Sherwood S-7100A Receiver

Another amazing low wattage amp arrived this week, the Sherwood S-7100A receiver. This unit has a beautiful walnut veneer case. The unit is rated at 18 watts per channel and is quite highly regarded.

Under rated to the Pioneer's and Marantz of the same era but an absolute great sound receiver. The bass is full and the sound stage is spot on. I had this unit powering the Visonik Euro 7's and I am impressed.

I cleaned the pots and need to replace the bulbs.

The Classic Receivers site has a good write up on this unit as does Seventies Stereo.

Along with the Yamaha CR-400 I am really enjoying the low wattage receivers.

Single Ended Tube Amp

A little update on the Electrohome tube amp that I recently picked up, first off it is a Single Ended tube amp as opposed to a Push/Pull tube amp. There is a tone of debate on which sounds better and for the price I paid for my amp there is no debate.

The 6BQ5 tubes run around 5.7 watts per channel of pure Class A power, plenty of power for very efficient speakers at a normal to semi loud listening level.

I have run the gauntlet of speakers through this amp and only two pairs really shine and bring out the best in the audio signal and believe me this amp is extremely revealing, open and absolutely clean and clear, so much I hear things I never heard before.

So, which speakers sounded best with this amp?

Tannoy Oxford Gold, hands down winner....

There is something about the horn loaded tweeter that is spot on with this amp. The Oxford Golds are 93db efficient and the 10" woofer rounds out the solid bass perfectly. The tweeters are nearly time aligned with the woofer, so the sound is great. The highs sparkle, the mid range is spot on as if you are in a studio with the musicians and instruments right in front of you, it really is amazing to listen through these speakers. When listening to my audio sources through solid state equipment, the Tannoy's do not shine as well as they do with tubes.

Another great speaker to run with the tube amp is the Sound Dynamics 10S, once again a very efficient speaker at around 96db, the bass is much fuller with the Sound Dynamic but the overall sound is more like you are at an 1000 seat concert room.

The recessed horn loaded tweeter throws out a wider sound stage and is not recording studio precise as the Tannoy's. These speakers are time aligned due to the recess of the tweeter, smooth across the mid range and deep in the bass. Like I said these are like you are at the concert where as the Tannoy's you are in the studio.

I am absolutely  awe struck in what I am currently listening to and feel that I have reached a peak in performance and I will find it hard to top this set up.