Sherwood r-963 as pre/pro against other High-End separates...? (1 Viewer)

[AustinKW]

Hi Philip,

I just can't understand why the big receiver guys haven't come out with entry-level pre/pros in a big way. Maybe they figure if they can "trap" folks into a receiver, they'll keep 'em in receivers all the way up to their flagships. Maybe they don't want to be in the business of selling other folks amps. Who knows?

I'd very much like to see flagship receivers "paired" in the marketplace with the same front end less the amps. I think these "pre/pros + tuner" could really make an impact in audio separates. I can't see how such a marketing approach could fail.

Am I mistaken on the upcoming Sherwood pre/pro? I thought it was a rebadged Outlaw 950. No?

Austin

 

[Philip Hamm]

Am I mistaken on the upcoming Sherwood pre/pro? I thought it was a rebadged Outlaw 950. No?

No. Sherwood Newcastle is the brand name for a company that OEMs lots of stuff, most notably Marantz. Their stuff is different than the OEM stuff, but uses similar components, for example, the OSD on my 950 looks a lot like the OSD on similar generation Marantz pieces.

I do not believe they OEM the Outlaw 950. I may be wrong though. Hopefully Jeff Hipps will join in this discussion, though he probably can't talk about the OEM brands and models that they manufacture.

 

[AustinKW]

Hi Philip,
Here's the link on the cloned 950. Looks like I was confusing SHERWOOD (who isn't cloning) and SHERBOURN (who is cloning). Thanks for the info.
Austin
www.smr-home-theatre.org/ces2002/home_theater/page_02.shtml

 

[Sven_DP]

In a March 2002 article at Hifissimo.com the French reviewer Jean-Patrick Grumberg says the following (I translated into English) :
"Sherwood is the first manufacturer in the world of Home Cinema Amplifiers. A part of the actual (and passed) models of Denon, Marantz, Harman, Rotel, Teac, etc... come from their manufacturing plants."
Btw. the test also describes the processing (and other) capabilities of the Sherwood R-863R compared to the Marantz SR6200, the HK AVR5500, and Denon AVR3802. In the end he shortly compares the winner with the Marantz PM7000/CD6000Ki couple.
The whole article can be found at http://www.hifissimo.com/store/loadp..._ampli_av.html
If anyone is interested I could make a brief translation. I know it's not the R-963R but I only know of one review of this model. IMHO this almost smells like a 'boycot' by most of the magazines, or maybe Sherwood doesn't have the marketing power...

 

[Sihan Goi]

Austin, I think you got Sherwood and Sherbourn mixed up. Sherbourn has an upcoming prepro based on a similar setup as the Outlaw 950, and they get it from Eastech. Its not entirely cloned, if you'd believe Ron Fone. Sherwood, AFAIK, makes their own stuff. I'm not sure if they're related to Marantz, which last I heard was under Philips, but then merged with Denon IIRC.

As for $699 prepros, I guess there isn't much of a demand. At that price point, people will probably be better off with receivers, since you'd still have to pair it up with a power amp, which takes the price up to the high-end and flagship receiver range, which might end up outperforming the prepro anyway.