Tubes Asylum: REVIEW: Counterpoint/Alta Vista Audio SA-2000 Preamplifier (Tube) by Jim Treanor Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ

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The stock mid-1990's-vintage Counterpoint SA-2000 is a tubed (6DJ8) line stage preamp with a solid-state video output buffer. After Counterpoint went out of business, owner and designer Michael Elliott formed Alta Vista Audio LLC, a company devoted to the repair and modification of Counterpoint equipment. Elliott's modifications to amplification hardware utilize premium components and come in several "flavors" (Basic, Premium, and, in some cases, Premium Gold) and may be applied to either the audio stage or power supply or both. Additional options include the upgrading of, where applicable, input and output connectors, volume and balance controls, and power transformer. Details are available at Elliott's Web site, www.altavistaaudio.com.

Having acquired two mint used SA-2000's (one for my audio system, the other for my modest video system), I sent one to Elliott for modification, requesting the "premium" upgrade to both the audio stage (substituting a Sovtek 6922 for the original 6DJ8) and power supply, along with an upgraded volume control, bypassing of the balance control, "direct output" (a circuit modification that does away with the solid-state video buffer), and upgraded RCA jacks for the Main output and CD and External Phono inputs. This upgrade cost approximately $1900.

While the to-be-modded SA-2000 was away at Alta Vista Audio, the other one took its place in my audio system. Thus, when the modified unit returned, I did not have to rely on long-term auditory memory for comparisons. This review summarizes my impressions after a 300-hour burn-in. The CD’s used for this evaluation are listed below.

The stock SA-2000 had been a significant improvement over its system predecessor, an Adcom GFP-565, in the areas of tonal and timbral rightness, imaging, soundstage breadth and depth, and warmth, whether feeding Adcom GFA-565 monoblocks, a stock Counterpoint SA-100, or an Elliott-modified SA-100 (known as the NP100).

The modified SA-2000 trumps the stock unit in all these areas by a wide margin. Take strings, for example…they’re considerably more delicate, and the woodiness of the instruments more evident. Cymbal brush work evokes a filigreed shimmer previously perceived as near-hash. Instruments and voices-whether playing solo or massed--exhibit significantly greater body, nuanced timbre, and, on well-recorded material, a spooky three-dimensional reality. Bass is tauter, more detailed, perceptively deeper, but even more important from my perspective, corporeal in its presentation. The difference in dynamics-both micro and macro-is night-and-day, and heretofore-congested tuttis now exhale with gusto. Listening room side walls on the verge of disappearing with the stock 2000 have melted away on appropriately-recorded CD's.

In terms of depth, the perceived absolute distance from front to rear appears the same as before (it already extended beyond the wall behind the speakers), but what fills it in is now far airier, more layered and palpable…and that’s true, where the recording permits, beyond the side walls.

What has kept me awake far too long into the night lately is neither insomnia nor a less-than-well-digested dinner. I'm involved in what I'm hearing, pulled in and glued to my chair for hours on end, and I’m listening not just to demo tracks but to entire works, appreciating even more the subtleties embedded in the art of composers and performers.

The bottom line? As soon as I can scrape up the cash, my other SA-2000 goes to Michael Elliott for an upgrade.

CD’s used for this review:

- Malcolm Arnold, "Arnold Overtures," Malcolm Arnold, LPO, Reference RR-48CD (non-HDCD)
- Alexander Borodin, "Prince Igor," Emil Tchakarov, Sofia Festival Orchestra/Sofia National Opera Chorus, Sony S3K44878
- Modern Jazz Quartet, "The MJQ at Music Inn, Vol. 2," MoFi UDCD 632
- Stephen Sondheim, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," Original Broadway Cast, Bay Cities BCD 3002 (now available as an EMI remaster)
- Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto, "Getz/Gilberto," Verve Master Edition, 314 521 414-2
- Howard Hanson, "Symphony No. 4/Merry Mount Suite," Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony, Delos DE-3105
- Clifford Jordan Quartet, "Live at Ethell’s," Mapleshade MS 56292
- James Horner, "Sneakers," Original Soundtrack, Columbia CK53146
- Ottorino Respighi, "Transcriptions for Orchestra," Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Cincinnati Symphony, Telarc CD-80396

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

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