Sherwood Integrating Bluetooth into Home Theater Line

Written on Mar 9, 2009 by Brian and filed under News, Sherwood

Sherwood recently announced a new A/V receiver, the RD-7503. While we don’t normally focus on receivers alone, this one has an interesting feature that we expect to see more of as devices continue to converge and interact with one another – Bluetooth audio streaming via optional BT-R7 receiver.

What this means is that you can wirelessly connect compatible Bluetooth devices to the receiver for wireless streaming to your home audio system. The 7503 can receive streaming MP3 stereo audio from any Bluetooth A2DP source device, when an optional Sherwood BT-R7 receiver is plugged into the 7503’s front panel. Most mobile devices like smartphones, laptops and even some MP3 players support this Bluetooth profile. 

Ultimately this means that your mobile device can become an input to your home theater system, without the need for cables. We love this direction and really like seeing a company like Sherwood helping to expand the functionality of their receivers by leveraging new technology. While it would be cleaner to have the Bluetooth receiver built into the main A/V unit, it’s still a step in the right direction and something we want to see more of in home theater systems, the ease of use and added versatility is a big plus.