997 Production

I stumbled on this with Google:

http://www.inkel.co.kr/english/av/R-972.asp

Are these folks the ultimate source of both the Sherwood 972 and Outlaw 997 products? If so, it would seem that they are made in Korea (not China/Taiwan).

Just curious.

Best,

The company history indicates they were named Etronics at one time, and Etronics is the Korean company that owns the Sherwood name (and uses Sherwood as their "house brand" for the US market). It would appear that Inkel is Etronics.

Cool. Might be worth a quickie train ride to see next time I'm in Seoul.

Best,

Everything I've seen says that they are a Korean Company. However, the back of this Sherwood 972 receiver has a "made in China" label.

Also, while earlier versions of the Outlaw 990 showed a made in Korea label, the new 990 that I just received saturday was made in China. It seems like they are moving at least some production to China.

If you search the web site, you'll see they manufacture in China. R&D and corp headquarters in Korea.

Looking at the pictures of the front of the R-972, I really like the way it looks.

That brings up the question, will the 997 look any different from the 990?

I suspect that it will look at least similar to the 990 - probably enough so to avoid any amplifier re-designs to allow amp and pre-amp to match.

I'm not sure how significant this is, but the dimensions listed for the 990 are exactly equal to the preliminary spec. dimensions of the 997. So, I'd assume they use the same chassis?

The R-972 appears to be using the same chassis as the R-965 (same height / depth, probably similar amp design). The 990 used the R-965's platform, and the 997 is using the R-972's, so basically it would be the same chassis.