Nice Deal on a Sherwood Universal Player

Phil A · « **on:** 26 Oct 2010, 11:36 pm »

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/58-14470&CAWELAID=596170374

etcarroll · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Oct 2010, 01:58 am »

That's a nice price - but there's no 'hands on' reviews of the unit anywhere.

Phil A · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Oct 2010, 02:08 am »

Did not find tons either. Below is a link to the Sherwood page which has a link to the manual and a couple of reviews that can be translated. I did not try. If I had a need for another universal, I'd probably grab one.

http://www.sherwoodusa.com/prod_sd871.html

http://www.testseek.com/home_electronics/video/dvd-players/sherwood_sd-871-p-736004fd-f0a2-bdc3-70ea-2bcd10435287.html

Dan Driscoll · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Oct 2010, 05:19 pm »

The SD-871 is the big brother to the SD-860, which I have. The differences are in the video section; the 871 had HDMI and better video DACs.

The analog sections are identical; the sound quality is very good and they have the absolutely best audio configuration set-up I have ever seen. As much as I love the Oppo BDP-83SE that replaced it, I still miss the audio set-up capabilities of my SD-860. It makes the Oppo's set-up look brain-dead.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Oct 2010, 05:31 pm »

Dan,

Perhaps you can shed light on the Firewire audio out that the listing mentions. I can't find anything about this in the manual when I downloaded it...

etcarroll · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Oct 2010, 06:14 pm »

And it's bass management, could you set the xover, run L and R to a pre, and a cable direct to a powered sub from the Sherwood?

Not that it matters if you can't as I bought one yesterday and put my Samsung multi-player on ebay.

Dan Driscoll · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Oct 2010, 06:59 pm »

I can't comment on the Firewire connection, that is only on the 871.

Bass management can be set independently for each speaker pair, in 10Hz increments from 40-120 hertz. Distance can be set for each individual speaker in 1 foot increments, with no restrictions on what speakers need to be closer to or farther from the listening position. A powered sub-woofer can be driven directly from the player.

mjosef · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Oct 2010, 04:51 am »

I will have to revisit this unit over the weekend, been a while since I used it. At the time I got it I thought my even older Philips SACD 795SA changer sounded better. The 871 was a 2005 model I believe.

Follow up...
I powered it up and my original impression stood the test of time...it had a rough edge to it and and was not anywhere near the sound of the Philips, which in my system equals or even exceeds the stock EE DAC. But left it on repeat, all evening...several hours later I switched back to it and lo and behold it was sounding darn good...so cued up the same disc in both decks, and spent a good half hour switching back and forth...and darn if I could tell the difference. This is just with redbook cd format, will have to explore how it handles SACD and DVD-A.
I used the Pure Audio Analog mode which turns off all the video and digital out circuits(according to the manual). I did initially go into the set up menu and turn off HDMI, set the audio out to 'stereo', set all surround/sub speakers to 'none' etc.
I thought the output via the FL & FR sounded better than the '2CH' stereo out...supposed to be the same signal in stereo mode.

So this is a great bargain for a source.

mjosef · « **Reply #8 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 03:27 am »

I have had the Sherwood powered up and running for the past 24 hours, gotta say...its a steal at 99$. It runs pretty quiet, looks 'Hi-Endish', the front controls are not push in buttons, but push down (kinda like a mini-toggle switch)...disc loading times is on the long side, about 10-15 seconds...however its instant play on pressing play.
Lots of room inside, saw mostly(only) electrolytic caps on the audio board so that's a good place to initiate mods.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #9 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 03:54 am »

I see your using the teddy bear tweek....

mjosef · « **Reply #10 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 03:58 am »

Yeap, his butt is filled with those tiny stress balls, makes a good damper.

etcarroll · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 12:24 pm »

Quote from: mjosef on 31 Oct 2010, 03:58 am

Yeap, his butt is filled with those tiny stress balls, makes a good damper.

Well where's the thread on upgrading the teddy?

I ran a search on teddy *ss balls, but no hits.

Oh, and thanks for the pics of the innards, I bought a Samsung multi-disk player to upgrade/mod, but put it on ebay and bought the Sherwood.

Lyndon · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 12:54 pm »

Didi I miss something in the thread? What dac's are being used in the audio stream?

roscoeiii · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 02:13 pm »

mjosef,

What is the story on the Firewire mentioned in the Sherwood page describing the player? Can't make it out from the manual or the pics...

Phil A · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 02:46 pm »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 31 Oct 2010, 02:13 pm

mjosef,

What is the story on the Firewire mentioned in the Sherwood page describing the player? Can't make it out from the manual or the pics...

It is likely something for decoding of hi-rez audio in a compatible receiver much like the Marantz DV9600 I have in the secondary basement system. Page 41 of the Sherwood manual seems to imply that you can't pass converted DSD via HDMI. I have not looked at my Marantz manual in a bit (since I seldom use the basement system for audio) but I believe it says a similar thing. Here's a review of the Marantz which describes the firewire as well - http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=127#MarantzDV9600%20Universal%20DVD%20Player

Phil A · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 02:51 pm »

I remember at one point thinking about a firewire to HDMI converter but never got real serious about it since when the DV9600 was in the main system for a bit, I never had anything with HDMI audio. Here's a product I remember thinking about - http://library.creativecow.net/articles/zelin_bob/convergent_design.php

Phil A · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 02:58 pm »

I never looked at what the converter costs, I'll bet it is more than the sale price of the player though. Here is the co. website product listings:

http://www.convergent-design.com/Products/tabid/1565/Default.aspx

ted_b · « **Reply #17 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 03:15 pm »

Firewire connectors on universals have been around awhile, and represent a proprietary i-link hookup to receivers/processors with the same (for digital SACD signal paths; Denon used an ethernet cable and called it Denon Link). I've had a few in my universal player history. However, I seem to remember reading somewhere that Sherwood and a few others decided to drop the i-link a few years ago since it wasn't being adopted widely enough...and the pdf manual for this player certainly seems to support that (no mention, no spot for it on front or back panel, etc), as does the back panel pic from mjosef.

mjosef · « **Reply #18 on:** 31 Oct 2010, 07:31 pm »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 31 Oct 2010, 02:13 pm

mjosef,

What is the story on the Firewire mentioned in the Sherwood page describing the player? Can't make it out from the manual or the pics...

There is no Firewire connection on this unit. The manual also show an 'A/V Scart Output' that does not exist on the unit.

As for the DAC? no idea, forgot to look when I had the cover off.

shadowlight · « **Reply #19 on:** 2 Nov 2010, 02:51 pm »

Use AFC909 code which gives extra 15% off.