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Sherwoood S-5000 series


It is rather difficult to see the difference between the S-5000 and S-5500 series of amplifiers. Both started out as "64-watts" amplifiers and ended up as "80-watts" amplifiers. At left can be seen the first version of the S-5000. It stands out with its left vertical row of knobs. These catered for phono level, scratch and rumble filters and "presence". Pushing this knob gave a marked increase in the mid-range area, emphasizing the tonals of vocals and solo instruments. Also, it has only 2 sliding switches at the bottom part of the front panel. Tone controls are dual-concentric. The four small lights at the right indicates various control settings. The slim design of the Sherwoods was made possible by the slanting of capacitors and tubes as can be seen to the left. The rectifier tube can be seen beside the power output tubes. The power tubes are wire meshed for mechanical stability and heat dissipation. One very nice feature of the S-5000 is the "hum balance" adjustment. As the black sliding switched is pushed to "test", bass controls are turned to maximum and the dual-concentric control tuned for minimum "hum". This is very practical for retuning the amp after some use or when installing new power tubes. As can be seen from the connector panel there are several inputs for normal line levels, as well as dedicated inputs for low-level phono and "Tape Head" - if the replay signal is to be taken directly from the tape head, circumvening the tape recorder's replay electronics. If it has such. Some of the Sherwood from this period have very narrow tolerances between the phono sockets, if not the case with the unit pictured here. There were rather large changes introduced into the mk II-version of the S-5000. The knob row to the left were moved down along the bottom edge of the front panel, now as sliding switches. Only the phono level control was retained at the original place. The innards also were changed in that most of the preamp tubes were moved in under a cover in front of the unit. In all, there were changes all the time - also within the same model designations. The production seems rather unrational, all the changes must have been rather expensive, too. I suppose this was made at all possible by a staff of dedicated craftsmen. To my knowledge there were only two main versions of the S-5000.


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	It is rather difficult to see the difference between the S-5000 and S-5500 series of amplifiers. Both started out as "64-watts" amplifiers and ended up as "80-watts" amplifiers. At left can be seen the first version of the S-5000. It stands out with its left vertical row of knobs.
	These catered for phono level, scratch and rumble filters and "presence". Pushing this knob gave a marked increase in the mid-range area, emphasizing the tonals of vocals and solo instruments. Also, it has only 2 sliding switches at the bottom part of the front panel. Tone controls are dual-concentric. The four small lights at the right indicates various control settings. The slim design of the Sherwoods was made possible by the slanting of capacitors and tubes as can be seen to the left. The rectifier tube can be seen beside the power output tubes. The power tubes are wire meshed for mechanical stability and heat dissipation.
	One very nice feature of the S-5000 is the "hum balance" adjustment. As the black sliding switched is pushed to "test", bass controls are turned to maximum and the dual-concentric control tuned for minimum "hum". This is very practical for retuning the amp after some use or when installing new power tubes. As can be seen from the connector panel there are several inputs for normal line levels, as well as dedicated inputs for low-level phono and "Tape Head" - if the replay signal is to be taken directly from the tape head, circumvening the tape recorder's replay electronics. If it has such. Some of the Sherwood from this period have very narrow tolerances between the phono sockets, if not the case with the unit pictured here.
	There were rather large changes introduced into the mk II-version of the S-5000. The knob row to the left were moved down along the bottom edge of the front panel, now as sliding switches. Only the phono level control was retained at the original place.
	The innards also were changed in that most of the preamp tubes were moved in under a cover in front of the unit. In all, there were changes all the time - also within the same model designations. The production seems rather unrational, all the changes must have been rather expensive, too. I suppose this was made at all possible by a staff of dedicated craftsmen. To my knowledge there were only two main versions of the S-5000.

Sherwoood S-5000 series

It is rather difficult to see the difference between the S-5000 and S-5500 series of amplifiers. Both started out as "64-watts" amplifiers and ended up as "80-watts" amplifiers. At left can be seen the first version of the S-5000. It stands out with its left vertical row of knobs.

There were rather large changes introduced into the mk II-version of the S-5000. The knob row to the left were moved down along the bottom edge of the front panel, now as sliding switches. Only the phono level control was retained at the original place.

The innards also were changed in that most of the preamp tubes were moved in under a cover in front of the unit.

In all, there were changes all the time - also within the same model designations. The production seems rather unrational, all the changes must have been rather expensive, too. I suppose this was made at all possible by a staff of dedicated craftsmen.

To my knowledge there were only two main versions of the S-5000.