Price

Quality..??

The unit came defective. Aux./tv not working..cannot judge it .. taking it for repairs...the so called quality control certificate signed by a "technician" Mr. Hogg means nothing...will send another review once repaired. Got it thru Ubid took them forever to deliver..told me that they did not have it in stock. How can you auction an item you do not have????when it finally arrived.....disappointment.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Sony, Carver

quality, price, features

no s-video

Another lucky UBid buyer ($247). What a steal and what a great receiver. Somewhere down the road I might miss an s-video plug, but other than that useful features without the garbage. Great sound for music or movies. Couldn't be more pleased (I even like the remote). Don't miss these on the UBid if they are still available.

Similar Products Used:

Sony

excellent overall sound quality for music and movies

poor manual, remote takes getting use to, a little bass shy

I purchased this off ubid.com for $226. All I can say is this is an absolute steal! From what I understand this reciever was built around 1997/98, therefore it is lacking things like DTS, s-video switching and six channel inputs. But, it has the most important thing of all, Dolby Digital AC-3! In terms of build and sound quality it is on par with receivers costing 3-4 times as much as I paid. This is a very musical reciever with excellent mids and highs. Bass is definitely there but not as prominent as in other lower priced recievers which may lead people to think this reciever is not very powerful. How wrong they are! Switching over to movies you will have no problem running the reciever full range in small to medium listening rooms.
Whether in Dolby Digital or Pro-logic the sound was smooth and refined, yet punchy and dynamic. The motorola DSP chip in the reciever does a great job of decoding and steering the signal to the appropriate speakers. Sherwood's Newcastle line was designed to compete with other manufacturers' higher end lines and for the price Sherwood does an admirable job. Go get yours now!

Eosone RSF-400 towers
AR 4c center channel
Klipsch 1.1 rears
Infinity BU-150 sub

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo

Low price, great sound, proper speaker terminals for all channels (not the naff spring clip terminals you get on some cheaper amps)

No DTS or 6 channel input.

I bought my unit second hand off a colleague for the bargain price of £120. Not bad, especially since this unit was selling for £400 over here in the UK a couple of years ago.

The only weak points about this unit is the lack of onboard DTS decoding, and the lack of a 6 channel input means you cannot use a DVD player with onboard decoding for the job either. However, since over here in the UK DVD disks with a DTS soundtrack are almost non-existent, this minor ommission really doesn't bother me too much. There are a few other little quirks as well (such as the fact that the TV input and the front AV input cannot be connected at the same time) but this isn't really a problem.

Then we come to the good points on the unit. Firstly it is cheap, making Dolby Digital 5.1 available to the masses. Secondly, it works well as a straight stereo amp as well as for AC-3. Many of the Dolby Digital amps sound pretty awful when playing music through them, but this Sherwood does the job well. It is a little bass-lite in stereo mode when you don't have a subwoofer connected (it is fine with a sub), but this is me just being really picky. And finally, it does the job of Dolby Digital sound brilliantly. Of course there are better products on the market, but they generally cost at least double (or triple) the cost of this Sherwood R925.

Job well done Sherwood! And thankyou to the people who have posted reviews here, as I probably wouldn't have bought the unit without your words of praise.

Build quality first first rate. Sound is silky transparent with depth and excellent soundstage. Sufficient power all around.

No dts and S-Video

I could not believe the difference this receiver has made in the way my speakers sound and perform. Previously had used mass market JVC's and a Sherwood 6030. No more! I used quality interconnects and the digital inputs make all the difference in the sound quality. Using Infinities all around except for AR 12" Sub highly rated in Stereophile Guide to Home Theatre. Infinity RS2000.4 in front, (2) RS 2000.2 in series for center (full range and better timber matching) and RS 2000.1 for rear. I purchased all Infinties from Damark for Ridiculously low prices. Using Philips DVD 825 for AC3 and so far no problems. I purchased the receiver from U-bid for $267 plus shipping and I must say it was the best move I ever made. The receiver competes with anything out there if you can live without DTS and S-Video.

Similar Products Used:

Higher end JVC's and Sherwood 6030.

It retains individual settings for each input. Universal Remote.

No 4 speaker stereo mode, could be a little more user friendly. Poorly labeled remote.

Overall I'm very pleased with this purchase. Like alot of the other reviewers I got it on Ubid for around $300 including the shipping. I've noticed there are some features that it lacks. Such as no on screen display, no S-Video, there is no 4 speaker stereo mode, no A/B speaker switch(perhaps this is old fashioned). I do realize that for the price I paid you can't have everything

Aside from Pro-Logic and AC-3, It has several surround modes that add delays and echo's. These modes use your front and rears, but I don't care for any of them. I thought 4 speaker stereo would have made perfect sense instead of one of these modes.

There was a learning curve with the unit. For example configuring the Center and Sub-woofer modes wasn't straight forward. My wife had the CD player selected, a friend bumped some button while turning it off, this disabled the normal input, hence no sound. She and the friend could not figure out how to fix it. I thought this was amusing, she didn't. Once you learn how it works, no problem.

This is nit picky but the remote could use better labeling of the multi-function buttons. For example when operating the TV the Previous channel button is unlabeled, I think you hit the button labeled Delay. In spite of this I still like the remote. Of all the remotes I've recieved with a device(2 VCR's, a TV, and a stereo) this is the best I've seen.

I like how it retains the individual surround settings for each input device.

I currently have a pair of old sony's for main speakers and no sub. When listening to CD's they don't give out much bass. But when listening to DVD this Unit makes them thump. Perhaps this is just a benifit of Dolby Digital. I just bought some JBL's on-line and can't wait 'til they arive.

Similar Products Used:

Sony Stereo reciever

Price, sound quality, build quality

Lack of DTS, S-video inputs and 6.1 upgrade capability.

WOW!!! I bought it for $247 at UBID. For the casual listener in Farmingville, the receiver is NOT defective. You need to turn off the front A/V inputs (the red light on the front is now lit). Turn the the Aux/TV setting and push the button next to the red light until the light goes off. The TV will now work. The front A/V inputs and the TV input are shared. Only one works at a time. You're low rating is unfair. Particularly if you are downgrading because UBID was behind. Mine came in three days.

Wait until you hear this receiver. It sounds as good as any receiver I've heard at 3 or 4 times the price. I have been listening to music more than movies, but both are stunning. It has plenty of inputs and ample, clean power. I am driving KEF front speakers, Energy center, Energy surrounds and and Energy ES12 subwoofer in a 15 by 25 room with 10 foot ceilings and the sound is amazing. Excellent imaging and sound stage. The Pro Logic processing is as good as I've heard. My DVD is on its way by UPS, so I haven't heard the receiver's Dolby Digital yet. If it's as good as the Pro Logic, I will be a very happy listener. Lack of DTS (and lack of upgradeability)and S-video may be a negative in the future, but for this price, who cares? Enjoy!!!

Similar Products Used:

Denon 1700
Technics SA-AX710

Good Power, Very Affordable, Excellent Remote

For the price, none. Otherwise I would have liked S-video switching

I am really pleased with this product. I got it from UBID, among several things that I have bought there, for only $267. This seems to be a very good price because this unit is well built. I opened it next to my HK AVR 35 and can tell you that the amplifier stage is much more robust and has large heatsinks - I know both are by Inkel, but the Newcastle seems to have a better build to it.

In addition, the amp has very good power while driving my Infinity RS5 fronts and BIC rears, with the CC3 center. Everything is clear and dynamic. Dolby digital is impressive and comparable to anything I have heard or owned.
While I actually prefer the Denon, I use this reciever far more because it is in my family room and gets daily use. By the way it improved drastically with a week of burn in time. The soundstage is good, features decent but it does lack s video connections.

I recommend this receiver to anyone if they can get it for $400 or less. I am not a fan of UBID however because they overcharge regularly for shipping.

Similar Products Used:

Entry Level Sony, Harman Kardon AVR 20ii, Harman Kardon AVR35 with DD, Denon 3300

Remote Control. Able to add power amps for main, rear, or sub speakers and use as a preamp. Easy to use.

No A/B switch. DSP is worthless.

It was time to upgrade from stereo to HT. I had decided on a Sony DE845 or Sony DE945 but changed my mind after reading reviews on this site and I decided to get a Yamaha HTR 5250. Then someone recomended the Sherwood R925 and the reviews here were very good. I was able to get one on ubid.com. I have always wanted audiophile quality but do not have the money for it. I have friends who have very expensive preamps that cost over a thousand dollars that are triamped using very expensive amps going to very expensive speakers, subs, rears, etc. using very expensive cables, etc. I mention this only so the reader will know that I know what a good audiophile system sounds like. The sound from this receiver is very musical and dynamic that has a lot of power and punch especially when playing DVD's with Dolby Digital. One of the things I really like about this receiver is that it can be used as a preamp. I was able to connect a separate amp I have to drive the main speakers, or connect another amp to drive the rears, or even another amp to drive subwoofers or the center channel. I was even able to connect a preamp I have and use the receiver as a power amp to drive all of my speakers. The preamp section is VERY clean and when turned up to full volume I could hear no hiss at all when my ear was up next to the speaker. I would rate the preamp as audiophile quality. I am not able to detect any distortion even when playing at high volume however I never turn the volume up all the way because that will probably drive the amp into clipping and then you will get a lot of distortion and will damage your speakers. The amp section has plenty of power but I think the 100 watt rating is a little low. It should probably be rated at 75 or 80 watts but for my home this is more than adequate and if I need more power I can add additional amps.
This is one of the finest receivers I have ever heard. I have speakers that I made myself and have connected to the receiver a Kenwood M1 power amp to drive a pair of ACI 12" subs.
This receiver is not made any more and I was very lucky to have gotten one at ubid.com for under $200. If you can find one for sale I would highly recommend it. This is a MUCH better receiver than the Sony's, Denon's, HK's, etc.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Sony, Yamaha, Sansui.

Build, Quality, Low THD. Excellent Sounding and Price.

Not manufactured anymore and not upgradeable to dts for future expansion.

I purchased this unit from Ubid.com and love it! Besides getting this quality sounding product at an affordable price I realized that you can't always buy products because of their brand names. Yes I must admit that when i was shopping for a new dolby digital receiver I never considered the Sherwood Newcastle line or anything made by Sherwood. But when I read the reviews on audioreview.com and did my own extensive research I suddenly took into consideration the magnificant product by Sherwood. Besides being manufactured in England Sherwood uses top quality parts to build this receiver. The 24bit motorola processor is amazing. The 5:1 100x5 power is clean and not to high pitched giving an all around listening satisfaction. This pertains muscially. As for Digitally for movies I must say that the clarity, depth and over all clean sound is truly amazing! You must hear it to believe it! This new line from Sherwood called Newcastle is a definite contender for the larger known named brands. With the list price of $1000 when it came out for a sherwood would be ludicrous you have to change your thoughts on the name sherwood and focus on Newcastle. Newcastle is a truly high end receiver. You could pay up to 700.00 for this receiver today, and I'm not lying. Prior to this purchase I called around some audio hi-fi stores and the most expensive price I got was $700.00+ tax in WI. I got this beauty for $259+34 shipping(shipping on ubid is a ripp off!)totaling less than $300.00. I spoke with numerous high end audio retailers and all of them had come to a very obvious conclusion:Newcastle is totally high end and this line up has something going on.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer dolby digital reciever