Sherwood SEL-200

[SalukiHawk72]

I love Sherwoods. I’ll just say it. I’ve yet to find another receiver brand that sounds sweeter to my ears. I’ve had several including three that I consider to be among the best fly-under-the-radar receivers out there: the S-7100, S-7225, and my favorite: the S-8900.

I just acquired one of my grail receivers in the Sherwood SEL-200. It was listed for parts/not working, so I took a chance for $175. Well before hooking up the speakers (Beovox 5700s and Optimus T-200s) I gave it a good cleaning and gave a good deoxit to all the pots (and yes, I used the non-solvent option for the famously problematic on-off/loudness pot. Long and short, fired right up with amazing sound, and not a bit of scratch in the pots.

So part of this post is to brag on my find. These are very hard to find in presentable, working condition, so there’s that.

But I am posting to ask of anyone has a pdf of thr operating instructions (owners manual). I have been able to find the service manual and schematic, but not the primary manual.

Any help would be welcome! I am also curious if there are any other Sherwood/SEL fans out there. I see there are several brand forums on here, and I am thinking we Sherwood groupies need our own space.

Thanks to all for any help you can offer. I’m relatively new to posting on audiokarma but I’ve been coming here for info since buying my first vintage receiver (also a Sherwood, an S-7310 quad) about five years ago.

Happy listening!

 

[A23gt]

No help to offer. ( I send my to a shop in Louisville that’s been open since the 50’s).
I do have congratulation’s to offer. Nice find on a very nice receiver. I have a lot of Sherwood equipment and some of my favorites were made in Japan like the low powered ones mentioned. They are an inexpensive entry into the Sherwood sound.
The SEL-200 is really nice, but strangely I prefer the S-9910. It’s among the best receivers of any brand that have personally owned.

In my opinion though, the absolute best sounding Sherwoods are the tube ones. Your jaw will drop when you hear a Sarma restored S5000. Well with the effort to resurrect one. Works well with a variety of speakers, including some that you wouldn’t expect it to.

Anyway, I’ll stop wandering off topic and re-congratulate you on a fine purchase. They didn’t make many of the SEL, and who knows how many are left.

Edit…. Welcome to Audiokarma. It’s a friendly place to ask questions and the old timers are fairly tolerant of having some of the same questions being asked that they answered for other people many times before.

They don’t like multiple posts the same topic across multiple sub forums. (Not saying you would, just putting it out there as a general thing) It really is mellow as forums go.

 

[SalukiHawk72]

No help to offer. ( I send my to a shop in Louisville that’s been open since the 50’s).
I do have congratulation’s to offer. Nice find on a very nice receiver. I have a lot of Sherwood equipment and some of my favorites were made in Japan like the low powered ones mentioned. They are an inexpensive entry into the Sherwood sound.
The SEL-200 is really nice, but strangely I prefer the S-9910. It’s among the best receivers of any brand that have personally owned.

In my opinion though, the absolute best sounding Sherwoods are the tube ones. Your jaw will drop when you hear a Sarma restored S5000. Well with the effort to resurrect one. Works well with a variety of speakers, including some that you wouldn’t expect it to.

Anyway, I’ll stop wandering off topic and re-congratulate you on a fine purchase. They didn’t make many of the SEL, and who knows how many are left.

Edit…. Welcome to Audiokarma. It’s a friendly place to ask questions and the old timers are fairly tolerant of having some of the same questions being asked that they answered for other people many times before.

They don’t like multiple posts the same topic across multiple sub forums. (Not saying you would, just putting it out there as a general thing) It really is mellow as forums go.

I really appreciate the reply! I have had bids on a 7910 and 8910…not sure I will every be lucky enough to land a 9910, but I DO want a tube Sherwood. I’ve looked at several…would the 5000 be your recommend?

I’ve learned so much reading here the past decade or so. And I agree…great people here. A small number of ‘we’ve had this talk before” posts, but generally much friendlier than the FB groups I’ve subscribed to.

Any other Sherwood advice? I think I’m going to continue to collect them. I’ve heard that one of the reasons there are so many receiver brands, wattages, features, and styles is because not every receiver appeals to everyone’s ear. Some just hit different. For some reason, Sherwood appeals to my ear more than any other receiver I’ve listened to. And that’s true for almost every model I’ve had the chance to listen to.

 

[A23gt]

I really appreciate the reply! I have had bids on a 7910 and 8910…not sure I will every be lucky enough to land a 9910, but I DO want a tube Sherwood. I’ve looked at several…would the 5000 be your recommend?

I’ve learned so much reading here the past decade or so. And I agree…great people here. A small number of ‘we’ve had this talk before” posts, but generally much friendlier than the FB groups I’ve subscribed to.

Any other Sherwood advice? I think I’m going to continue to collect them. I’ve heard that one of the reasons there are so many receiver brands, wattages, features, and styles is because not every receiver appeals to everyone’s ear. Some just hit different. For some reason, Sherwood appeals to my ear more than any other receiver I’ve listened to. And that’s true for almost every model I’ve had the chance to listen to.

I feel the same. I like sound of vintage Sherwood a lot. I also, like Marantz, McIntosh, Pioneer, Sansui, HK, and any number of other brands. What I like about Sherwood most is the quality to cost ratio and it’s styling

Some other brands that I like, and can be had at a reasonable price are G.A.S. Great American Sound Company, SAE, and Sumo. Halfler is nice too. Not as big of a fan of Halfler preamps, but like their amps. Adcom is fairly good, but make sure they are in good condition because if they need service it could damage your speakers.

In my opinion the S5000 original series is best followed by the S5000II. The II is more powerful, but not as sweet sounding.
I still have a S-7910 and it doesn’t give up much to the S-9910. If you get a good deal on one it will be very satisfying.

What types of speakers do you use?

 

[SalukiHawk72]

I feel the same. I like sound of vintage Sherwood a lot. I also, like Marantz, McIntosh, Pioneer, Sansui, HK, and any number of other brands. What I like about Sherwood most is the quality to cost ratio and it’s styling

Some other brands that I like, and can be had at a reasonable price are G.A.S. Great American Sound Company, SAE, and Sumo. Halfler is nice too. Not as big of a fan of Halfler preamps, but like their amps. Adcom is fairly good, but make sure they are in good condition because if they need service it could damage your speakers.

In my opinion the S5000 original series is best followed by the S5000II. The II is more powerful, but not as sweet sounding.
I still have a S-7910 and it doesn’t give up much to the S-9910. If you get a good deal on one it will be very satisfying.

What types of speakers do you use?

I have B&O Beovox 5700s and Optimus T-200s.

 

[A23gt]

You don’t see the Beovox very often where I live. They are a nice looking speaker with quality components.I haven heard the 5700s though I have heard the s-45. I’ve acquired a large number of speakers and truthfully I should get rid of some as they take up space. I have large advents I haven’t listened to in a couple of years for example.

I mainly listen to RTR, Acoustic Research, KLH, and NHT. Occasionally I’ll drag out some Infinities, Frazier or university speakers for a change.

 

[dly66]

I have had an S-7200 for years that has this bad habit of sneaking back into my workroom system. Former fix and repair unit I got working well again. Sidelined at the moment need to do some aligning of the FM section distorting a bit too much on my taste on FM. Seems to partner well with the similar vintage KLH Model 17s I use there. Sounds fine with other sources but I still regularly listen to FM too. Love the sound of the FM stereo section with that unit.

Screwed up my S-8900A plugging patch cables into the tape inputs while on playing FM at the time. Need to get in there and figure out what went wrong. I remember the patch cord I was plugging in having fine white sparks running around the metal edges of the RCA plugs then it's sound output went south.

 

[SalukiHawk72]

You don’t see the Beovox very often where I live. They are a nice looking speaker with quality components.I haven heard the 5700s though I have heard the s-45. I’ve acquired a large number of speakers and truthfully I should get rid of some as they take up space. I have large advents I haven’t listened to in a couple of years for example.

I mainly listen to RTR, Acoustic Research, KLH, and NHT. Occasionally I’ll drag out some Infinities, Frazier or university speakers for a change.

Well if you’re ever willing to part with some pieces. I might be interested. FYI I also have a Sanyo JCX2600 that sounds amazing too. Another unheralded 70s brand imho.

 

[goodolpg]

Offers to buy and sell are only allowed in BarterTown by paid subscribers. (truth)
We've had this talk before..(feeble attempt at humor)

 

[SalukiHawk72]

Offers to buy and sell are only allowed in BarterTown by paid subscribers. (truth)
We've had this talk before..(feeble attempt at humor)

Dude. I’m a lawyer. That was hardly an offer to buy or sell. It was a general statement of interest of potential business dealings going forward. Any such dealings would be handled outside this forum.

I don’t mind having violations being brought to my intention, so long as a person treats me with the respect I deserve, and so long as I am actually in the wrong.

 

[OldPolishGuy]

Congrats on the purchase of the SEL-200. When cleaned and adjusted it is a very nice sounding receiver. You'll love it. I bought mine from an AKer a few years ago. He went through it top to bottom. Super clean and great sounding. Of course, I'm not biased at all. OPG.

 

[petes'picks]

[QUOTE="SalukiHawk72, post: 16444083, member: 377208"Any other Sherwood advice? I think I’m going to continue to collect them.[/QUOTE]

I would suggest a S7800 or S8800 and a S7450 or S7650 to experiment with different generations of Sherwood thru1980. The early s8800 series will need to have their old axial caps replaced and will need some servicing plus has some dreaded multisection caps if I recall correctly. The S7450/7650 series is probably the most accurate sounding of them all but loses some of the warmth of earlier generations.

Post 1980 you have the S8600cp with includes the Digital readout in addition to the analog dial then they moved to the S9200CP - S9600CP series with the digital only readout. I think there is another short lived model between S7450 and S9600cp but cant recall that series. Caution on the S9600CP series, the ones I have run across had some Sanwa(?) caps that tested awful and a few were bulging badly but for a 60wpc they still can be had for a nice entry level price. One S9600 with bulging caps and toasty PS board got donated and my other one was beat up pretty bad so I couldnt justify a restore on it but I recall it sounded very similar to the S7450 I had but maybe more dynamic sounding (it was awhile ago). After that point I think they came out with S2660 but it has a face only a mother could love so I have never tried that series. Nor have I tried any of the their later black faced units.

 

[A23gt]

[QUOTE="SalukiHawk72, post: 16444083, member: 377208"Any other Sherwood advice? I think I’m going to continue to collect them.

I would suggest a S7800 or S8800 and a S7450 or S7650 to experiment with different generations of Sherwood thru1980. The early s8800 series will need to have their old axial caps replaced and will need some servicing plus has some dreaded multisection caps if I recall correctly. The S7450/7650 series is probably the most accurate sounding of them all but loses some of the warmth of earlier generations.

Post 1980 you have the S8600cp with includes the Digital readout in addition to the analog dial then they moved to the S9200CP - S9600CP series with the digital only readout. I think there is another short lived model between S7450 and S9600cp but cant recall that series. Caution on the S9600CP series, the ones I have run across had some Sanwa(?) caps that tested awful and a few were bulging badly but for a 60wpc they still can be had for a nice entry level price. One S9600 with bulging caps and toasty PS board got donated and my other one was beat up pretty bad so I couldnt justify a restore on it but I recall it sounded very similar to the S7450 I had but maybe more dynamic sounding (it was awhile ago). After that point I think they came out with S2660 but it has a face only a mother could love so I have never tried that series. Nor have I tried any of the their later black faced units.[/QUOTE]
Great advice. There are a few real gems in post American Sherwood line. If you like MOSFETs then the 6040cp dual mono amplifier is nice, and the ap-7020 preamp and am-7040 amplifier are absolutely beasts. The last two might be the best non American manufactured Sherwood products I’ve listened to.