Review on Sherwood Rx4103 Remote Controlled Stereo Receiver by Kai Steinbach

I recently got my hands on one of these Sherwood radios. Marketing advertisements for this receiver have benefits such as "discrete amplifier" and "100 watts per channel". Such a description might lead one to believe that the sound quality might be comparable to classic vintage receivers from the 70's and early 80's. I've been fortunate enough to own (hoard, actually) a few vintage receivers from Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz, etc. Tonight I did a head-to-head comparison with the Pioneer SX-8, which has comparable published power output specifications of 100 watts per channel. I used very high quality raw materials and speakers including a high quality Denon moving coil cartridge and a pair of Dynaudio speakers. Before I get into the comparison results, I'd like to say that the Sherwood is a decent looking unit with a good display and consistent remote control volume, which has a logarithmic scale rather than the linear scale of some of the other cheaper receivers currently on the market. . This is a fairly heavy receiver for the price and appears to be well built. There is no phono input, which is good for my comparison, since I used a Project Phono Box S moving coil preamp on both receivers for comparison. The results of the comparison weren't too surprising given the relative cost of each receiver. Pioneer is quite an advanced design despite being manufactured in the early 80's. This is one of Pioneer's superb direct-connect Class A designs, delivering excellent sound quality to the receiver (compared to separate units). There's not much information on the Sherwood amp, but a quick look inside reveals a very basic Class AB overall design - not necessarily a bad thing. The bottom line is that you will be disappointed if you expect or are used to the clean, powerful and balanced sound usually associated with the finest vintage receivers. I would describe the sound as unmanageable, loose and sloppy. Low frequencies are muddy and high frequencies sound a bit washed out. My apologies for the adjectives as these aren't really technical terms to use in a science test, but again, this wasn't a science test. Verdict: Don't expect the performance that old-school receivers are capable of. Can be suitable as a first receiver or garage system. But with that you get tired of listening very quickly if you try to listen critically. As for the new stereo receivers, the Yamaha R-S500BL is much closer in performance to the great vintage receivers of the past. One final note: the remote has an obscure code for programming the universal remote. None of the universal remotes I have at home recognize the Sherwood remote. It's probably not a deal breaker unless you pick it up without the remote. I would not recommend this receiver as an entry level receiver unless sound quality is a top priority.