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| SA-7, 7.1 |
SA-7/7.1 Upgrades
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Grant Davis' heavily-upgraded SA-7.1. |
Line Stage Upgrades -- This is the place to start -- all the signals go through the line stage.
Standard Line Stage Upgrade. I replace the tube's grid bias, plate load, and buildout resistors with Caddock Tetrinox and Vishay "Naked" Z-film film resistors and Mills Non-inductive wirewound resistors, and I upgrade the output coupling caps to TRT Dynamicaps. If your unit was upgraded by Counterpoint to use the MOSFET buffer, I bypass it and re-bias the line stage tube to lower its output impedance so it can drive your power amplifier directly. If your preamp never received the MOSFET bufferis upgrade, I bypass the original, troublesome cathode-follower (it likes to whistle) and set up the tube to directly drive your power amp. Upgrading the resistors and capacitors gives the tube the kind of support circuitry it needs to speak with exceptional clarity and purity; bypassing the output buffer or cathode follower eliminates solid-state or CF colorations and gets you a more transparent triode sound. The whole effect is a richer, livelier more detailed sound with more precise focus and timbreal accuracy. Energy storage is increased by removing the small film power supply bypass caps and upgrading them to TRT Dynamicaps.Price for SA-7/7.1 Line Stage Standard Upgrade: $670
Price for
SA-7/7.1 Line Stage Premium Upgrade: $1080
Price to
Disconnect SA-7/7.1 Phono Stage: $65
(add setup fee
if not done with either the Standard or Premium line stage upgrades)
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| Phono stage upgrades will clear up component colorations, allowing your to hear more of what's in the record's grooves. |
SA-7/7.1 Phono Stage Standard Upgrade. What's good for the line stage is superb for the phono stage, where the using high-quality components really shines, especially in the first stage and riaa de-emphasis network where high-frequency energy levels are extremely high. Upgrading the phono stage is more costly than upgrading the line stage because it is over twice as complex, but the increase is sound purity, imaging precision, air and musicality, is readily apparent.
Price for
SA-7/7.1 Phono Stage Standard Upgrade: $990
(add setup fee
if not done with either of the line stage upgrades)
SA-7/7.1 Phono Stage Premium Upgrade. Just like the Standard Phono Stage upgrade, but with Type VX power supply bypass capacitors and TX2575 "naked" Z-foil resistors in all the critical locations. This is a richer, more liquid-sounding version of the line stage upgrade.
Price for
SA-7/7.1 Phono Stage Premium Upgrade: $1200
(add setup fee
if not done with either of the line stage upgrades)
Price for
SA-7/7.1 Level II Power Supply Upgrade:
For Line Stage Only: $875
For Phono Stage and Line Stage: $975
(add setup fee
if not done with either of the line stage upgrades)
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SA-7/7.1 "Power" mod. The power transformer in the SA-7/7.1 can be upgraded to an extremely nice toroid. Counterpoint built their own transformers, which made sense from a business perspective, but as a designer I always wished we could use Plitron toroidal transformers. I don't know how they do it, but Plitron toroids sound great. No one else comes close. All other transformers make the SA-7/7.1 sound sluggish and thick; a Plitron brings the sound to life: delicate and vibrant with a dead-quiet background. These transformers are custom-built to my specifications. Allow 10 weeks for these transformers to be built. Provided in a die-cast aluminum box. Price to
Upgrade to Plitron Transformer: $450 |
Price to
Upgrade RCA Jacks: $90 for first stereo pair,
$45 for each pair thereafter.
(add setup fee
if not done with either of the line stage upgrades)
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Upgraded Volume and Balance Controls. TKD makes excellent feeling and sounding volume and balance controls. Once you've heard (and felt) the difference between a $7.00 volume control and a $70.00 control you'll understand why people go to such lengths to get cheap controls out of their signal path. For the "he-men" (and she-women) out there, why not have the balance control bypassed altogether? It degrades the signal; you know you don't use it -- why have it?
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Circuit Board Damping Option. Circuit boards
are light and stiff -- they are resonant as heck, which causes smearing
of the sound. Your audio will be substantially improved when we apply
thick wool felt damping pads between the circuit boards and the chassis
to damp all resonances. This results in MUCH tighter imaging and
spatial resolution, MUCH greater retrieval of low-level details, a
surprising reduction in edginess, and a greater weight to the tone,
which makes everything sound fuller and more "real." Click here for pricing. (add setup fee if not done
with either of the line stage upgrades.)
If I can be of any further assistance, do not hesitate to contact me.
