Sherbourn going online only

Don't know much about them, are there products any good?

Recent Shearborns are essentially upgraded Emotivas but sonics should be extremely close. Previous versions were quite different. I own one for my center, heights and surrounds and can not complain but have not tried it for my mains so really have not tried to evaluate.

If you look at the earlier Sherbourn amps and the newer ones you will see they are totally different in appearance and build quality. I had a 7/2100A and it was a beast with seven seperate toroidal transformers. It weighed well over 100lbs. and was a real challenge to get into my rack .

Bill

Emotiva and Sherbourn are part of the same company the difference being that Sherbourn is the custom install line. I thought that it was only avalible through dealers who did installs.

Well now Sherbourn will be competing against Emotiva. If the Sherbourn amps are similar in design to Emotiva's why would an educated buyer spend the extra money? Sherbourn components were not big sellers before in the custom install market. So why would that change all of the sudden?

Bill

There are plenty of people who like to purchase units which are essentially upgraded versions of another company's lineup. In addition to aftermarket products (where the equipment is modified by a 3rd party), there are product lines like Onkyo/Integra and Denon/Marantz.

My guess is that Sherbourn needs to increase their sales. Since their brand name isn't a particularly well-known one, they need more sales channels to improve their visibility and improve their profitability.

I'd say they are not selling with the dealer network and so Big Dan is doing what he knows best(internet sales). It seems odd though, building a brand takes time and it's hardly been a year since they took over Sherbourn. If he wants to sell amps with Sherbourn name plates, he needs to do more than rebrand Emotiva models with minor differences. Most people are going to simply opt for the Emo amp in that case.

Wasn't it Lexicon that rebranded an Oppo player and charged several times the price for essentially the same product? Same thing except everyone knows what Sherbourn models are. They should sell completely differently designed amps and proudly display the differences on the Sherbourn site.
Edited by runnin' - 2/15/13 at 9:26am

In those cases though, the upper tier line is much closer in price to the lower. Sherbourn prices are over double, at least with the PA-500 vs the XPA-5. Same Transformer, same rear panel, same output.

Sherbourn's new site is up and running and the new prices are out as well.