Counterpoint, Modwright, Aesthetix sound?

I am interessted What was the reason?

I suspect a voltage regulator o a cap did blow due to age reasons.

What was the reason?

I wonder where they would be today if that never happened.

Actually, after the Counterpoint demise, Michael Elliot returned with a new company Alta Vista Audio which was a repair/update company of older Counterpoint products. This resolved all past reliability issues with the many levels of updates being phenomenal.

And then in the mid 2000's, he created a new company, Aria Audio, to do a new design of amps….and then a few years later, the outstanding WV5 preamp. I own the WV5 and I would put this line stage up against anything today. The MM phono stage is outstanding, but the MC stage is a pair of Sowter step-up transformers which are ok, but some pre-preamps (head amps) outperform the SU devices.

Finally due to health reasons, Aria and Alta Vista Audio ended in 2012 or so.

If you go to the website, here you are likely to get the answers you're after.

As for tube-based products going up in flames, this is always a possibility. Audio Research went through a nasty time in the 1980s as well with their D250 stereo amp. And I had many events with an ARC VT130 in the 1990's with a tube failure causing a power resistor to explode causing quite a smoke bomb in the room. And the CAT amps which I now own can result in serious destruction upon a tube failure if the unit is not powered off immediately upon a tube failure.

For those people which have all these claims of Counterpoint issues and other tube products not also being vulnerable to sudden disasters, either have not lived with tube products very long, or have been very lucky to not yet have experienced such an event.

Quicksilver
and enjoy the music
JohnnyR

In general most of the Counterpoint preamps did not have the same issues as the amps. The mosfets used in the amps just could not take the heat and eventually blew. Funny that they had a plastic cover over the mosfets. That being said, the modified units are at a different level and to me they are very reliable. I actually do the modifications/repairs and I am listed on the Alta Vista Audio website. Two things I can tell you is that once upgraded/modified you'd have to spend a lot to beat one. I have also found ways to do the modifications that go beyond what Mike was doing. I recently rebuild the larger SA-220 amp with biploars replacing the mosfets and they amp sounded excellent. I think the sound opened up (the original mosfets were to my ears a little dark and had a sort of haze sound), the sound is also more refined and dynamic. I was the person who recommended this option on the Alta Vista Website. I have not heard the Quick Silver preamp in some time and the one I heard was under $1000 if I remember correctly. The stock Counterpoint SA-5000 smoked it using good Amperex tubes. It also was better than the AI preamp. Once modified, it is another level. The SA-5000 can be taken to another level b simply getting the trim controls out of the way (see the AVA website). I do like the 5 series but the smaller chassis does not offer enough room to do that much especially with the newer caps being so large. In my opinion, get a SA-3000, send it to me and you'll be amazed what it will sound like. Probably the most musical preamp that I have heard besides the DHT preamp I build.

Jafox knows what he is taking about although my DHT preamp will probably be better sounding then what he is using now. Too bad your not in the NYC area.

Happy Listening.

Big, thanks for sharing and it's good to know about. The Quicksilver pre that I'm selling (sorry again for the shill) is the one that Johnny R and I are talking about. It's the first one. Full function with the 5AR4 rectifier tube. It may be the best product that Mike Saunders has ever built. To this day it sounds better than most of the tubed preamps up to 6k or so. It's in a different league than any of his newer line stage or the remote preamps. When I heard it against the more expensive Counterpoint it was very close and that says a lot. I'd love to hear them side by side, but the Quick pre is still affordable for most as used it's going for under 1k. How much is the Counterpoint going for? Not saying it's not worth it, but once you start to do the upgrades just to make the preamp work properly and to sound better, you are in the multi thousands and up and that doesn't include the cost of the used preamp itself or am I reading that incorrectly? Again, please don't think I'm not saying it's not worth it, because it probably is for the person who already has one and wants it fixed or to just upgrade.

This reminds me of why I went with Quicksilver and that AI was my second choice....price vs performance. For me I was able to get 95% or more of what I wanted and needed by going this route rather than going with Counterpoint (again I loved the sound, but worried as all my friends who went that route got screwed when they blew up and couldn't get them fixed properly...back then). AR stuff was solidly built. Company stayed around and fixed any problems and it was close in sound to the Counterpoint.

I think it's a personal thing, like anything else in audio. I wanted and still want to buy from companies that have been around for awhile with a track record of strong customer service and with products that were designed properly out of the gate. I am in NO WAY putting down Counterpoint and for you to be still upgrading and fixing their units is a great thing and I love hearing that story. Hope I haven't put foot in mouth. It's just your typical, how much is it worth to get that last percent? thanks for listening.