Counterpoint upgrades discontinued not all

From a value standpoint, up grades do not cut it. The manufacturers/distributors make as much on the upgrade sale as they general did at the wholesale level of the main unit. Dealers want turnover, it is their economic life. Take VPI, their upgrade prices are insane, his name is Harry, not Edie. Yes, upgrades do make the listening experience better, but the value is not there.

I will inject a different viewpoint here. The answer is simple: Aria WV. SA9's and SA11's have been selling in the $3-4K range for the last few years. Each of these to be fully updated was another $4k in cost. That takes the fully-updated pair's cost/value to $14-16k.

The above models were the reference points for the WV's design. And Michael Elliot has already reported that the WV at $8k significantly outperforms the updated pair. And a few SA9/SA11 owners have come to the same conclusion. So why anybody would want to go the SA9/SA11 route makes no sense now with the WV's existence.

As for repairing a failed SA9 or SA11, I have no doubt Michael Elliot would do all he could to get such a unit up and running again. Just that upgrading these no longer makes sense to the owner of such a unit.

Take note that all the other Counterpoint products, many of them much older than the SA9/SA11, still have upgrade paths available. So this would tend to make most of Elizabeth's conclusions not very likely.