Dubbed 'The Music Centre', the S-1000 was a 36 watt (72 watt peak) mono
amplifier which was introduced around 1956. The arrival of the second
version, the S-1000ii coincided with the arrival of stereo, so Sherwood
built the S-4000 companion unit which
acted as a stereo converter. In fact, the S-4000 was just an S-1000 with
a stereo preamplifier. It utilised the mono power amplifier section of
another S-1000 to create acomplete stereo unit. Rather clunky and expensive
(the S-4000 was $159) but the concept was not dissimilar to those of other
manufacturers grappling with the conversion to stereo in the late 1950s.
Sherwood soon abandoned this concept however, and built a stereo version
of the S-1000 - a combination of the 1000 and the 4000 which, if you do
the math, was appropriately called the S-5000!
The S-1000 featured a tape monitor switch for off-tape monitoring, a feature not found in many amplifiers of that era. The front panel featured four vertical push-buttons for input selection, a record equaliser knob, and bass and treble controls. Other features included a loudness control, phono scratch filter and rumble filter.
Like most of Sherwood's hi-fi components, the S-1000 underwent a series of technical updates resulting in the S1000ii (1958) and the S-1000iii (1962). As late as 1965 Sherwood were still selling this mono integrated valve unit, promoting it as 'ideal for commercial installations'. The S-1000ii featured an additional control for record equalisation but retained the same five-knob control layout by combining the on/off switch with the lodness compensation control (see second picture from top at left).
As these amplifiers rarely come onto the market, it's hard to place a current value on them. And of course, being mono, they're not particularly sought after (unless you've got the S-4000 companion stereo converter!). Nor is Sherwood considered to be as desirable as some other brands, but that may be some day! I've seen a few S-1000s recently sell at internet auction for between $50 -$100.
Click on a thumbnail
for enlargement
Above: S-1000
Below: S-1000ii
(pictures courtesy Mark Maltin)
