Sherwood Newcastle R-963 vs. Onkyo 898 (1 Viewer)

[Tim_N]

I was all ready to order an Onkyo 898 receiver ($1100) when I started reading and hearing about the Sherwood R-963. The sherwood looks great (base management, etc), but I'm wondering about the availability and the price. I know the list is 2K, but does anyone have an educated guess as to what the street price might be. If it is going to be close to list, I will stick with the 898. If the 963 can be had for $1500 or so, I would seriously consider it, especially if I hear more good things about Newcastle. Also, where the heck might I find one? Thanks for your help.

 

[Jeff Leeds]

I've had the Sherwood 945 for 3 years now and like it alot. It is VERY well made, it is like a tank. Many guys on the board are not familiar with the Newcastle stuff and think HK, Onkyo and Denon are far superior, I can tell you that is not true. I was going to replace my 945 so I got an HK 700 all hooked up to replace it (my buddy is manager or a store and told me I could demo it for a week and if I wasn't blown away I could return it). I really couldn't tell any diffence.

The Sherwood used the same universal remote as the HK except it was a one model up with the LCD window. The only thing that I loved about the HK was 5 speaker stereo. I hate the DSP modes on the Sherwood, but the HK's were not any better except I do like that 5 speaker stereo, but that wasn't worth the price of admission.

Botton line, Sherwood is making some good equipment these days...and so far very reliable.

 

[Brian Bunge]

My findings pretty much mirror Jeff's. I bought a Denon 3300 to replace my old Newcastle DPL receiver. Unfortunately there was no contest. The Newcastle blew it away on 2 channel audio. So I returned the Denon and bought the Newcastle R-945MKII.

Also, my neighbor has an old DPL HK receiver and the remote and the entire back plane of his receiver are both identical to my old DPL receiver. That along with matching crossover points makes me think the two units are very comparable if not identical.

I know of one (possibly 2) dealers in the Atlanta area that carry the Newcastle receivers. The one that I know for sure has them has already qouted me a price around $2K for the new model. But he sells everything at full retail. The up side is that his customer service is excellent and will bend over backwards for you.

Brian

 

[John Morris]

I've always gotten good Newcastle prices from Sound City. If we figure an MSRP of $2K for the 963, and then assume the usual discount of 1/3, which it was on the AVP-9080r, then you might be able to get a price of around $1300 or so for the R-963. I recently bought the R-956 on Ubid for only $439 to use in my second system. Previously, I've owned their AVP-9080r + AM-9080, and their R-945 II, and all of these units were very good values. Sonically, they were best buys, IMO.

 

[Randy G]

Is the 963 Sherwood's top-o-the-line model?

 

[Brian Bunge]

Randy,

Yes, I believe the 963 is the TOTL Newcastle receiver. I was wondering if you were around this week. I thought maybe you'd taken another trip to FL or something!

Did you get my email the other day? Didn't hear back from you!

Brian

 

[Jay_E]

I was also considering these 2 units. I ended buying the Onkyo 898 because I got tired of waiting for the Sherwood. If I remember correctly the 898 and the R-963 have very similar feature set.

Advantages of R-963:

1. Bass management with 7.1 input (the most important)

2. Much better remote (MX-500), plus room 2 remote included

3. A little more rated power, 120 watts vs. 110

Advantages of 898:

1. THX certification

2. S-video/composite conversion

3. Much easier to buy/demo because it is widely sold

4. It's avaialable now

5. Less expensive

The Sherwood is probably a "better" receiver than the Onkyo. It all boils down to cost and availability. If one could get a R-963 for 1/3 off (approx $1300) then it would be a hell of a deal. The 898 is available from several authorized dealers at the $1100 +/- level.

Jay

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Advantages of R-963:

A little more rated power, 120 watts vs. 110

Virtually no difference if both perform as rated.

THX may or may not be an advantage for Onkyo.

 

[Will]

Anyone know when this Newcastle receiver will actually

be out?

 

[Jay_E]

They were SUPPOSED to out in September, then October, then November, now who knows. They have been a few weeks away from shipping for some time now. That's why I finally gave up and got an Onkyo 898. They will probably ship now that I bought something else.

Jay

 

[Will]

They were SUPPOSED to out in September, then...

Yes. Their receivers were announced at CES
in January 2001.
They're supposedly going to announce their new
pre/pro at next CES in January 2002. But I have
no realistic idea when it will be for sale.

 

[Brandon B]

The Sherwoods supposedly does Svid/composite conversion also (at least one way).

It also upconverts digital to 24/96.

Anyone know what the bass management IS, exactly? I am right now planning on buying an outlaw because it is the only pre/pro I can afford with separate XO freqs for different speakers. If the 963, or the even more vaporous Sherwood pre/pro is going to have a similar feature, I may wait and check it out.

BB

 

[Brian Bunge]

Brandon,

I think the bass management is still pretty much the same. If so, then that means fixed at 100Hz, although I don't know that for sure.

Brian

 

[Jay_E]

Anyone know what the bass management IS, exactly?

The crossover is fixed at 80Hz for all speakers. The big deal is that it will apply bass management to it's 7.1 inputs (i.e DVD-A and SACD). It is the only receiver I have heard of that does this.

Jay

 

[Jeff Hipps]

As to our Sherwood Newcastle R-963--
Hard to find--Yes. As you may know, our primary business is OEM. The factory has a distressing habit, at least I find it distressing, of giving the prime production dates to our "Who's Who of Audio" customers. We get what's left. It makes it hard to maintain a dealer network, but however annoying our lateness may be, it does not diminish the product.
Worth the wait--I hope so
The R-963, like the R-945 and MK II, is basically an analog receiver that performs state of the art digital processing if you ask it to. Base management is fixed at 80 Hz and is performed in the analog domain. That's how we are able to handle bass management on the 7.1 direct input for SACD or DVD-A.
We down convert S-video to composite. And with 54 MHz bandwidth, we switch high def.
The upconversion, or digital remasatering, as I prefer to call it, is actually to 192/24. We even remaster the front main left and right channels in either DD or DTS to 192/24.
The first production units were (finally) shipped to us on 11/21. We hope to have them in select dealer hands around 12/1.
If you have additional questions about the R-963 or other of our products, please check our web site at www.sherwoodusa.com or contact me. I'm [email protected]
Jeff Hipps
Sr. VP, Marketing and Product Planning
Sherwood America

 

[John Kotches]

Jeff,
So it's safe to say the factory is located west of the International date line?
This would make sense as here in the US and on the other side of the dateline it's 11/22.
Regards,

 

[Jeff Hipps]

Funny comment, John.

Did you ever find that Woody Herman you were looking for?

Hipps

 

[John Morris]

Jeff H: What's the latest on the new Pre/Pro? Is it still set to go at the January show?

 

[Jeff Hipps]

John:

The new pro/pro and main amps will be introduced in January, but with out record for delays, I'm not sure when they actually consummation will occur.

Hipps

 

[Will]

Jeff,

Can you describe any features on your new pre/pro,

even though it's availability date is up in the air?

By the way, many of us appreciate you not giving a date

rather than give an unrealistic date that gets delayed

and delayed and delayed again....

In particular, can you spread any light about the bass

management in the new pre/pro?

Will