Shop For Sherwood RX-5502 400-Watt Multisource Dual Zone Audio Video Receiver

I recently moved into a new house that had built in speakers - 4 speaker pairs (8 total) with wires all coming out to one central location and wall mounted volume dials for each speaker pair. I set out to get a receiver to match the system, and was surprised at how hard it was. My intention was mostly to use this with my iPod - so we're not talking concert quality acoustics here, just a decent sounding system to play sound through the house.

I initially set out to get either a) an 8 channel amp or b) a 2 channel amp which I could split. Problem was, most of the 8 channel amps were extremely expensive for what I was looking for (like $800+), and many lacked controls to control each "zone" independently. On the other hand, most of the 2 channel amps I looked at lacked the power to run 4 pairs simultaneously. It turns out, most of the multi channel receivers out there are set up for home theater systems (i.e. 7.1), not multi-room audio.

As I neared the end of my search and was close to pulling the trigger on a $500+ 8-channel amp, I happened to stumble upon the Sherwood. I thought the price was too good to be true (this must be a piece of junk, right?), but figured I may as well give it a shot and if I don't like it I could return it. I'm pretty happy with this receiver - the sound quality is pretty good. As I said, I have it hooked up to an iPod and my speakers aren't anything special, so I can't say for certain just how good the sound quality potential is, but in my opinion it's good enough for some iPod-sourced ambient music throughout the house. The controls are extremely intuitive, and it gives me the option to turn on any of my 4 zones independently (or all at once, or any combination thereof) from the receiver - an option many of the higher priced 8-channel amps I looked at lacked. It also has several inputs, a big plus.

Overall - if you're looking for a reasonably priced receiver to run a multi-room audio system, this is a pretty good bet. Get more detail about Sherwood RX-5502 400-Watt Multisource Dual Zone Audio Video Receiver.