Introduced in 1992, the Natural Progression Mono amps exemplify the best of Counterpoint engineering. Reliable and solidly-built, these amplifiers have copper-plated steel chassis, heavy custommade heatsinks and massive transformers. Front panel meters indicate output current and power. Do they sound good? You bet! With a triode front-end and an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) output stage, these amplifiers are capable of delivering 250 amperes of current and over 300 watts of power into four ohms.

Can they be improved? Certainly. Like all Counterpoint (and all sub-$10,000 gear) the components in the signal path and in the power supplies use above-average sounding parts, all right, but not the best by a great margin. And the circuit itself benefits from a lot of cleanup. The original circuit uses two stages of tube amplification, followed by a solid-state buffer to drive the output stage. Then 26dB of feedback is used to improve the measured specifications. I've come to realize that, despite what other companies might claim, NO feedback always sounds better than some.

The Upgrades:

Basic Upgrade

Premium Upgrade

Gold Upgrade
Option: Circuit Board Damping
System-Matching Information

Basic upgrade
In the Basic upgrade, we take out the solid-state driver, and reconfigure the tube section to drive the output stage directly by employing a different kind of circuit called a triode mu-follower. The new tube stage is much more linear than the old one, so no feedback is required. It has much lower output impedance so it can drive the output stage directly without the driver. The net result is a far simpler and thus more transparent circuit, without the transistory colorations that the solid-state driver added. The overall sound has more bass, and a far livelier sound.

During the modification, I also upgrade the components in the signal path and in the power supplies to use Mills wire-wound, Caddock Tetrinox, and Vishay "Naked" resistors; and replace average-sounding $2.00 film and $0.50 aluminum electrolytic capacitors with TRT Dynamicaps and Continental Capacitor Type A oil-filled capacitors (New! Was Black Gate WKZ capacitors, but the CC-A capacitors KICK THEIR BUTTS!). Power supply components, like regulator parts, are upgraded to sweet-sounding Zetex transistors, the rectifier tube is upgraded to a "AAA" type ("AAAA" available for $10 upcharge (per amplifier); tube sockets are upgraded to ceramic-gold, and a lot of circuit complexity is removed for a faster, more detailed, tube sound.

These are a class of parts Counterpoint (or any manufacturer who strives for a reasonable cost and sells through retail establisments) could never use in production because the normal multiplier used in manufacturing is much higher than what I use in my Custom Shop, which means that the cost of a new amplifier using these parts would have been astronomical. So, the odds are very good that you've never hear what a piece of gear using these parts sounds like. The difference is not subtle, which is why the better parts can command their much higher price.

The circuit improvements, taken together with the upgraded signal path and power supply components result in a far less hi-fi-sounding amplifier. You get an faster-sounding amp with far more natural-sounding midrange and treble, and more detailed bass. Imaging improves, too, becoming wider, deeper and more focused. It sounds more like music, has more dynamic "snap," a quieter background -- it's just more fun to listen to. In short, the Basic upgrade transform this already fine-sounding amplifier into a great-sounding one.

Price for NPM Basic Upgrade: $1089/amplifier
(NOTE: Recent price increase due to discontinuance of ELNA Cerafine capacitor used in critical location. The more expensive and better Black Gate caps has been substituted into this upgrade.)

Premium Upgrade. If the Basic Upgrade isn't enough and you're looking for even better sound, then ADD this cost-effective upgrade to the Basic upgrade. You'll get weightier bass, a deeper soundstage and quieter background with less "fuzz" around the musical notes. With this upgrade I replace the four big filter capacitors (the big beer-can sized black units) with 22,000uF/80V Nichicon KG Super-Through capacitors. Somehow, Nichicon has figured out how to make electrolytic capacitors that sound 1,000% better than standard computer-grade aluminum electrolytic parts (like the original parts). These parts are very important because they are used to provide the energy used to drive the speakers. The wiring to these capacitors is replaced with Sound Connections OFC wire. The rectifiers are upgraded to FRED (Fast Recovery Epitaxial Diodes). This modification results is significantly tighter, deeper and more powerful bass, with no rectifier-induced harshness, glare or ringing. Some chassis modification is required, but it's invisible.

Price for Premium Upgrade for NPM: $589/amplifier
(add $150 setup fee if not done with the "Basic" upgrade)

GOLD Upgrade. This upgrade is for serious audiophiles and music lovers only. Before getting this upgrade, you must get the Basic and the Premium Upgrades, which take care of a lot of easy-to-fix problems. This upgrade, which uses the really good, expensive parts, transforms the amp into a sonic masterpiece. The purity of the tube’s high-voltage power supply is dramatically improved by upgrading the rectifier tubes, upgrading all the aluminum electrolytic capacitors used in the the tube’s plate and cathode supplies to Continental Capacitors' exceptional oil-filled caps. More of the signal-carrying components are upgraded, including replacing the tube input resistors with Caddock Tetrinox, and Vishay "Naked" parts, and replacing the amplifier's output (emitter) resistors with Mills non-inductive wirewound resistors. The transformer is upgraded to a Plitron toroidal, custom-designed for the NPM amplifiers. I also remove the old RCA jacks and speaker terminals and mount Sound Connections's excellent CM1F-OFC direct gold plating over oxygen-free copper RCA jacks and BP-HEX/OFC speaker terminals. Finally, the internal power supply and speaker wiring is re-done with Van Den Hul "The Wind" Hybrid II wire.

Price for NPM GOLD Upgrade: $2,169/amplifier
(add $150 setup fee if not done with the "Basic" upgrade)

Circuit Board Damping.
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 $150 setup fee if not done with the "Basic" upgrade.)

System-matching information.
The new tube circuit in the NPM amplifier has a few dB less gain than the factory original. You'll need to turn up your preamp's volume control a bit to compensate. For bi-amped or tri-amped systems where amplifier gain matching is critical, please refer to the table. I will be happy to consult with you to help you avoid a system mismatch.

Tube Type	Gain
NPM (Factory Stock) with 6DJ8 Tubes	30dB
Upgraded NPM: 6922 (Sovtek)	27dB

If I can be of any further assistance, do not hesitate to contact me.

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