Counterpoint SA-2000 Vintage Line-Level Tube Preamp
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Counterpoint SA-2000 Vintage Line-Level Tube Preamp
SkyFi 479
479 South Broad Street
Glen Rock NJ 07452
United States
Sweet sounding and beautifully engineered tube preamp from the 1980/90s made by Counterpoint in California.
Would be hard to beat in this price range with anything made today. A great value.
Offers just about every connection you could want including 6 inputs and 2 tape loops for a complete vintage system.
Tested, serviced, and working as it should. All this required was a cleaning of the controls and replacement of one of the tubes.
Ownership:
Unknown
Connections:
RCA Inputs and Outputs
General Sound:
Big beautiful musical sound with little fatigue.
Cosmetic Condition:
8. See our detailed rating description here.
Working Condition:
Working perfectly and tested in our lab and listening room.
Included:
Just the unit and power cord.
Packing:
Will be packed using our highly developed in-house process and custom packing materials.Reviews:
Click Here
Dimensions:
19.09" x 13.39" x 4.92"
Weight:
16 lbs.
Approximate Age:
1990
Recommended Cables:
Kimber Kable - RCA Interconnects
Kimber Kable - 14AWG (Gauge) Power Cords
Testing Process:We start with a visual inspection of all internal components to make sure that there are no signs of heat stress or damage. Capacitors are checked for telltale signs of predictive failure including bulging, shrunken wrappers, or physical leakage. We also inspect the PCB’s for discoloration from resistors or transistors that may have been running hot. On vintage units we often spot check select capacitors for value and ESR.
When we first power on a preamplifier we connect its RCA output to a Sencore PA81 Power Analyzer which simulates real world loading conditions and gives us an oscilloscope interface. The first order of business is checking that the volume control works smoothly throughout its entire range with acceptable channel balance. This is accomplished by feeding a 1KHz sine wave into one of the preamp’s line level inputs while monitoring the preamp’s output on an oscilloscope. We then switch to a 1KHz square wave to test the tone controls, loudness function, and filters where applicable. During this step we are watching for equal alteration of the test signal by both channels. This also helps us identify dirty controls that will need treatment. Once the basic line stage functions are verified, we test each input individually. This is especially important for devices that use relays to select their sources. If the preamp is equipped with a phono stage we test that as well. We use an inverse RIAA filter which allows us to feed a reference test signal into the phono input with the proper RIAA equalization and level. A square wave or sine sweep is used to verify that the device’s phono stage is faithfully reproducing the RIAA curve. If the preamp under test has balanced inputs and/or outputs these are tested as well.
We finish up our bench testing with a listening test with our bench amplifier and reference speakers. During this test we check for hum or hiss that may not have shown up in earlier testing. We also check that all of the tone controls and filters perform as expected. If the preamplifier has remote control functions these are also tested. Preamps with tube circuits or complicated power supply topologies are connected at our long term test rig for extended stress testing under real world conditions.
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