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Counterpoint SA20

Hey all happy new year ..

I just pick up this beautiful amp this was at a estate sale was only able to plug it in to see if it power up and it did ... So now I buy the unit get it home open the box power it up for about a Half hour or so before I connect anything to it ..

I also had the lid off to take a peak in side all look look .

Now I set my self up connect everything and power it up . I was so please with the sound I was very happy .. so for the first hour it all went well then here is were it went south .. I notice that the right was sounding a bit weak and then the pop and the smoke and no sound I power off look inside the right side went ,,,

Well here is were I ask for help . I know that it can be repair by a few repair place on line .

My big question is who should I use have any one use or had any issue with some of the repairs and experience with some of the repair places .

I would like to repair it or should I sell it with one channel down .

Has anyone had this issues with the Counterpoint ... .

Any help and answer would be nice and thanks to all for the help ...

Be well and Have a Happy New Year ..
jackandcoke
danielk141
489 posts
 
Okay. I'll try to be diplomatic about this.
There are many 20 year old & older pieces of gear bought, sold, praised & put down on this site.
In the case of amplifiers, I have repeatedly suggested to anyone who asks, IMO the Adcom GFA5500 equals or beats them all, at around $550.00 for 200 watts per channel.
I've owned over 30 amps since I became an enthusiast.
My favorite brands are Rowland & Pass. I owned (2) of the GFA5500s, for the money, they are bulletproof & again, IMO
they sound very good.
I have friends who've owned Counterpoint, PS Audio CX, Acoustat TNT, and (early) Spectron. They've all moved on when parts aquisition or service issues became difficulties.
If anyone asks about an issue on this site, and I believe I have constructive input, I give my 2 cents.
johnsonwu
469 posts
 
I have had zero issues dealing with Michael Elliott at all.
Purchased a few upgrades from him and he's an absolutely straightforward person to deal with. His estimated times of completions / schedules are very accurate.
He may be temperamental at times but as with many talented folks he's a bit eccentric IMO.
I know how to repair these things but based on my experience with SA100, SA220, NP100, and NP220 your best bet is to get a basic rebuild from Mike and add an upgraded Hammond 158L choke.
YOur other option is to contact the gentleman at Greenstreet Audio who might be able to replace your mosfets with Exicons. It might be harder to do than SA100 due to output stage board being a bit complicated. His biasing stage is also improved.
But I have this amp and want to do the bare mininum to revive it I'd replace the mosfets with 2SK1530s.
johnsonwu
469 posts
 
One more note to the OP, CHeck to see if your SA20 has boards on each side next to the heatsinks. If so it's an SA220 (many SA20s were upgraded) which has the more sophisticated current detector which sadly does little to protect the mosfets.
The SA220 is much harder to convert to use Exicons or 2SK1530s than the SA20 due to available space and mounting.
Something you should bring to the attention of David Genther if you choose to use Greenstreet Audio instead of Michael Elliott.
barrysandy
192 posts
 
I have owned Counterpoint products for at least 25 years (still own an SA20) and have had personal dealings with Mike for at least a dozen (own another NP220 upgraded). Mike's a reasonable guy and he stands by his products - he's taken care of me at his own expense. Know that the SA-20 is a beautiful sounding piece even by todays standards but that's not really your issue - you want a reliable amp more than anything. The two weaknesses of the amp, at its age, are the output transistors and the transformer. If either requires repair, you're looking at several hundred dollars. Short of a total upgrade, you can't be sure you won't have other repair problems down the road with something this old. I think you'll be able to sell it at the price you've listed it. Good luck.
johnsonwu
469 posts
 
If an altavista rebuild is beyond budget then a repair using Exicons or Toshiba 2SJ201 2SK1530 should not be that expensive. Other than some tricky procedure with replacing the relays the swap should be pretty easy on an SA20 (not the 220).
A tranny going south would likely mean someone trying power on the unit many times after the mosfet failure and tripping the fuses many times... otherwise my experience tells me the tranny is pretty robust.
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