Awesome sound for the money. 5.1 Digital processing. Dimming front panel for night viewing. Lots of bang for the buck and sturdy construction.

Remote. No fan in the unit (heating up can be a problem) :( Oh well.

Bought it in December 2001. Great receiver for the limited in budget. Would loved to have bought a Denon, but couldn't afford the AVR-1802 at the time of purchase. Aside from the lack of DTS processing and S-Video inputs this a great A/V receiver with which to start the AudioPhile journey. The unit does get heated quite often (every day) but I have never had it overheat. This unit has been as reliable as I would expect a Denon to be. Very impressive effort by Sherwood. The remote sucks, but hey $119, come on. What the remote lacks I feel that the unit makes up for. With my limited experience with A/V equipment (2 years or so) I don't know if the following statement has validity or not. The unit makes a very annoying sound (pop) when switching audio formats and layers on DVDs. I am only running 4 speakers with the 5.1 split to them foregoing the Center and Sub channels. Like I said before limited budget. Here's the setup Fronts: JBL HLS-620 Rears: JBL N-26 I find that this unit has no trouble pushing these speakers, without distortion in almost all cases, to the units volume limit. Overall a great unit. Not my first choice for a receiver, but by far destroys all receivers in this price range. Have my eyes set on the Denon AVR-1803, hopefully it won't be long before I can upgrade and finish up the speakers. I highly recommend this receiver or one of the other Sherwood line to anyone who wants to get a receiver and doesn't have enough cash to get their dream receiver. Far exceeded my expectations of any $120 receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Some old Sony 2 channel receiver. Sony pro-logic receiver.

Easy to connect and set up. Optical and coax digital inputs for Dolby digital sources.

Cannot process DTS or PCM digital audio data. No S-VHS connections.

Great product at this price. Great audio quality in Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby 5.1, and stereo modes. They say you get what you pay for; in this case I''d argue you get just a little more. This receiver is excellent for a den or other secondary application. If you are a true home theater enthusiast, you''ll definitely want to consider another receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 2802 and Sony STR-DE545.

discrete outputs,yamaha decoder,stays pretty cool

a little weak on amplifier,although you can crank it without
to much distortion

Well as far as the amp section goes,i think this is a trade
off with the previous model i owned,the sony got louder at
lower volumes but would distort past halfways. on stereo
sound i have it hooked to my dvd player through coax. the
sound is really good,on the sony you had to adjust the eq
to get it to sound decent.Now what i mostly use it for
which is home theater,even without dts this still kicks butt.I havent heard dts so i dont know if its better or not.
i think the yamaha digital decoder that this uses is way better then the one that sony uses.you can especially hear
detail that you couldnt hear with the sony.so go out and
buy this,and as far as inputs go,i plug all my stuff directly into the tv for better image quality.

Similar Products Used:

sony str-de635

musicality, clarity, (relative) ease of use

tuner section not the best in the world, NOT DTS-capable (as it declares on face and in manual)

There is no question the olde audio cliche about one getting what one pays for is generally true - 20-plus years of audio addiction has proven that to me time and again.
But then again, sometimes you run into a product like the 6090 A/V receiver. It is that rare avian, a real bargain. For less than $200, you get more than enough power for most listening needs and environments (65 per in 5.1 mode), crystalline Dolby Digital decoding, a very respectable pre-amp section and (even rarer for A/V gear) quite easy to set up and enjoy.
Playing through Infinity fronts and center speakers, Klipsch rears and a Paradigm sub (all of which are, admittedly, quite efficient units), the 6090R does the home theater obstacle course (Gladiator, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and Amadeus) with minimal fuss and considerable grunt. Clarity is the primary virtue, even when clipping approaches. This thing can't be used in huge spaces (mine is about 12' by 15'), but in your average den or family room, the 6090R more than fills the space.
Just as importantly (for this reviewer anyway), the 6090R handles music-only demands with finesse and real musicality - whether in 5.1 mode or in regular olde stereo (remember stereo, kiddies?). Hard rock (Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden et al) crunches satisfyingly; be-bop (Monk, Miles, Ornette, Coltrane) has real immediacy and warmth; and classical has shape, focus and a very tangible sweetness.
Okay, there are compromises: The tuner is barely adequate, with hissy stereo locks the norm. The remote control spends 80% of its real estate on other Sherwood components you probably don't have, rather than allowing buttons for a number of important A/V functions. And this unit, I discovered after taking it home and hooking it up, WILL NOT play DTS-encoded DVDs without hooking up the 6-channel inputs from a DTS-capable DVD player with those outputs (check around, there aren't many for less than $400), despite promises to the contrary from the 6090's face and controls, the owner's manual AND Sherwood's own Website. (For your info, the Sherwood 6095R, for about $50 more, DOES accept optical/coaxial digital inputs for DTS and Dolby Digital. You live, you learn, right?)
In sum, though, this unit is quite the bargain, and an ideal starting point for that all-important First Decent Home Theater Setup. By all means seek it out.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Technics, H/K, Denon

Both Dolby digital and 5.1 inputs.

No DTS, low power.

For the price this reciever can't be beat. Perfect for a bedroom setup where you don't need high volumes. I don't think I can replace my Sony with it in the living room, but for the bedroom it sounds just as good.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DA30ES

DTS Dolby Digital lots of inputs

this receiver sounds awesome the amp is very clear and the features you have a lot of features

Great price, Dolby Digital, preamp outputs, Discrete amp.

Some controls are not that well thought out (ex: volume takes too many turns)

At first I was skeptical about this receiver because it is being sold so cheap and lists so many features for the $170 I paid for it on Consumer-Direct. It sounds great, the amps really surprised me, and the Dolby Digital rocks. I don't think that there is a better deal out there for bang for the buck. One thing that hasn't been stated about these great Sherwood receivers is that they are the only affordable receivers with 6 channel pre-amp outputs. There aren't many under $500, let alone at this price. I use mine as a pre-amp and run it into a 5 channel HK5800. Nothing can touch it for twice my investment.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Phillips, and Marantz recievers

Well, let me say that this product, while not very popular, is very very good. First off, the sound is much nicer for music than the Yamaha receiver mentioned in the previous review. Horns sound great, though strings are a little plastic. For HT, it's above average and in my opinion superior to the Yamahas because it doesn't muck about with the sound digitally as much as the yamaha does, and as such sounds less tinny. The four digital inputs are nice to and allow for a much wider range of devices (I'm using all four, two for my computer, one for the cable and one for the DVD). I paired this with members of the Energy eXL series (16s, the center and 15s in the back) and the result was the sort of warmth mixed with crispness you'd expect from a campfire. I fell in love instantly.

No svideo on this model, no DTS, fewer features than some others, about average with the Onkyo.

Sounds nicer than the Onkyo and the Yamaha and it has plenty of power for the "apartment listener"

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha HT products, Onkyo 575

Impressive sound for only 60W x 5; Easy to setup and opertate; 6 Pre-Out jacks; LOW price

No s-video; only 2 video inputs; only 3 DSP sound modes

I saw this reciever on sale as an open-box item for $129.99 at a local retailer. Very inexpensive compared to the Onkyo I was looking at that cost $899.99. I figured I would try it just to see how it worked, I could always bring it back and exchange it for the Onkyo or a H/K. When I brought this reciever home I hooked it up and popped in a DVD. It sounded ok...I had heard better before. I didn't know whether it was the reciever or my old Sony 2-way speakers. I figured I'd find out and I went back to the retailer and bought the 4-way Infinity speakers that they were using to demo the Onkyo with. If these speakers sounded no different then I would return the Sherwood and buy the Onkyo...no money lost. I took the Infinity speakers home and hooked them up to the reciever and popped in the same DVD(Fight Club). After listening I had to make sure somebody didn't switch the Sherwood reciever out with the Onkyo I had planned to buy. The Sherwood reciever and the new Infinity's totally rivaled the Onkyo and H/K models priced 7-8 times as much. I was amazed at the quality of sound that this reciever put out. For the price and sound this reciever is awesome.

Built-in Dolby Digital Decoder, DTS ready. Dolby Pro-Logic, build-in DSP settings. Bass and Treble controls. 6 channel pre-amp outputs. Front AV inputs (good for the occassional plugging in of components without having to turn the whole set around). PRICE and VALUE. Discrete Amp/channel.

60w/channel x 5, but no biggie. Although i really can't complain since all the other receivers at this price are just stereo receivers (e.g. no 5 channel output, no DD)

First of all i'd like to say this has a really neat feature of turning off the display while playing... i know it's cosmetic but it's cool to have some audio playing only to find out that the receiver isn't even "on" (no display - fools a lot of people)

For $129 brand new, this has got to be one of the best receivers budget minded people can buy. It has built-in Dolby Digital decoding so you don't need to buy any extras aside from a DVD player. It's also DTS ready should you want to go that path.

If you also have a higher powered amplifier or plan to upgrade in the future it's nice to know that the Sherwood has 6 pre-amp outputs so the built-in discrete 60w/channel power isn't really a big problem unless you need the power now.

Do take note however that if you have a room larger than 20x20 then this won't help you much due to the lower amp ratings. But if you live in an apartment or a dorm or use this for a small room then it's a great system to own.

Another feature worth noting is Dolby Pro-logic decoding which allows you to listen to Stereo music in all 6 channels.

There are many more features that will take me some time to list down here so for a small review's sake this is it for now.

Buck for buck you can't go wrong with this system.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo (new and old - those with Tubes), Kenwoods, Pioneers, Yamaha's, Technics