Very complete feature set for the price
Written: Aug 21 '03 (Updated Aug 21 '03)
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Pros: Very complete feature set and build quality for the price
Cons: Spring clips for speaker connections, small remote, only one optical digital input
The Bottom Line: Overall, I'm happy with my purchase. I got a great deal, have a good sounding system, and have gained surround sound compatibility for my home viewing.
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| collin_ong's Full Review: Sherwood RD-6108 5.1 Channels Receiver |
I've been waiting and waiting for the right surround receiver with the right features and the right price before taking the plunge into a home theatre surround sound setup. I've been an audio/videophile since college, so I've listened to and discerned some pretty high end stuff over the years, but never got around to pulling the trigger on my own system, always waiting for technology, pricing, and time/financial priorities to line up to get a great system that I would be happy with forever. (yeah, like that ever happens to audio or videophiles)
So I finally decided that I'd take the plunge at the low end rather than the high end. Fry's Electronics had this Sherwood RD-6108 receiver on sale for $80, so I went to Circuit City and pricematched it (they had it for $180), so I got it for about $72. Not too bad of an entry price point. I decided that I could forgive alot at that price, but it turns out that I don't have to.
The receiver has a remarkably complete feature set for the price. The build quality is very heavy, with a heavy power transformer inside and heat sinks for the output transistors. The amp circuits use discrete output transistors, which are better than the integrated ones in many low-cost receivers. The amplification section support 5 channels (Front, Center, Right, Left Rear, Right Rear) at 100 Watts each when driving 8 ohm impedance speakers. (8 ohm is the standard for home speakers), but it also specs 125Wx5 into 6 ohms.
This isn't that useful because not many home speakers are rated at 6 ohms, but it does tell me that the Sherwood should have good current drive capability. Lower-impedance (smaller ohm rating) requires the amplifier to supply more current (more electrons) at the same voltage, so cheaper output circuits may fail to produce more power at lower impedance. As an analogy, your kitchen faucet and your garden hose are hooked up to the same water pressure in your home. When you turn on the sink full blast, the water rushes out pretty strong. That's cause the nozzle is relatively small. When you turn on the hose, the water rushes out, but at less speed than the faucet, because the hole is bigger. If you hooked up a fire hose to your system, it would only produce a trickle, cause you don't have enough water pressure to blast water out of the hose. To translate back to amplifiers and speakers, higher impedance speakers (8 ohm) would be like smaller water faucets; it's easier for the amp to drive it properly. Simply hooking up a bigger hose (lower-ohm speaker) doesn't mean you'll get more water out of it. The fact that the Sherwood does get more power out at 6 ohms is an indicator that its amp section is strong. (Either that or its all just spec tweaking for marketing.)
In terms of decoding, the unit supports Dolby Digital and DTS encoded soundtracks, so it should be compatible with most everything that you will find on a DVD movie. It also offers Dolby ProLogic II (movie, music, matrix, and custom) and ProLogic I for creating surround effects from two channel sources like audio CDs, broadcast TV, etc.
The unit has one 6-channel direct input for a external surround decoder of DVD-Audio player. There are also RCA jacks for CD, Tape In/Out, 1 Video with monitor loop, 1 video without look, and two composite video inputs with switching. There is another video+audio input on the front panel for quick hookups of a camcorder or the like. There is one optical digital input and two coaxial. This is enough for today's world where most systems use a DVD player for both video and audio, and VCR and audio cassettes are in severe decline. However, I wish it had more than one optical digital in, since both my DVD player and ReplayTV use that type of connection.
The receiver has a subwoofer pre-out to connect to a powered subwoofer and spring clips for the five speaker connections. This is one of the bad things about this unit because the spring clips are not that big. I was using 12 gauge, thicker wire and had a hard time getting the wire to insert into the spring clip hole. This precludes using 10 gauge or double runs of 12 gauge.
The unit also has an AM/FM tuner but I haven't used it much.
The front face is dressed attractively conservative in black with large round buttons and a substantial volume knob (plastic, motorized). It doesn't have on-TV setup displays, so you'll have to go by the front panel display, which is more than adequate and is dimmable and can be switched off. A big annoyance is that you have to cycle through all the surround and DSP modes by using one front panel or remote control button. If you pass up your intended setting, you have to go all the way through again. The receiver can generate pink noise test tones to help you set matching levels for all the channels.
The sound quality is surprisingly nice, especially for the price I paid. My previous receiver, a Yamaha model, has a very smooth and delicate sound for a receiver, espcially in the midrange, which is important for me, because I like live piano, jazz, and female vocals. The Sherwood, when used in stereo mode for music, also has a nice sound in the midrange, but not quite as smooth, full-bodied, or delicate. It is nice to listen to. This is much less important or noticeable when watching movies, when the receiver provides more than enough power to drive my Paradigm medium-size speakers to high levels.
The ability to separate the bass in the receiver also improves the performance of my 15" powered subwoofer. I was concerned that the amplifier specs were for the range of 40-20kHz (the generally accepted human hearing range is 20-20kHz) because I believe in full range sound and like alot of bass when I want it. But I realized that since the subwoofer signal was being sent separately and did not use the receiver's amp circuits, the situation should be ok and my listening tests bear this out. Most people's speakers and even many subwoofers don't provide noticeable response below 40 Hz.
The remote control is a different one that in pictures I've seen on the web. Its a very small unit with buttons to control the receiver itself, but not any other components. The buttons are small, with small labels, and is not lit in any way, but it does get the job done and enough specialty buttons are provided to control, adjust, and setup the unit from your listening position.
Overall, I'm happy with my purchase. i got a great deal, have a good sounding system, and have gained surround sound compatibility for my home viewing. Yes, many things could be better, but I'll save that for the next step.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 72
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Epinions.com ID:
collin_ong
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Member: Collin Ong
Location: Sacramento, California
Reviews written: 98
Trusted by: 47 members
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