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In Reply to: Re: Counterpoint Preamps: SA-3.1 vs SA-5.1 ??? posted by plantsman on March 2, 2007 at 03:22:52:
reliability was a frequent problem with their older hybrid power amplifiers using mosfets but i haven't heard about any problems with their preamps.
Follow Ups:
Every SA 3.1 owner I knew (and there were three of us that had the identical model), eventually had problems with either or both the volume control (it would become noisy, very noisy sometimes) or the balance control (the balance would drift off, and you'd leave it cranked over to one side in order to acheive proper balance).Sonically, they were good, (very good for the price).
However, there were built to a price point, and it showed eventually.
The counterpoint 3.1 has cheap balance and volume controls. I have upgraded a few and once these are upgraded they sound really really nice and will compete with anything in the $3000-$4000 range. I have never had any issues with the Counterpiont 3.1 preamps after I have upgraded them but of course I upped component voltages and wattages.
We sold a ton of 3.1s and 7.1s and I would estimate the failure rate at around 50%. We sold fewer 5.1s simply because they were more expensive. The sample size is much smaller but I would estimate we had issues with around 10% - 20% of the 5.1s. Several of the amps had major issues too. Sonically excellent gear but there were substantial construction issues.
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