46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
An Inexpensive Surprise - Sherwood RX-4109
I'm an old audiophile, dating back to when "MacIntosh" was not the name of a computer. It was the company name of the most prestigious of hi-fi components. What dismays me is that today's manufacturers of audio equipment (some of them well known brands) rely on the ignorance of the consumer when it comes to audio specifications; and they can get away with it because there...
poorly designed and made, but pumps out pretty good sound
I bought the Sherwood RX-4109 back in Dec 2007 to replace a 25 year old receiver. The Sherwood died some 22 days later (would not power up). The replacement failed yesterday (no sound). I have given up on Sherwood.
To its credit, I thought the receiver generated fairly good sound. But its overall design and user interface were clunky, and the FM tuner...
This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
I'm an old audiophile, dating back to when "MacIntosh" was not the name of a computer. It was the company name of the most prestigious of hi-fi components. What dismays me is that today's manufacturers of audio equipment (some of them well known brands) rely on the ignorance of the consumer when it comes to audio specifications; and they can get away with it because there no longer seems to be any standards for those specifications. For example, a manufacturer can claim that an inexpensive 15 watt amplifier puts out 500 watts, and that amplifier actually can accomplish that feat at "peak" output at one frequency with very high distortion. Match that amplifier up with very efficient speakers; and voila...you have harmonic cacophony now called a "boom box."
Enough of that....I was looking for an inexpensive, basic, but decent stereo receiver for one large room. Surround sound annoys me. (When you attend a live orchestral concert, the orchestra is in front of you.) After comparing many (some for almost twice the price), I decided on this Sherwood for less than $100. I was apprehensive that its low price might reflect its quality. I was wrong. It is solidly built. I am running acoustic suspension sealed cabinet speakers (no need for a separate bass woofer) that require 20 very clean watts each just to get any response out of them. This amplifier, turned up one third, drives them more than adequately with no discernable distortion...almost as good as my old top-of the line Marantz. What's more you can use this as a base amp by pressing a button on the front ("TON DIRECT"...somewhat cryptic) and disabling the tone controls so that the amp runs flat, allowing for a separate equalizer. (The manual isn't very good about explaining this. In fact, the manual isn't very good about explaining anything.)
Another thing...with 8 ohm speakers, this amp doesn't even get warm, so you can pile stuff on top of it (with a little space in between) without worry.
The FM tuner is fine enough. The AM tuner (at least at my location) is above average, which is unusual in even $400 receivers.
This receiver has a phono input for those who still listen to the pops, the static, and the warp distortion of vinyl. All the other inputs are at the same impedance, so you can hook up anything else to any input regardless of its label, i.e. your dvd player can be plugged into the "tape" input. Unfortunately, if you do so, "TAPE" will be displayed on the front fluorescent panel when you play your dvd.
Don't expect a lot of toots and whistles; but you can expect a good solid product with performance factor that far exceeds its modest cost.
Would I recommend this receiver to a friend? ...yes and no. Most of my friends do not know a thing about audio and believe everything they read...which doesn't say much about me and my choice of friends.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
UPDATE JUNE 2009. What can I say, this unit runs almost continuously in the summer, I turn it off in the winter. It's running under a 6 ohm load which is really pushing it. I have 3 pairs of outdoor speakers with separate impedence matching volume controls, that sort of help with the impedence, and this thing has held up really well. If I crank the volume too high (like really loud) due to the low impedence it will go into protection, but that's not the fault of the unit, it's rated at 8 ohms.
So, in all this has been a great purchase.
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I have what appears to be the BESTBUY version of this receiver, the Insignia NS-R2000. It is identical in all respects, except for the name, and the remote control even works with the Sherwood. So, with that in mind, I replaced a Sherwood 4105 with this unit. I have 3 pairs of speakers connected to impedence matching transformer volume controls. 2 pair are 4 ohms and 1 pair is 8 ohms. The transformers are supposed to present an 8+ ohm impedence to the receiver.
With the 4105 the receiver would go into protection if I put the volume control on -50. I have now run the same speaker configuration with the 4109 for 18 hours and it has worked fine.
In most other respects, this is very similar to the 4105. Exceptions are that the 4109 has much better speaker binding posts and the remote control has bass and treble controls. The 4105 has satisfactory spring loaded speaker connectors and lacks the tone controls on the remote. The 4109 also has a Phono input.
I would say that all of the comments on the 4105 apply to this unit as well. I seems underpowered for a 100w/channel amp. But I am driving outdoor speakers and I don't want them to get very loud anyway.
For the money, this is an extremely good value. I am not sure how they do it. I have paid more money for earbud headphones. This unit was $70 after all the spiffs.
Oddly, this unit does not show up on the Sherwood website, either as a current or discontinued model.
It should be noted that all of the receivers I have looked at in this price range only support a minimum total load of 8 ohms.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
This receiver is one of the bangs for the buck for any hi-fi enthusiast. For such a low price, you can get sound quality that rivals most home theater systems that cost much more money. Less is definitely more in this case. The discrete amplification really helped improve the sound quality of well mastered music media, and the radio signals are decent on stations that do not use lots of compression. The option to add 2 pairs of speakers is a plus so that you can use it in a smaller room or a larger room and the sound still feels like it surrounds you with the dynamics fully intact. The phono input is a must for me as I have a huge vintage vinyl collection, so that was a selling point for me. Since the sound quality and the build quality are both excellent, I don't end up having to upgrade to anything else.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
I have had my RX 4109 for two days now and I have to say that I am very very impressed with everything Sherwood makes! I grew up with one as a kid in the late 60's to late 70's and ours was a stellar performer. Now I have an 8600 from 1966 and a new RX 4109. I had to get a new receiver because my vintage Marantz kept going on the fritz and since i have never had a single problem with any other Sherwood receivers I have owned I started some research. I read all the reviews I could and for what I do this is the ticket! it is simple but powerful enough to drive My Acoustic Research bookshelf speakers. The sound is very clean and uncolored. At first I thought well the Marantz has a warmer sound but then I realized that is what tone controls are for. you can get this just as warm but you can also have it flat as can be. Right on Sherwood!
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I bought the Sherwood RX-4109 back in Dec 2007 to replace a 25 year old receiver. The Sherwood died some 22 days later (would not power up). The replacement failed yesterday (no sound). I have given up on Sherwood.
To its credit, I thought the receiver generated fairly good sound. But its overall design and user interface were clunky, and the FM tuner abysmal.
Bottom line: with two failed units within 18 months I cannot recommend the Sherwood despite its very attractive price.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
I needed a receiver with a phono/turntable input. This works well with my Sony turntable for digitizing my vinyl records. A lot of product for the money. It was delivered promply.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
In my research, this appeared to be a somewhat upgraded cousin of the more common Sherwood RX1405. Their costs are generally about the same, and they're both 100W 2 speaker set amps, but this one appears to be easier to use, and very importantly, and rarely amomg modern budget recievers, includes phono ports and phono grounding. I got this in case I got a turntable without a preamp, and I ultimately did after being disappointed with the cheaper preamp loaded turntables. It has 4 audio inputs, labled tape, aux, cd and phono, so you can hook a few things into it (and outside of the phone ports, it's not picky about what's plugged into a given port, all that matters is what mode is displayed on its front display) and also has a pair of output jacks. Example, I have a turntable into the phono, cd player into the cd, and my PC into the aux ports, and might run my a tv into the tape jack. It comes with a remote that's well layed out (including bass/treble functions) and AM&FM antennas that do an ok job; its reception is kind of all-or-nothing. The sound is pretty nice (I have it hooked up to a set of Sony SS-B3000 Bookshelf Speakers with 8" Woofer (Pair) that at its prefered load of 8 ohms compliment it well) and its got enough oomph to really fill an 11x11' room at about 30% volume.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
I have connected to a pair of Sony F6000 8ohms 200 watts(great) and subwoofer w3000 8ohms 200 watts(great) playing Sony SCD-CE595(OK) in my great room open to breatfast area and kitchen. It puts out so much power that over 40% volume is too loud but the sound is excellent and I'm glad I bought this product at such a great price.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
The Sherwood 4109 receiver is not for the 'Home Theater', 'Audiophile' (although I consider myself one...) or 'Multi-channel' crowd. It is designed for those who want a good stereo receiver, for basic/moderate use, at a very low price. I can vouch for the performance of these units - I own three of them - all used for 'second/bedroom/office' systems. With one or two sets of small floor-standing or bookshelf speakers (only 6 - 8 ohms, no 4 ohm), this unit performs very well. Frequency response can be tailored to suit your speakers and taste - via tone controls. Good number of input options - decent remote - sleep timer, and a few other goodies... Overall, I can't say anything bad about these receivers. Compare them to my 'main' system, which cost me more than a really nice used Lexus...no...of course not..but for the money you can't buy a better budget stereo receiver. I have recommended, or given, several of these to friends, with no reports of any problems. Just use them as they are intended, and they will be just fine. A 'great buy' for the right application, in my opinion.
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This review is from: Sherwood RX4109 2-Channel 100 Watts Stereo Receiver (Black) (Electronics)
Got this item a few days ago. Have it hooked up to my t.v. and Zune dock. This is my first componet system. Owned alot of mini systems that looked fancy but didnt perform great. Have this hooked up to some Sony 3way bookshelf speakers I got from Amazon for like 100 buks. The sound is great for movies which is mostly what I use it for. Ii do most of my music lisning at work on headphones. Great starter amp. Only complaint is that it dosent have a sub output. Planning on getting a pair of 15'' 3way speakers for my system because I can tell this is a good amp.
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