Video Asylum

Posted by Justin on February 15, 2000 at 14:23:59:

In Reply to: Re: pre/pro and 5 channel amp recommendation posted by revjac on February 15, 2000 at 09:56:19:

The Sherwood has 2 coaxial and one optical input. That's not a problem for me, as a DVD player is my only digital source. The DACs in the Sherwood are quite good. Build and sound quality is great for the price; you'd have to spend $3000 to get noticably better performance. I compared the Sherwood to the $1700 Sony and the $1800 Acurus pre/pros. On DD/DTS/DPL, I honestly couldn't tell a difference between the three. However, on music, the Sherwood sounded much better than the Sony, which sounded processed in stereo mode. The Sherwood wasn't too far behind the Acurus for stereo, and considering the Acurus is about $1000 more (the Sherwood is sold for $800 delivered, but dealers won't discount the Acurus more than 15%), I thought the Sherwood was a much better deal. The remote is great (it's the standard remote among mid-fi pre/pros) and it and the pre/pro are easy to use and setup. Bones to pick: 1.) When you turn the display off and perform a function (e.g. raise the volume), the display turns itself on again. 2.) It doesn't automatically detect the signal it receives (e.g. automatically switches to DTS when you select DTS from the DVD's menu). But other than those two MINOR gripes, it's an absolute steal for $800. Honestly, the next step up is Classe', Proceed, Krell, Lexicon, Theta, or EAD. Good luck!