Up for sale is an absolutely stunning restored example of a Sherwood S5500-II 64 watt integrated tube amplifier.
This amplifier has been through a professional restoration of both its cosmetics and electronics to create not only a heart stopper in terms of looks, but also one of the best sonic performing amps I have ever listened to. When we looked at the frequency response of this Sherwood, we were amazed at how accurate it measured. When paired with a pair of efficient efficient speakers, this amp is sheer audiophile heaven.
Sherwoods are known for their sound, build quality and unique engineering. You will not find a modern tube amplifier anywhere near the price of this Sherwood S5500-II with this quality of engineering, craftsmanship and sound reproduction. As audiophiles are quickly catching on to the vintage amp value, Sherwoods like this one are only going to increase in price. This is not a console pull, but is a stand alone amp with a mint condition cabinet/case.
Cosmetic restoration:
- Full hand polishing of the copper chassis, face plate and knobs
- Cleaning of face plate, input jacks, speaker terminal screws
Electronic restoration:
- Individual biasing pots for the output tubes of each channel. This is an extremely important modification for vintage amps that do not allow for individual biasing in order to gain the maximum performance out of their tubes. No two tubes are exactly alike in performance. Most modern production tubes vary significantly in their performance curves, even if factory "matched." In order to truly bias tubes properly to ensure their proper performance and longevity, individual biasing is necessary. Hence, this modification was performed on this Sherwood to dial in the matching quad of Electro Harmonix 7868 tubes to within 1ma of difference between any two tubes. The biasing pots are tastefully placed inside the chassis, and can be easily accessed in the future by your tech.
- Replacement of all out-of-spec resistors. Several resistors changed driving the tube grids.
- Increasing the capacitance of the power supply with up rated capacitors - beefier power supply. Sherwood would have done this back in the day if larger capacity capacitors were cost effective to use. You rarely see the power supply re-capped in many of these eBay "restored" amplifiers for sale, when this is more important than replacing the often good signal path capacitors.
- Replacement of all out-of-spec capacitors in the signal path. Most of the original epoxy coupling caps were tested as good, and left unchanged - they rarely do go bad. Those that were out-of-spec, were replaced with audiophile quality caps.
- Resistors added to protect the power supply in the case of a tube shorting and to allow more accurate bias measurements. Insurance to protect those expensive transformers.
- All original driver/phono tubes tested.
Tube Compliment:
- 4 matched and perfectly biased Electro Harmonix 7868 output tubes
- 2 ORIGINAL Sherwood Siemens Made in West Germany 12AX7s (excellent lettering)
- 3 ORIGINAL Telefunken Made in West Germany 12AX7s (excellent lettering)
I am not a tech, or the restorer of this amplifier. The buyer will receive the contact information of the professional who restored this amplifier. As such, I cannot give any warranty beyond that it will NOT be DOA (dead on arrival). After that, you are on your own, however the tech is very well known and will work with you on any problems it may develop in the future.
It will be shipped in a sturdy box with proper packaging to make sure the amplifier arrives to you intact and undamaged.
