AV Receiver Reviews

All measurements were taken on the left channel, except as noted. The Sherwood Newcastle R-965's 2-channel analog frequency response, in Pure Audio mode, from the CD input to the speaker output, was –0.57dB at 10Hz, –0.18dB at 20Hz, –0.07dB at 20kHz, and –0.44dB at 50kHz. The response from the multichannel input to the speaker output differed from these results by less 0.2dB at 10Hz and 0.07dB, maximum, at 20Hz, 20kHz, and 50kHz.

The Dolby Digital response (optical input to speaker output) was –0.38dB at 20Hz and –0.77dB at 20kHz, left channel (–0.34dB at 20Hz and –0.76dB at 20kHz, center channel). With the Sherwood's surround left channel set to Small and the crossover frequency set to 80Hz, the response in that channel was –6dB at 82Hz at the bottom end and –0.79dB at 20kHz at the top. The line output from the LFE channel, normalized to the response at 40Hz, was –1.46dB at 20Hz and –6dB at 109Hz.

The signal/noise ratio (A-weighted, 2.83V @ 8ohms) measured –99.8dB. The gain measured 28.9dB, CD in to speaker out, with the level control set to +5. The THD+noise in 2-channel operation at 2.83V into 8ohms measured 0.010% at 20Hz, 0.011% at 1kHz, and 0.009% at 20kHz. At 2.83V into 4ohms, the corresponding results were identical to within 0.001%.

Driving all seven channels into 8ohms, the Sherwood delivered (to the nearest watt) 108Wpc at 20Hz (126Wpc into 4ohms) and 113Wpc at 1kHz (144Wpc into 4ohms) before clipping (1% THD+noise). At 1kHz, with only two channels operating, the Sherwood clipped at 134Wpc into 8ohms and 220Wpc into 4ohms.—Thomas J. Norton