Counterpoint - Alta Vista - Mike Elliott


I was just informed that Mike has stopped all business because of health reasons. The Alta Vista Website confirms this. I know some of you may have had some issues dealing with Mike in the past but Mike was always a professional to me and accommodating to all of my dumb questions. I learned so much from his designs and I know that they were way ahead of their time. I just finished modifying an SA-5000 for a few audiophiles based on the information provided on the Alta Vista Audio website and they sound excellent. I still own the current version of the NP-220 power amp.

Well my thoughts and prayers go out to Mike and his family.

Thanks Mike for everything.
bigkidz
There are a few people doing repairs and modifications. I am in New Jersey so if that is convenient for you let me know, if not let me know. Don't post here, send me a message through Audiogon messaging.
Dear friends, I have a pre-amplifier Counterpoint SA-5000, I got it in 1993 and it has been damaged once, it repaired in a technical workshop but they took 3 valves and put new circuits. After the repair the sound of the preamplifier is no longer the same. I know a Audio technical service that would rebuild it, but I can not find the electronic schematics. You know where I could find them?
I have the schematics and I have serviced no less than 5 of them.
Most of them have failures like popping caps, rustling plate resistors, blown rectifier 6CA4 and blown Zeners.
Why would anyone take out 3 valves?  I assume they are the 12AX7 error amp and the 6922 pass element in the regulator section.
If thats the case then the preamp is no longer B+ regulated and you might as well use a Chinese preamp.
The SA-5000, unlike the 3000 and 2000, is a bit tough to service due to the floating chassis and the rather delicate regulator section.
Good luck finding someone to rebuild it.  IMO you might want to find a used unit on Ebay rather than trying to rebuild a butchered unit.
I have an SA-5 whose regulator got wiped out when the 200V caps blew.  Several resistors are burned beyond recognition and the PCB silk screen is unreadable after cleaning all the gunk off the board.  Does anyone have a board layout diagram or even a sketch with R#'s.  I have a schematic, but tracing out the physical circuit is not particularly easy.  Would vastly prefer to just re-stuff the board from a layout diagram.
Thanks!