Question about Sherwood Newcastle gear.
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Posted by Gandalf on May 27, 2006, 12:50 am
Please log in for more thread options I'm simply trying to find out if the company has changed somewhere along the line. I remember Sherwood from the 60s, and it was ok, middle of the road, US built stuff. Not Mac, but not RCA either. In the 80s, I was service manager of a large AV chain. We started carrying the "new" Sherwood. I sat in on the rep's meetings and listened to all the hype. But the fact was, it was crap made on some freaking island I'd never heard of by some far east company...Inkea, or something to that effect. I'd never seen another brand returned so frequently for DOA and warranty returns. The touted 'performance specification' graph on the box, more often than not, didn't match the serial # of the unit inside. [!] They utilized the cheapest components available...STK outputs, single chip phono preamps, underspec'ed Chinese caps, flimsy pcb's with foil that would vaporize on contact, etc.. One particular model was being returned so frequently I pulled eight new boxes from the warehouse and bench tested them. Six were dead [or unsaleable for one reason or another] out of the box. All that lead us to an inside joke: Customer: If I asked you to tell me the crappiest brand you carry, would you? Salesman: SureWould. Anyway... In recent years I began to see Sherwood hailed as some esoteric, hoyty toyty gear...with a price tag to match. Did the company change hands and actually start build something decent or is this simply a case of the clueless buying the PR BS ala Bose and Monster? -G | |||||||||||||
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Posted by Jack Dotson on May 28, 2006, 2:59 pm
Please log in for more thread options Sherwood still has the regular line; the New Castle is their higher end and supposedly better line. Kind of like Sony's ES line. When I was in the market for a new pre-amp processor I researched their New Castle line and I actually bought their SD-860 DVDP. Also, the very popular Outlaw model-990 pre-processor is essentially a rebadged New Castle with some different options, i.e. XLR's, etc. The New Castle and a built in EQ that the Outlaw doesn't have, etc. There is much discussion about the New Castle on the Outlaw forum and if you do a search you will find many reviews for the New Castle pre-processors. The DVDP's are fairly new so not much out on them. Also, while researching I found that Sherwood actually produces almost 60% of the receivers on the market today, just rebadged with the company's brand. With this in mind, if Sherwood is that bad than so are many others. Most are made somewhere overseas these days. Usually where they have the cheapest labor available. I sold my SD-860, but not because of performance issues. I bought it because it did all formats and after a brief experiment with DVDA I learned that I preferred SACD which my Sony ES already had and it was a better performer in this regard. However, the Sony was also almost three times as expensive. Neither machine is very good with Redbook CD's, the Sony is better with SACD, but the SD-860 actually had better video performance. Also, the New Castle is really some sharp looking equipment. I also will have to mention that the guy I sold it to was wanting to use it as a Redbook player and was very disappointed. I think it does much better with the multichannel formats which it was primarily designed for. Just do a search on New Castle and you will find a ton of info. From everything I've read they seem to really give allot of bang for the buck. Won't compete with the really good stuff out there, but should compete very well in the main stream. | |||||||||||||
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Posted by Gandalf on May 30, 2006, 4:47 pm
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Thanks for the feedback, Jack. I'll pursue the NewCastle line further. I guess it's like anything else, just because you had a bad reputation for years doesn't mean you can't change and do something right. I was floored with your 'produces almost 60% of the receivers today' comment, however. Sherwood's website states 'nearly one-third', which I think is much more realistic. Of course, the same could be said of Symphonic/Funai VCR's. Which simply means that nearly a third of the VCRs on the market are crap. Thanks again. -G ---------- Jack Dotson wrote: > Sherwood still has the regular line; the New Castle is their higher end and
> supposedly better line. Kind of like Sony's ES line. When I was in the > market for a new pre-amp processor I researched their New Castle line and I > actually bought their SD-860 DVDP. Also, the very popular Outlaw model-990 > pre-processor is essentially a rebadged New Castle with some different > options, i.e. XLR's, etc. The New Castle and a built in EQ that the Outlaw > doesn't have, etc. > > There is much discussion about the New Castle on the Outlaw forum and if you > do a search you will find many reviews for the New Castle pre-processors. > The DVDP's are fairly new so not much out on them. Also, while researching > I found that Sherwood actually produces almost 60% of the receivers on the > market today, just rebadged with the company's brand. With this in mind, if > Sherwood is that bad than so are many others. Most are made somewhere > overseas these days. Usually where they have the cheapest labor available. > > I sold my SD-860, but not because of performance issues. I bought it > because it did all formats and after a brief experiment with DVDA I learned > that I preferred SACD which my Sony ES already had and it was a better > performer in this regard. However, the Sony was also almost three times as > expensive. Neither machine is very good with Redbook CD's, the Sony is > better with SACD, but the SD-860 actually had better video performance. > Also, the New Castle is really some sharp looking equipment. I also will > have to mention that the guy I sold it to was wanting to use it as a Redbook > player and was very disappointed. I think it does much better with the > multichannel formats which it was primarily designed for. > > Just do a search on New Castle and you will find a ton of info. From > everything I've read they seem to really give allot of bang for the buck. > Won't compete with the really good stuff out there, but should compete very > well in the main stream. > > >> I'm simply trying to find out if the company has changed somewhere along
>> the line. <snip>
>> Did the company change hands and actually start build something decent or
>> is this simply a case of the clueless buying the PR BS ala Bose and >> Monster? >> >> -G | |||||||||||||
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Posted by Jack Dotson on May 31, 2006, 12:59 pm
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> Thanks for the feedback, Jack.
> I'll pursue the NewCastle line further. > > I guess it's like anything else, just because you had a bad reputation for > years doesn't mean you can't change and do something right. > > I was floored with your 'produces almost 60% of the receivers today' > comment, however. > Sherwood's website states 'nearly one-third', which I think is much more > realistic. That's probably correct, I was going on memory, which isn't that good these days. Sorry about that. Still, 1/3 of all receivers on the market in considerable. And, as I said, the Outlaw 990 is a rebadged Sherwood as well and this is an extremely popular pre-processor. >
> Of course, the same could be said of Symphonic/Funai VCR's. Which simply > means that nearly a third of the VCRs on the market are crap. > > Thanks again. > > -G > > ---------- > Jack Dotson wrote: >> Sherwood still has the regular line; the New Castle is their higher end
>> and supposedly better line. Kind of like Sony's ES line. When I was in >> the market for a new pre-amp processor I researched their New Castle line >> and I actually bought their SD-860 DVDP. Also, the very popular Outlaw >> model-990 pre-processor is essentially a rebadged New Castle with some >> different options, i.e. XLR's, etc. The New Castle and a built in EQ >> that the Outlaw doesn't have, etc. >> >> There is much discussion about the New Castle on the Outlaw forum and if >> you do a search you will find many reviews for the New Castle >> pre-processors. The DVDP's are fairly new so not much out on them. Also, >> while researching I found that Sherwood actually produces almost 60% of >> the receivers on the market today, just rebadged with the company's >> brand. With this in mind, if Sherwood is that bad than so are many >> others. Most are made somewhere overseas these days. Usually where they >> have the cheapest labor available. >> >> I sold my SD-860, but not because of performance issues. I bought it >> because it did all formats and after a brief experiment with DVDA I >> learned that I preferred SACD which my Sony ES already had and it was a >> better performer in this regard. However, the Sony was also almost three >> times as expensive. Neither machine is very good with Redbook CD's, the >> Sony is better with SACD, but the SD-860 actually had better video >> performance. Also, the New Castle is really some sharp looking equipment. >> I also will have to mention that the guy I sold it to was wanting to use >> it as a Redbook player and was very disappointed. I think it does much >> better with the multichannel formats which it was primarily designed for. >> >> Just do a search on New Castle and you will find a ton of info. From >> everything I've read they seem to really give allot of bang for the buck. >> Won't compete with the really good stuff out there, but should compete >> very well in the main stream. >> >> >>> I'm simply trying to find out if the company has changed somewhere along
>>> the line. > <snip>
>>> Did the company change hands and actually start build something decent
>>> or is this simply a case of the clueless buying the PR BS ala Bose and >>> Monster? >>> >>> -G | |||||||||||||
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> the line.
>
> I remember Sherwood from the 60s, and it was ok, middle of the road, US
> built stuff. Not Mac, but not RCA either.
>
> In the 80s, I was service manager of a large AV chain.
> We started carrying the "new" Sherwood.
> I sat in on the rep's meetings and listened to all the hype.
> But the fact was, it was crap made on some freaking island I'd never heard
> of by some far east company...Inkea, or something to that effect.
>
> I'd never seen another brand returned so frequently for DOA and warranty
> returns.
> The touted 'performance specification' graph on the box, more often than
> not, didn't match the serial # of the unit inside. [!]
> They utilized the cheapest components available...STK outputs, single chip
> phono preamps, underspec'ed Chinese caps, flimsy pcb's with foil that
> would vaporize on contact, etc..
>
> One particular model was being returned so frequently I pulled eight new
> boxes from the warehouse and bench tested them.
> Six were dead [or unsaleable for one reason or another] out of the box.
>
> All that lead us to an inside joke:
>
> Customer: If I asked you to tell me the crappiest brand you carry, would
> you?
>
> Salesman: SureWould.
>
> Anyway...
>
> In recent years I began to see Sherwood hailed as some esoteric, hoyty
> toyty gear...with a price tag to match.
>
> Did the company change hands and actually start build something decent or
> is this simply a case of the clueless buying the PR BS ala Bose and
> Monster?
>
> -G