks/snobs will turn their noses up at it. If you are not dominated by brandnames then read on!
The AMP is very sturdily constructed (read large and heavy) with a good quality feel to all of the controls. It is not flimsy in any way. It is very nicely featured with lots of AV switching inputs, pre-amp outputs and even a switched mains-electric output for a powered subwoofer. All inputs are controlled by a dial on the front or the Remote-Control. A digital audio input (copper) is also featured for easy DVD hookup.
The Amp is pretty powerful as you might expect from its size. 65W into 5 channels at very low distortions. Coupled to some proper HiFi speakers (floorstanders at the front, a proper centre and bookshelf rears) very loud volume levels can be achieved effortlessly. Witness the early battle charges in "Gladiator" at near full volume and you will grin from ear to ear. It is LOUDER than the cinema!
The controls allow balancing of the sound at each individual point and these settings are stored independently for all of the various modes (Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby pro-logic, Hall, Theatre(s) and Stereo). A white-noise test tone makes adjustments easy.
The sound-staging is simply awesome. Films with lots of action come to life nicely. You will dodge arrows, track helicopters and hear ghostly noises just when you are supposed to! DTS decoding is the pinacle for this Amp. Huge dynamic range, full frequency coverage and a sweetness when it needs it.
The RDS tuner is good and is nicely sensitive. Even with the piece of wire supplied good reception can be achieved. There are more presets than most people will need too.
I bought one of these to replace my ageing Sherwood Tuner and Dolby Pro-Logic Amp. Twinned with a new DVD player (Philips 710) the combo is excellent. It has good enough audio quality to have comfortably replaced my ageing Rotel HiFi Amp too.
An absolute bargain, even at twice the price. But fortunately, it's not ;-)
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