Need a suggestion. Replacing my 20 year old counterpoint 220 amp

20 years ago I bought Counterpoint gear. I have a SA 3000 pre-amp and 220 amp. The Amp is blown up.

Any suggestions?

I have Tiel 3.5 speakers and OPPO 95 DVD/CD player.

Thank you !!

 

Maybe another Counterpoint 220. I don't know what you mean by blown up. Are you sure it's not repairable?

 

I'm not sure either. It probably is but not a clue where to take it. I live in the Bay Area of CA. Any ideas?

 

Michael Elliott was the designer and apparently is still doing mods and repairs.

http://www.altavistaaudio.com/

http://www.ariaaudio.com/

 

Michael is great. Back in 1998 I sent both my 3000 preamp and 220 amp to him to be upgraded a bit. That's likely will hopefully prove this to merely be a 220 capacitors; at least that's what I now think it is. Michael stopped doing work on Counterpoint some years ago; due to health I think. I found a place near me that feels confident they can help so brought it in. I'm sure this is my fault. I always kept the amp on and only controlled the mute on the pre-amp. Dumb; very dumb.

 

Repair before replace. - Handy Manny

 

Output stage is fried. Doesn't appear fixable.

Thoughts on Parasound A-21 ?

Driving Tiel 3.5

 

Nice amp. I owned a Parasound 2125 (along with a 2100) and it was good. The A-21 has a good rep.

 

Musical Fidelity M6.

 

I had a Counterpoint SA12. They are very good amps. After two ( time consuming) repairs I decided to replace it when it failed the third time. I wanted a integrated amp with DAC, and ended up with Mcintosh 7900. IMO not to far away from Counterpoint soundwise. I use the DAC a lot with some fine software on the PC.

 

Ah, the venerable Counterpoint SA220. Michael Elliot is no longer performing service on them, and hasn't for a while. That MOSFET output stage was just not the most stable of designs. "Back in the day" I had a Counterpoint SA20 which I upgraded to an SA220 when it inevitably blew up. That copper chassis was a big deal. Certainly a great sounding amp, when it worked. I drove a pair of Apogee Duetta Signatures with it and had sublime sound. However, the imaging was just not precise enough for me and moved over to mini monitors with a sub and sold off the Apogees and Counterpoint as a set, as a very good deal to whomever got them, as long as the amp lasted. In some ways I wish I had never sold that set, upgraded to an NPS series, while Michael was still doing the work. Pricey upgrade, but made the amp stable. I could have avoided twenty years of messing around, though it has been fun messing around.

You will need something with tons of current, and a good amount of watts. They don't really make them like that Counterpoint anymore. I would be looking for one of the big amps from Parasound maybe, I have also heard these and think for the money one of the upgraded ones might do well for you. You could give Klaus a call

http://www.odysseyaudio.com/odyssey-reviews.html

In my case I have recently picked up a Harman Kardon HK990 integrated amp. It's got a monster power supply, 150 watts into 8 ohms, 300 into 4 ohms, lots of current. It would also give you perhaps an upgrade to your DAC and the room correction is a big plus. I really like mine driving my Gallo Ref 3.5, another current and watt hungry speaker.

Best of luck to you!

 

Gonna test a single NAD C-275 BEE (Cost: $,1300),

Mono Blocks of the same NAD above (Cost $2,600), against

Parasound A-21. (Cost $2,500)

Any insights or belief which is better?

Thank you.

 

If you are looking for solid state and don't mind trying the used market, I always recommend looking for a Threshold S300 or S500, or one of the earlier stasis models even. They were very well built. Or, in the same lineage, a used Pass Labs amp maybe, though it will cost more.

Other options might be an aragon 4004 or 8008 or one of those Conrad Johnons MF amps, which I think are mosfets like your counterpoint was (though not a tube hybrid)

 

Based on my past experience with each manufacturer, I would be surprised if the Parasound didn't blow away the NAD, particularly with your speakers.

 

What's your budget? Do you want new or will used suffice? I would say go used and save yourself a bundle. Look everywhere from audiogon to ebay. Lots of good, used amps that will power your speakers such as Macintosh, Krell, etc. I recently acquired an original Krell KSA 100 and I am absolutely blown away with the sound and build quality. 30 years old and this thing just sings! All for an even trade of my old amp valued at about $1300. Not bad.

 

If fund permit, look at aBryston 4BSST2. However, the Parasound is an excellent choice. Built like the proverbial tank and provide tons of current. That was one reason I ended up buying an A23. Had all the power my Paradigm speakers needed and with all that current I've never had clipping or dynamic issues. And my A23 sounds darn good too. Plus the company is sound - so they'll be around awhile.

 

Zafu .. I like the Thiel's, had an earlier pair. If you are in the solid state camp but wanting the warmer tube sound that the Counterpoint mosfet hybrid offered, I would consider a Bedini amp. I have not auditioned their new offering, but they are built well, and many of them survive today (1980's vintage) in excellent operating condition. They can be re-built by John yet (www.bedini.com) for $4-600 depending on the amp & extent of upgrade. Bedini used a class A circuitry that in his earlier builds could run hot, but as the feed forward circuitry developed operating temps dropped substantially to "warm to the touch". They are detailed, with good staging, yet have a softer upper end than traditional solid state amps, solid on the bass (better than the Counterpoint), and drive difficult loads well. They are fast amps that slew a lot of current.

You mentioned a combo that included an Oppo 95 .. my experimentation tried the 95, but has found the Oppo (103) direct into the Bedini (a rebuilt 150mkII .. 150wpc) with Shunyata & AQ cables is phenomenal!

 

With your budget - why not try a new Luxman ? At least audition one? They sound great!!

 

Take a look at the Van Alstine (AVA) line of products. I own pieces from the Insight line (6yrs) and am pleased with the performance. You may particularly like something from the FET Valve line: http://www.avahifi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108&Itemid=231

If you give them a call you can talk directly to Frank and get his honest opinion on what he recommends.

 

How about giving some pro amps a try?

 

These look nice!

 

You guys have been really helpful. Thank you.

I'm actually looking at getting used gear. Just seems to me for what I'd spend on a brand new amp @$2,600 budget, I can pickup a much better amp.

When I was about 21 years old, back in 1975, I remember picking up a Macintosh amp that lasted me forever. I used to bring it to mac clinics and kept that thing going. I have it stored and don't recall the model; very low output so not good for me now, but point is, I'm thinking of getting a used Mac. My local dealer has a refurbished 7200 and another one (don't know model) but all tube mac at 75 watts per channel. Gonna check em both out today. Their engineer actually believes I'll prefer the tube amp and not even notice the power difference. We'll see.

Any thoughts on my line of thinking here?

Cheers

 

Cant hurt to try them. Let your ears and yours only be the judge. good Luck

 

Not sure I mentioned this, but after my amp blew I discovered my Thiel 3.5's were messed up too. Turns out the mids on both speakers needed to be replaced and the voice coil on one woofer needed repair. Had a high end store with awesome electrical engineer work on them and brought those home yesterday along with two McIntosh Amps, MC-7200 and MC-275 Comm. Edition.

The MC-7200 paired with my SA-3000 Counterpoint pre-amp driving the Thiels is leaving me astonished. Was scared to setup the MC-275 out of fear of loving that more, but it's twice the price. Turns out, I didn't like it more at all, in-fact, the MC-7200 blows it away on my system. I know the MC-275 is a fabulous amp so this only speaks to how often components are system sensitive, a fact most of you already know. My source is mainly the OPPO-95 so that's Blu-Rays, DVD, SACD, HD-CD and CD. I'm sure a turn-table would pair insanely well with that MC-275 but that's not my setup at this time.

While I haven't tried the Parasound-21 or other amps, I'm heavily leaning towards just buying the MC-7200. It's only $1,700 and it's freaking amazing. I'm genuinely left astonished after each recording, regardless of genre. Not particularly concerned by the age, as that's one thing about Macs, can service them and keep them running at top performance for many many years.

Thoughts?

Thank you.

 

Bottom line is really simple IMO. If it sounds good to you, IT IS GOOD.

Its often the case that trying out too many different components can only leave you confused. I say go with the Mac