1974 Sherwoood FM only 8900 Receiver
1979 Crown 1 Preamp with Dynaco(solid state) power amp
1990 NAD (3025?)Receiver '25' watt (with 6dB headroom)
2000 Yamaha DSP-A1 with Adcom GFA6000 multichannel amp for HT.
The Sherwood was an incredibly strong, honest sounding 60 watt receiver for its time, as is the classic NAD. Adcom- a solid performer, if not as refined or smooth on the upper end. The Yamaha is a competent HT amp and has some useful sound fields, but is hardly the last word in amplification. (Side note -An A-B session done with the big Apogees 30 years ago demonstrated the sonic difference between Rowland's best and Adcom's best power amps at the time. Let's just be kind and say the Adcoms didn't self destruct under a 1 ohm load. Neither were they pleasant to hear. The Rowland amplification let the magic come out of the hideously difficult to drive Apogees.)
The Crown/Dynaco combo was good, but not as good as you would expect on paper. Believe it or not, the NAD is the most musical, followed closely by my memories of that old Sherwood. (It was hooked up to a Phillips GA212 table and Hartley Zodiac 10" 2-ways that were amazing. All for under $ 800 - about the cost of a good shunyata AC plug. Sheesh!
The bass from that Sherwood was comparable to a lot of 200 watt amps out today. Pinball Wizard sounded like Pete Townsend and Entwhistle were in the room. Speaker placement and room acoustics helped, but this was a great amp!)
2005 - Dreaming of the next amp for the main system. Maybe Evanna will send me a Stingray for Channukah. Or Jeff will ship me a Concentra. Or...
