Counterpoint and Mike Elliot


Hey! Does anyone have first hand knowledge of Elliot's upgrades for Counterpoint preamps? Specifically the SA-2000, SA-3000, SA-5000 and the 5.1 all tube phono/line pre. I'm wondering if the rather high cost of let's say, modding a 5.1 would bring the preamp to a performance level equal or greater than a similarly priced piece. For example, the 5.1 modified by Elliot would cost, all together, a bit more than an ARC Ref-1 preamp ($3500 approx). (Of course the ref-1 doesn't have a phono stage so the Elliot might be a tad more thrifty). ew. sorry, i dont usually write things like 'a tad more thrifty' and i wont do it again.

Anyway, I'd love to get responses from people who have owned or heard these or can send me in the right direction to find out more info.

For those of you who don't know, Counterpoint made ss, hybrid and tube amps, preamps and dacs but went out of business in '96. Mike Elliot was the chief designer and continues to upgrade Counterpoint stuff but for big $$. His site is www.altavistaaudio.com

thanks in advance.
kublakhan

Showing 1 response by frogman

Hey Kubla, glad to share my reactions to your query. I will go through a brief "personal pre-amp history", which includes the Counterpoint 5.1, to hopefully put my comments in perspective.

A 5.1 replaced an Audible Illusions 4D a few years ago. The Counterpoint made the Audible, despite the latter's superior soundstage stability, sound like it was on Valium; slow and lethargic. The 5.1 also had more natural tonal colors; the AI's sounded and still sound, to my ears, too "gray" and slightly bleached out sounding; and don't boogie.

After trying and living with an AR SP14, Threshhold FET 10, Classe 6, and Quicksilver, I settled on a Melos 222C. In my opinion, the Melos is in a different class altogether. It's got the bass extension of the FET, the soundstaging of the Classe and even better dynamics than the Counterpoint; and tonally it sounds much more like the real thing. By the way, in my system, the only one of the above that I would not rate as an across the board improvement over the 5.1 was the FET 10 (too mechanical and analytical).

Having done the expensive mod thing with other products over the years, the end result for me has always been that the basic character of the product is retained with relatively subtle improvements in certain areas. Now, for all I know Elliot's mods are brilliant, but my strong gut reaction is that for $3500 you can get a pretty great pre that will be, with the possible exception of dynamics, superior to the Counterpoint.

May I also suggest that you give George Kay (of NYAL fame) a call. He modded my 5.1 for a heck of a lot less than $3500, with positive results; again, the basic character of the piece did not change. He lives locally (NYC), but I don't have his number in front of me. If you are interested, I will get it to you.

Good luck.