Sherwood RX4508 200W AM/FM Stereo Receiver with Bluetooth, Black

I'm going to try mightily to be brief. I'm a baby-boom gen product, grew up with phono and amps/pre-amps, receivers....I was a music fan as a teen, a card-carrying (AES) sound engineer and rock & roll biz person in the 80's mostly. I like music.So I've owned Macintosh and Dynaco and NAD mostly, good but easy-to-use-at-home stuff. I did some radio stuff too, so I had a reel-to-reel (needing an input), cassette in, phono in, and VCR/Beta inputs. Context.Here in the 21st century and with a dying receiver which has been ok for 15 years or so (Sony, receiver, 100W x2, with inputs and speaker options, plus phono input and tape). Something blew in the Sony. OK, a good life. What's out there now for someone like me, wants to hear the sound (driving good speakers) and have inputs, and radio is nice too. But a generational upgrade too, maybe, like something with Bluetooth. And voila.This thing is driving two sets of big speakers (Advent and Dynaco), and to my aged ears, does just fine, even at 30 - 30K Hz. Gets as loud as me or my neighbors need. As I think I've read in reviews, the volume knob is "stiff", needing a lot of turn for the buck, but no big deal, and may protect ears or speakers. The big evolution for me is the addition of the remote and subtraction of dials on the unit itself. The remote is THE interface for things formerly done by dials, like speaker balance, and tone. On the receiver there's a button to choose mode and a few for radio (I think), but the idea is to use the remote for most/all things. I use a mixer to input a few tape machines into "auxiliary". Works fine. It all works fine. And for the price it's probably pretty amazing when I think about it, compared with the 70's or 80's. (my music prime)Several minor pluses/minuses for me, but I suppose YMMV -Minus is the knob stiffness and absence of on-unit controls. Wish-list would be for some more inputs, more balance/tone/etc. control knobs, and better/easier control of speakers (now dependent on remote for adding/subtracting speakers). Again, I'm critiquing like a critic, but for this price it's pretty amazing that it does the things it does.Positives include a decent radio (in my urban environment) ... plus Bluetooth! It's very nice to finally be able to simply "beam" what I'm watching on my laptop on YouTube or some other stream, over to a set of big (I mean studio) speakers.Really a new door opening for me, upgrading from (decent) Macbook speakers to a set of studio monitors, via this receiver. Easy to pair the computer (could be a tablet or phone) to this receiver. Just choose the input, hoist up the volume, and it's really pretty decent for an Internet-fed sound stream.Short version: It works like the receivers of yore... handles "peripherals" from turntable to CD and an "auxiliary" (tape, etc.). Has the power, and can be slowly cranked up on the stiff magic dial. Mostly it's easy to do everything with the remote. Has Bluetooth built-in too. Specs (as a pro) are eh, but plenty good for 98% of users, including anyone with neighbors or old enough to remember receivers and televisions in every home!

IMHO, no doubt this is the best two channel amp you can buy for less than $200. So what is the basis of my humble opinion? Let’s start with what this Sherwood replaced: an early 1980s vintage NAD 3020 that finally “passed”. Balance of system: Technics SL D2, Shure M 97xE, Marantz CD 5004 and ELAC B6. I listen to music through this system at both low and high volume in my home office/man cave mostly when I am (as my daughter would say) “typing” and during those occasional moments when I have the chance to do some “chillin” (as my son would say). My mix: 40% vinyl 40% streaming music through iPhone, 20% CDs. I consider myself someone who likes music, listens to a lot of it, all types. Like wine, I prefer “good quality, good value” to “perfection at any price”.So what does this Sherwood sound like (to me)? Well, first, it sounds a bit more “open” and “dynamic” and at least as “full” and “clear” as the NAD; NAD was perhaps a bit “warmer”. Now perhaps you may think that is to be expected given the comparison to 35 year old hardware, but truthfully, (as you will see if you google that amp) the NAD was (and is) considered by audiophiles to be “one of the best of all time" "no frills, very good sounding”. And truthfully, that is the main thing you are buying this amp for – no frills great amplification.A few additional notes.On the input side, the Bluetooth is magic. Great (easy) pairing, great range, and most importantly, great sound. Way better sound (and way more convenient) than the previous iPhone line out (headphone jack) to aux input that I did with the NAD. The phono stage is (as others have noted here) subpar. I fixed that by adding an outboard phono stage (ART DJ Pre II – awesome sound). CDs are the basis of the “apples to apples” comparison that I used to characterize the sound relative to the NAD.On the “fit and finish” side: binding posts for speakers (banana plug option!) excellent. No switched outlet on the back: bummer relative to that phono preamp! As old school as the amplifier design is (kind of awesome to look in the case and see an amplifier stage that doesn’t use a single integrated circuit), the control is as digital as it gets – you will want to control this via the very functional but not very aesthetic remote (the “analogue” volume knob on the receiver itself has the least satisfying volume knob feel I have ever encountered anywhere). Overall – the brushed black metal case looks at home with my other black audio equipment, and no doubt will look at home with yours.

I replaced a 35 year old Concept Receiver with the Sherwood RX 4508 becuase I wanted to receive Bluetooth radio and have a digital tuner rather then keep trying to find the exact analog FM station. The sound is better than I imagined, sharp and clear. Mostly listen to Classical with some country inbetween. Set up was easy except for the antenna. The reason for only 4 stars is that the receiver does not come with a built in AM antenna and the exterior loop antenna provided looks terrible. The FM antenna is just a wire and the connection is very tight and does not provide good reception. I listen to KUSC and live about 60 miles from the transmitter. Had a old Terk antenna around the house and once I connected that both AM and FM became great. Having a remote makes operating the system very easy and was easy to program. My system is located near the floor so I no longer have to get on my knees to change stations. One anoying problem so far is that if you switch from bluetooth to FM and go back to bluetooth you loose you bluetooth connection and it must be re-established. This happens only if you use the remote and not the main console. Could just be me since I am not overly computer literate. What is amazing is the number of stations you can receive over bluetooth and you can select music from almost any album ever produced.