Don Lindich’s Sound Advice Blog

Sherwood Newcastle R-972 972 Home Theater Receiver

Most consumers think of Onkyo, Denon, Pioneer, Sony and a few other household names when they are looking for a receiver.  There are some very compelling choices available from other brands, and one of the most beautiful, most appealing receives I have ever seen is the soon-to-be-released  Sherwood Newcastle R-972.

Sherwood and Sherwood Newcastle products are the in-house brand of Inkel, a Korean OEM that manufactures receivers and other electronics for many well-known brands (including some named above.) Sherwood is the standard consumer brand, sold through mass-market outlets and mail order.  Sherwood Newcastle is the high-end brand and is sold exclusively through custom installers and a very few direct sales companies, such as Axiom Audio.  Given its far-reaching technology there have been a lot of starts and stops to its release, but word from Sherwood Newcastle and Axiom Audio is that consumers should be able to start purchasing them this month.

The Sherwood Newcastle R-972 is top of the line, and is loaded with high end features as warranted by its $1,799 MSRP.  Some of these features are:

• Trinnov Room Optimizer, normally found in $13,000 processors
• HDMI upscaling to 1080p through HQV Reon processor
• Advanced Graphical User Interface for easy, automatic set-up
• 4 HDMI inputs
• Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding, perfect for Blu-ray
• 130 watts over 7 channels, measured at 1kHz @.05% distortion

This is just a start.  The amplifier rating looks a mite misleading given the distortion rating, but the R-972 will have ample power to drive most any speaker system it is paired with.

What really is the icing on the R-972 cake is its beauty and its exclusivity.  I saw the R-972 at the Consumer Electronics Show last year and it is easily one of the most beautiful, most solidly-constructed receivers you will ever find.  The brushed metal front panel is highlighted with piano black end caps that make it look a whole lot more expensive than it is. 

This rarity comes at a price, besides the high starting price.  Discounts may be hard to come by, especially at introductioon, because of the R-972′s limited distribution network, and there is a price to pay in feature set, as well.  Sherwood Newcastle is a smaller player in the home theater biz and as such their products don’t usually get replaced and upgraded every year.  Comparably-priced competitors from better-known brands will have more features such as dedicated iPod interfaces and both Sirius and XM satellite radio compatibility.  Still, if you want a beautifully made, beautiful sounding receiver to be the centerpiece of your home theater and you’d like something a bit different, the Sherwood Newcastle R-972 belongs on your shopping list.

Stop back tomorrow for the Product of the Day!