Sherwood RX-4105 Stereo Receiver
See it at Amazon.com for $83.99Average Customer Rating
(3.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(1 out of 5)NIGHTMARISH experience with this receiver
Please be forewarned before you purchase this receiver, which other reviewers praise so highly.
I could write a whole novella about how I arrived at a one-star rating for this product, but the upshot is as follows.
The receiver spontaneously stopped functioning after four months. This in itself is bad enough.
But then, the company's customer service people sent me to a repair shop two hours away (the closest authorized shop since there are none in Maine). My other option was to ship it back to Sherwood at my own expense.
When I got to the repair shop, I was informed that the shop no longer repairs Sherwood audio equipment under warranty. The only way they would repair the receiver was if I fronted the cash (fat chance as it would have cost $60 just for them to look at it--not a worthwhile investment in a $90 receiver.)
I called Sherwood from the repair shop. Unfortunately for me, SHERWOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE CLOSES FOR AN HOUR FOR LUNCH EVERY DAY. I repeat, there is NO ONE ANSWERING THEIR PHONES from 12 - 1 Pacific Time. I have never heard of such a thing in this day and age. According to the technician I finally talked to (when he came back), he is the only tech on duty and so when he's at lunch, no one answers the phone.
Calling Sherwood turned out to be a bust anyway as the repair shop did not have a valid contract with Sherwood for warranty repairs, despite the fact that Sherwood still has them listed as having a contract. The only solution Sherwood devised was that they would mail me a box for the receiver and then send UPS out to get it, and then they would fix it (presumably), and then send it back to me. So I'm out a receiever for a month and a half at least, not to mention the waste of time going to the repair shop.
But it really kills me that no one even answers the phone for an hour every day! What kind of mickey mouse operation are they running? I will never buy a product from Sherwood again and I highly recommend you avoid this company at all costs. Who cares if this is a relatively inexpensive receiver, it's not worth it. I wish I'd bought a Sony for twice the price, I'd have my stereo playing at this point and presumably would have been given competent customer service.
(5 out of 5)Good buy, nice amp
This Sherwood (noted brand years ago, now mysterious) might be a decent bargain for twice the money. It's stripped down by present standards -- two channels only, no phonograph input. It's dead quiet and extremely clean sounding. I can't hear any emphases or dead spots in the frequencies. The tuner is exceptionally good; I am surprised at the success I'm having with it in a poor reception area, with only the antennas that are supplied. Appearance and quality are fine: nice black steel case, solid buttons, one big old volume knob. It was all I needed, so I'm very pleased. Going to get another for a computer amp.
(4 out of 5)Most inexpensive receiver
If you want a straight forward stereo receiver costing the least amount of dollars, then Sherwood Rx-4105 receiver fits the bill pretty well.
It has AM/FM, and 30 station presets. External connection wise it supports Tape, VCR, CD, and TV. (no phono support)
Its construction is sturdy and heavy. Sound quality appears very clean sounding. FM reception is average. Weak stations need the use of a good antenna to pull in the signal.
(2 out of 5)No tape monitor feature
It has been 15 years since I last shopped for a stereo receiver, and back then there were certain features that all receivers came with, regardless of how basic or inexpensive the model was. Well, I took for granted that they all still came with these basic features, and I was wrong. I just purchased the Sherwood RX-4105, and it does not have the tape monitoring feature. It has tape input and output jacks, but it doesn't have the monitoring feature that lets you listen to the tape deck's output while you are recording. If you press the tape button, the receiver switches away from the input source you are trying to record from! The tape monitor function is also necessary for the use of an equalizer. It baffles me that they are still giving you tape in and out jacks, but don't give you the proper switching for monitoring. I guess they figured they could save a few pennies by leaving out this function, since the demand for tape decks has declined in recent years. Unfortunately, there are those of us who still like to use an EQ to customize the sound to our environment, even if we are no longer recording on tape. I have found it difficult to verify whether or not a receiver has this function, since the specs and features list usually never mentions it. If they have a good picture of the unit, you can look to see if there is a button that says "tape monitor." Just looking for tape in and out jacks will not help, because as I mentioned above, the RX-4105 has these jacks, but no monitor function. Then there are some models that have monitoring even though the switch only says "tape." The best way to know for sure is to try out the unit first, but this is not practical when shopping online. I have even gone so far as to go to the manufacturer's website and download the instruction manual. If the section on tape connections and recording doesn't mention "monitoring," it probably doesn't have it. Also, many models no longer have phono input, but this is easy to check just by looking at a good picture of the unit. The RX-4105 also lacks an auxillary AC jack on the back of the unit; not a big deal, but a consideration if you have an outlet strip already filled up by other components. Another thing I noted that is worth mentioning is that many newer models such as this one have volume control knobs that do not have any position indicators or scale markings on them; so be sure to turn down the volume before you turn off the unit, or you could be in for a surprise when you turn it back on again!
If you don't intend to use an EQ, and don't need phono input, the RX-4105 is probably a good inexpensive starter model. The sound seemed fine, and it had plenty of power for my application. The tuner did seem to have a weak sensitivity; some local FM stations came in with a lot of static.
In my research I have found the TEAC models RV-S2100 and AG-790, as well as Onkyo models TX-8011 and TX-8211 all have tape monitoring capabilities as well as phono input.
(4 out of 5)Sound Value
Sherwood was a manufacture of mid quality, tube type audio devices during my childhood- a long time ago. A typical two channel, tube type AM/FM stereo receiver made 30 RMS watts per channel and cost around $200. By those standards, today's Sherwood RX- 4103 making more than three times the power at half the cost is an outstanding value.
This is an attractive, cool running, although quite large and heavy, receiver. The display is functional and easy to read. The controls are well marked and easy to understand and use. The remote control buttons are readable by my ancient eyes and offer a number of desirable functions. My only complaint with the packaging of this unit is the size and weight. For some reason, Sherwood used a massive power supply transformer which requires a large enclosure and makes the unit heavy. Why didn't they employ a switching power supply and cut the size and weight by 2/3?
I purchased this receiver because I needed an amplifier for my bedroom, and I was unable to find a discrete amplifier at a reasonable price. The amplifier section in this receiver is excellent. The first thing that struck me was that it is quiet. With the volume at mid-high level, silence reigns between CD tracks. Further, the output is clean even at high levels. I have two amplifier related complaints. The bass tone control curve is not well designed. Increasing the bass causes the middle frequencies to become muddy. The speaker wire connectors are too small to accommodate #16 wire. This is a powerful amplifier, and it should have been given binding posts capable of accepting wire large enough to deliver the power to the speakers.
The tuner sections lack sensitivity, and the AM tuner has poor noise rejection in my experience. The lack of sensitivity will likely not be a problem for those living near the stations they want to tune.
The Sherwood RX- 4103 offers a lot of performance for the price. Yes, I wish it were smaller, had better tuners and binding posts for the speaker wires, but I don't think you can find a better stereo receiver within $75 of this one.