True high-end amplifier, sound clarity atan affordable price

if any it'svery heavy

I purchased this amplifier because I was low on budget. At the time I just purchased all my other componets including my main speakers(paradigm ref studio 100). So the dealer suggested to try this newcastle. I was very suprised on how this amplifier drove my speakers, I even went to several dealers to compare my system and also went to couple of my friends'house to check their system(at least over$15,000 system).It did'nt even came close to the sound on my system,the clarity and detail of sound. Any music I throw on it it will drive it from oldies to the new generations. I recommend this amp to anybody coz I got proof to show it.

Excellent value for the price.

Lack of local dealers for tryout prior to purchase.

Due to the aformentioned lack of local dealers I took a chance on buying the 9080 series combo from Smarthome.com since they had a limited-time sale of $1099! I've found the 9080 amp / preamp combo to be just right for my needs. My usage is 50/50 between music and movies including phono and so far I have not found a problem with the amp driving Magnepan MGIIIa's an MG1imp's. I plan to add the Maggie center channel and a sub in the near future so I will rate the units based on four-channel usage.
Highly recommended.

High build quality, able to drive real world speaker loads; reasonably tight, very extended bass.

Below average resolution, may be two soft sounding for some systems.

The Sherwood Newcastle AM-9080, for all who does not know, is a large, heavy, (73lbs, unpacked) powerful 5-channel amp rated at 120 watts per channel (8ohms). At $1,200, or around $240 per channel, is value priced. All the Amps listed in the "similar products used" catagory on my page were on hand, with the exception of the Parasound. The Pre-Amplifiers used were Sherwoods' own 9080 (with AC-3 and DTS), and an Angstrom 100. Speakers were Snell E.5 towers, an Snell CR 5 center channel , and Snell surrounds. Speaker cable was by Kimber, and Silver Sonics interconnects were also used. A Sony Wega 32" inch montior, a Toshiba 2109 DVD player, and a Pioneer 504 laserdisc player was used for video, and the 504 was used to listen to music. Moving and placing the large, heavy 9080 is not easy, so I recommend that owners place the Sherwood in one, very well ventilated place and leave it there. When I fired up the Sherwood, one postive thing lept out at me right away: this thing is smooth. The soft sound of the amp may attract those put off by most Home Theater amps' bright, thin sound. The 9080 never strained even when called upon to deliver major slam and impact from the big Snells. However, I was made aware, especially when listing to music: the Sherwoods heavy -handed, slow, almost thick sounding presention. The Sherwood lacked even acceptable resolution from movies with such easy-to deciper dialog like Heat (LD), True Lies (DVD) and Pecker (DVD). It became a headache to try to even listen to soundtracks and music with dense mixes; this became a chore. Out of all of the Amps in audtion, I found myself looking the least forward to listing to the Sherwood; its presentation seemed to be set up to impress folks with "Wow, look at how powerful and smooth the Sherwood sounds!" But in reality, I'd rather buy a used ATI 1505, or an Athem Amp 5; both sound A LOT better than the Sherwood, and in the Athems case, is only $195 more expensive. The Sherwood, for me at least, makes upgrading from a recevier pointless. The Newcastle may be attractive, and well made, but it cannot provide the the resolving capablities of any amp I know of, and this is, for me at least, is a fatal flaw. Spend your money on a Outlaw instead.
Not recommended.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound 806, Ati 1505, Rotel 985 THX, Anthem AMP 5.

Good detail, presence, and low end

Can be bright

I have found this amp to be very nice. It completely blows away the B&K and Sony and is similar to the Acurus. My guess is that reviewers don't like consumer names. All I've read is descent reviews about the B&K. While I've read mixed reviews on the Sherwood. The B&K has NO low end even with my
pre's crossover set at 100hz. Moreover, it lacks presence. The Sherwood always makes the instruments sound in the room and well detailed. My only complaint is with certain CD's it is bright. Give the Sherwood a try; Indiscriminantly.

Similar Products Used:

B&K, Sony, Acurus

Rich, voluptuous sound, pretty transparent

none for price paid

This is one rich sounding amp. While not as good in two channel as my Classe integrated, it is not supposed to be. I bought mine of someone on audiogon.com. Email me and I'll tell you who, he was great to work with. These amps are no longer available on ubid, I tried getting a second one but to no avail. One thing I can say, this is one musical sounding amp and revealing enough to clearly hear the reverberation in the James Taylor DVD. I love it.

Similar Products Used:

Classe CAP-150

warm.smooth,powerfull,looks and build quality

perception by others

Please dont flame me but this amp beats all the above listed amp in my system.I couldnt believe it either because I paid so little and wasnt expecting much. I have nht 2.9 towers,ac2 center,vs2.4 rears,denon 4802 as pre amp. Rotels were grainy,hk5800 nice but needed more power,denon 4802 internal amps sucked in comparision, carver 753 thx very similar. Let me state that I like warm,smooth and powerfull and this amp delivers in spades. It handles music so well,I can listen at low volumes or CRANK it up, no fatigue or harshness.Center channel on home theater is powerfull, I dont have a clue what the other reviewer was having trouble with.Powerfull enough for home theater but at the same time smooth.It looks fantastic too. It has 3 seperate transformers as well. Sometimes a product gets a bad rap because people dont actually LISTEN to it and read reviews from others that havent listened to it and then decide not to buy it.This amp is smooth,powerful and warm, if you like that then give it a try..thanks

Similar Products Used:

rotel 985,rb993,carver 753,carver 4.0t,denon 4802-internal amps,parasound 1201,HK5800

Clean, tubelike sound, great internal build for the price

too heavy (70 lb), is that a weakness? Only if you are weak!!!

This amplifier sounds very tubelike with rich, warm mids and slightly rolled off treble but is solid state with firm bass. This amp works really well for HT, dialogue is very crisp and clear and the stereo separation sounds good as well. It is not the ultimate in resolution, but of course its also not a Rowland or Levinson either. For its price class, I've listened to a lot of amps from Rotel, Parasound, B&K and own amps from HK and NAD. At list price, it is competitive with and a bargain sonically compared with any of the more well known names. When you add in the build quality, the amount of capacitance for each channel appears quite generous and the weight of the unit with three transformers, it beats out all others that I know of in its class. At the current prices, its a stone cold bargain for its performance and build quality. With me, the test is do I have buyer's remorse after some time to evaluate the product? The answer is no. I leave the amp on all the time, not in standby but on and it runs a bit warmer than the HK but also sounds warmer as well and is clearer in the midrange. Based on the price I paid, any prospective thief would have to pry my fingers of my corpse off the amp to take this away (and bring a dolly as well). Seriously, its one heck of an amp for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Harman Kardon AVR-30 receiver, Nad 314, HK PA 5800, Krell KAV 300i.

Build, Power Supplies, Internal Design Layout

None Yet

Amp is processed with the Elite VSX 29TX. Main Speakers Wharfedale MFM 7 are Bi-Amp using the 9080 to drive high frequency with an Interga M 504 driving low end. For two channel direct mode analog listening using a Newcastle CD, Musical Fidelity CD 10 upgrade, the result is english sound thats quite enjoyable, not to bright, proper soundstaging. Digital two channel audio in direct mode using an Elite PDR-19RW is not pleasing as analog. Its seems a bit to bright. Could be source. DVD 5.1 movie audio tracks are fine as Amp provides the necessary power to reproduce transients to all driven channels. I feel Amp has not yet broken in and another 100 hours should do it. Will try 5 or 6 other makes, models of speakers I have stored as it will give a good idea of the amps capabilities. If you can grab one under $500.00 do it.

Similar Products Used:

Carver AV 505, Pioneer Elite VSX 29TX

at this price are you kidding...loads of power, rated into 2 ohm's, good build quality, great sound, does not get too hot, standby feature.

the chiropractors bill, not autosensing without sherwood pre-amp, no level controls.

Well, I was recently out looking for a 2 channel amp to power my front mains, and to be able to power a rear centre for the 6.1 from my pre-out main in as my rxv 1000 Yamaha did not seem to have quite enough jam for the main front speakers (4 ohm Heco Reflex 300 towers--these babies are hungry) and I needed an extra power source (one of the front main channels from the yamaha) for the rear anyway. I was looking at the Anthem mca 2 and the Nad c 270...both of which were great amps...but a buddy of mine suggested looking in a store I was not familiar with and low and behold I came across the 9080...for not much more than the Nad and almost the same price as the Anthem 2 channel...it was a no brainer..we had the thing loaded in the car (BIG box and 70 lbs unpacked) and home I went. Nice that the amp comes with a set of directional interconnects which I used..not the best quality but far better than those cheap black 10 cent wires that come with so many home electronics. The fit and finish of the amp are very good, and the rear connectors are well laid out with room for large barrel rca plugs. There are no level controls but this was not an issue for me as I can control everything from the receiver. According to specs the thing pulls up to 6 amps out of the wall socket so you may want to put this thing on its own breaker. When I first turned it on I got a bad hum -ground loop- but this turned out to be the cable t.v. line. Easily fixed with a filter on the cable. The power is immediatly apparent...the speakers wake up and the sound is very smooth...not as bright as the adcom I used to have. Keep in mind I am using the yamaha as a pre amp--which it does very well, and is very warm and smooth sounding. I find the sound is very tight in the base. Smooth mids and clear but not shrill highs. The amp brings out details on some of my cd's (Madonna, Diana Krall, even some classical)that I just did not hear before, even at a lower volume. For home theatre the dts version of Pearl Harbour got cranked up...and the sound is better than I could have hoped for...quick response and no muddiness..and the vocals are clean without constantly having to scramble for the remote to change levels when explosions are happening...although I did preset the rear speakers a little lower as they are 8ohm Paradidgm Titan's (great speaker by the way) just to balance the overall sound levels in the room--did this once and left it alone since.

The only downsides...This thing is HEAVY people..and I have no knowledge of how to trigger it on with the receiver that I have from the standby..it is meant to be triggered on by the matching pre amp from Sherwood and I do not know the voltage or amperage for the trigger. (If anyone knows of a way to do this from a yamaha receiver please let me know).
I would not deduct a star for the lack of autosensing as many great quality amps do not have that feature. This amp feels like it could power far more powerfull speakers with no trouble. Overall I am thrilled with this amp, it has exceeded my expectations--especially for the price--grin--.

My Equipment:
Yamaha rxv 1000 receiver(used as pre-amp and centre rear amp)
Sherwood Newcastle am 9080 5 channel amplifier
Panasonic pt51 xs30 51" big screen
Panasonic dvd rv-21 dvd player
Pioneer pd-f907 cd player
Heco Reflex 300 front speakers
Omage genesis c 100 front centre channel
klipsch ksc-c1 rear centre
Paradigm Titan rears.

Similar Products Used:

adcom gfa 6000, amc 5 channel

Impressive sound, Build Quality and Sharp Looks

No Remote Power on/off

Let me start off by saying that I am no way an audiophile, but I do love to try out as many a/v products as I can. So I feel that I have a fairly good idea of what is quality and what is not so special. With this unit right out of the box I was impressed with this units looks and feel. The titanium finish is sharp and the stylish. Anything that goes through the mail has a chance at getting banged up and I feel for the others who have had this problem. However, I would not reflect this in a rating or review for the product. After putting this amp through the paces along with the matching preamp all I can say is, wow! The sound is rich, warm and full sounding. I have to admit it is not quite as bright as the Denon 3300, which I love, but this amps' sound has it's merits. It has excellent power reserves for the biggest explosions in movies, yet is delicate enough to handle music the right way. It is a quality built item that deserves and audition from anyone looking to add nice separates for their home theater. This is the fourth Newcastle product that I have bought and would highly recommend this unit to anyone seeking a nice, clean amp with some power to spare.