pangl

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 6.00 votes

Price Paid:  $975.00 from Audiogon.com

Summary:
My ownership of the SA5000 is an mixed bag. I could not be more elated when I got this at a steal price of $975. And the preamp simply sound wonderful as advertised. If I go picky, I'd ask for better dynamics and wider/deeper soundstage. This is not an reference preamp by strictest term - it's resolution is great but will not satisfy detail hungry person (like me). The downward spiral started several days after I owned this. I noticed that the unit is picking up RF/EM - I could listen to radio thru the unit! Of course, it would take a hundred bucks or so to get it rectified by Alta Vista. IMHO this is an corner cutted during design, no? Why am I paying for this? I got the parts myself from Parts Connection, but decided to move on to something else because I am really an detail-hungry guy and this is not my cup of tea. Then I picked the wrong screws as transit screws by mistake. So when I shipped the unit, it was quite damaged. To make ait worst, it turned out the top cover's screw length is important as well. If you mixed the top cover screws like I did, you'd cut the internal wire and make the unit dead! (which happened in my case!) I ended up issuing full refund to 1st buyer, got the unit shipped express to Alta Vista, and doped out about $700 to have everything fixed. Then on the return trip from factory, the unit got damaged again. I ended up having it sold at $1100. Months of hassle, hundreds of dollars lost. You do the math. This is pretty much the last straw for me to consider buying any Counterpoint product again. If you happen to get the updated the unit, well, this preamp warrants serious consideration to be a keeper (and don't ship it if you choose to move on!).

Strengths:
This is one superbly sweet preamp!

Weaknesses:
Picking up RF/EM big time - got to pay $250 @ Alta Vista Audio to have it fixed. The top cover screw could damage the unit, and if you messed up the transit screws, get ready for an $400 repair bill! Not the most detail nor holographic tube preamp on the streets.

Similar Products Used:
Sonic Frontiers Line 3; Kora Eclipse; Melos SHA Gold; Audio Research LS-7; ... too many to recall

Price Paid:  $3500.00 from North Country Audio

Summary:
Mr. Philipps' review is quite short! The 5000, though an older product, is a very fine unit. I've owned mine for 7 years, so I should know. It has served me faithfully through the years. It just sounds like music, or so I thought.
I got it back 2 weeks ago. It has been completely re-built by Mike Elliott, the original designer. He can be reached at Alta Vista Audio on the web. If you own one of these beauties, have Mike re-do it! I went with ALL the mods, what I hear is unbelieveable! The bass-midrange-treble improved! The imaging is breathtaking, it's like having the singers & players in the room with me. Dynamics are scarey! You adjust the volume so it is comfortable to listen to, and all of a sudden, something comes out of nowhere & knocks your socks off. It is a LOT quieter. Those little silences between the notes are incredible. You can hear notes decay much better. You can follow individual players & singers much easier, everyone is in their own, individual spaces. Not that they are of the super-etched type, it is just so natural, like the real thing! And the above refers to CD listening.
LP's have to be heard to believed. After hearing my beloved LP's on this modified unit, CD's have a LONG way to go to catch up. Everything that I said above is so much better with LP's. As I said, you have to hear it to believe it. If you want to hear someting really spooky, try this unit at night, with all the lights out. This way, you have no visual clues as to where the speakers are. In daylight, you know the speakers are there, but the soundstage is completely "divorced" from the speakers. It's like they're there, but not needed. This may not make any sense to anyone reading this, I'm having a very hard time explaining this ! At night, there is this "wall" of sound coming at you. INCREDIBLE!!
Give Mike Elliott a call. You'll never know how good this unit is, until you hear what he does to it! It cost me almost $4000, but find me something that has all the features and sounds better. I doubt that this will happen!

Strengths:
Imaging, bass response, a good built-in moving coil preamp

Weaknesses:
treble response, dynamics

Similar Products Used:
McIntosh C-20- Spatial Coherance

Summary:
ARGGGGG, i finaly buy my dream preamplifiers....a COUNTERPOINT SA5000.It's.....no word to say what i feel.

If you need a realy realy good preamplifiers try this SA.