Sherwood CRD-301 (circa 1985)

Not much information survives on the Sherwood CRD-301, but it got something many car stereos of its era never did: a full lab review. It appeared in Sherwood's 1985 car stereo lineup. Audio's May 1985 Car Stereo Feature Guide (p.47) listed it alongside the CRD-90, CRD-95, CRD-101, CRD-150, and CRD-180. Julian Hirsch and Christopher Greenleaf then bench-tested it in HiFI-Stereo (September 1985, p.23).

The Hirsch-Houck measurements recorded an FM mono usable sensitivity of 24 dBf (4.35 µV) at the 75-ohm input and a mono 50-dB quieting sensitivity of 26 dBf (5.5 µV). Tape playback frequency response, checked with standard BASF test tapes, measured 31.5 Hz to 16 kHz within -3 dB limits (120-µs EQ) in the forward direction. The reviewers' main complaint was ergonomic. The station-selector buttons sit too tightly against each other and the adjacent knobs, so it's easy to nudge a control while tuning.

Beyond that, the record is mostly empty. No original price, power rating, production years, or service documentation has surfaced. The CRD-301 appears to have been a capable, unremarkable mid-1980s FM/cassette car stereo. The Archive lists it mainly because its review survived.

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