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In Reply to: RE: Lot of questions about what makes the Sherwood S5000 special as opposed to other integrated amps. posted by Michael Samra on November 21, 2014 at 19:33:03
Is there a modern equivalent to the Sherwood S-5000?Something with a great phono stage, tube rectified, tube output, tube preamp section, moderate (20 to 45 wpc) power, great iron, and most importantly - reasonably priced?????
If so, I am not aware of it.
I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes, until the main course.......Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
Edits: 11/23/14 11/23/14Follow Ups:
I haven't found one on the commercial market with a phono stage and UL transformers that sounds that good after a rebuild and upgrade.Did you try the S-5000 next to the Jolida the 502? I think you said you were going to.
"
Yeah we compared the Jolida 502(b) with the Sherwood S-5000 and it wasn't much of a contest. The Sherwood smoked the much more powerful Jolida in every meaningful way. We gave his 502 a good warm up and after 5 minutes he begged "no mas", and we spent the next 2 hours listening to the Sherwood. As soon as my buddy's Jolida is sold he will be hunting some vintage gear for Mikey to do his thing to.
It didn't surprise me that the Samra built Sherwood was more detailed while maintaining a completely liquid sonic signature; After all the Sherwood was running smooth plate Telefunkens, Amprex Bugle Boy 7189's, and FT2 ROOSKY Teflon coupling caps, while the Jolida had Sovtek 6550's and JJ signal tubes. The Jolida actually sounded grainy and solid state-ish in comparison. Now, if the Jolida had reissued Gold Lion KT 88's and Telefunkens it may have faired better.......Or not.
The real surprise to us was the fact that the Sherwood S-5000 sounded so much gutsier and bigger - It had what I call "Rocket Sauce". The Samra/McShane power supply and superior ultra linear transformers is my best guess as to why the S-5000 sounded bigger.
Music selections were;
1) The Cranberries (which must have been recorded out of phase because when I pulled out the invert phase button everything snapped into focus)
2) The Blue Rider Trio - Preachin The Blues.
3) Rush - Moving Pictures.
Next, we will be stepping up in class to compare a Cary SLI 88. It seems that news has leaked to another buddy that owns the Cary and he wants to see how his "trophy" gear compares. The Cary is only 4 or 5 months old - come git your whoopin boy!
This little mutha FFF'n Sherwood just keeps getting better! It has nearly 100 hours on it and it's half again better than it was when I got it back from Mike.
I have included a actual pic of the next challenger. I'm planning on doing a video of that. I have discussed this with Mikey and he laughed because it should more of the same.......
I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes, until the main course.......Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
I'm curious to find out what the Cary does next to your Sherwood.I like the tube complement in the Cary you are showing Stace but I will just bet there is a boat of capacitance coming off the 5U4s if I had to guess which is not good.It should be interesting tho.
"
Back in the day, Ned Carlson of Triode Electronics did an A/B with one of my Sherwoods versus a Mac 225 that was in the shop. Guess which one sounded better?
Oooh, that Mac 225 has a hell of a reputation with Mike, Don, and Jim McShane.
I have never heard a MC 225, but I have owned several 7591 based amps and they all sounded a bit chimey and thin when compared directly with 6L6, 7189, and EL34 amps - YMMV......
Having said that,I believe you.
My Sherwood will be my son's someday when I am but a memory.
I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes, until the main course.......Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
Well, to be fair, it's unknown to me what the condition of the 225 really was, and the S-5000 had just been given all fresh 'lytic caps. Really a piss-poor way to compare amps, but the fact that the mac didn't just instantly win is very interesting.
The insistence on tube rectification is (IMO/IME) misplaced. High PIV Schottky diodes are every bit as quiet as vacuum diodes. However, I know of no product from a profit oriented maker that uses them. Objecting to NOISY 1N4007s is quite legitimate.
What constitutes "reasonably priced"? Good magnetics are costly.
Eli D.
I believe the Sherwood S-5000 sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of $180 in 1959. Adjusted for inflation that would be around $1450 today.
I would pay double that for a modern equivalent.
I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes, until the main course.......Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
With an approx. $3000 budget, you should be able to DIY something really NICE and have some "scratch" left, at the end.
To date, the capability of the "El Cheapo" style, 2 stage, topology for "integrated" amps has been limited only by "iron" quality. Several winders are in business who offer high quality products. 7591 O/P tubes will yield the power you want. Is an "El Cheapo Grande" in your future?
For the phono section, the tweaked RCA setup is but 1 of a number of good options. There is much to be said in favor of a completely separate phono preamp, including dedicated PSU and being turned off, when listening to line level sources. However, "everything" in 1 "box" is certainly doable.
Eli D.
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