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the Threshold owners thread

jeremyjustic

jeremyjustic

Analog
Hey guys, I've searched and cant find a Threshold owners thread so I figured I'd start one.

I first became aware of Threshold at a young age, in fact , Threshold was my first introduction to the audiophile hobby. I had the proverbial cool uncle who moved back to New Orleans after living in New York City, he bought with him his pride and joy, a Threshold / Infinity kappa 9 system. He was quite proud of that system, and rightfully so , it sounded awesome!

I learned so much about music, the audiophile hobby and life in general around that system, it really brings back great memories. I lusted after Threshold gear ever since, a couple of years ago I realized the dream and put together my very own Threshold system.

it consist of
Threshold fet 10/hl preamp
Threshold fet 10/pc phono preamp
Threshold s/300 amp

So what is your experience with Threshold? How were you introduced to the brand? Any stories, info or thoughts you care to share?
got pics?
 
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I never heard of Threshold until about two years ago. Curious, as I've known of Nelson Pass for quite a while. Anyhow, two years ago Threshold amps were all over the place on the used market. Now they seem scarce and a lot more expensive than just two years ago.

Eventually, I'll get myself a 400a or a CAS 2.
 
Nice! thanks for replying guys!

HTWillie, you are correct man, When I picked up my gear about 2 or 3 years ago now they were still pretty reasonable in price, then again seems like all gear has skyrocketed in the last couple of years. I lucked out when I had contacted someone about the Threshold fet10pc phono preamp, we wound up making a trade for my vintage McIntosh preamp for his Threshold preamp AND phono preamp, I know I couldnt have been happier with the deal, he felt the same way, good deal all around.

Satch, Who did the work on your amp? I plan on keeping this system for a while so I have been thinking about sending one piece at a time to Jon Soderberg for some love. I spoke to Jon a while back about recapping the pre and phono pre, extremely reasonable prices for the quality work he does. I'd be interested on hearing your thoughts on before and after the recap.
 
Here are a couple of nude photos I pulled off the internet. I feel like I am in Pulp Fiction, opening the briefcase full of gold, when I open up the phono preamp to make adjustments.
FET 10/pc phono preamp



Fet 10/hl preamp



I love the build quality in the Threshold gear, all that gold in there! I have never seen another brand go so over the top!
 
jeremyjustic said:
Satch, Who did the work on your amp? I plan on keeping this system for a while so I have been thinking about sending one piece at a time to Jon Soderberg for some love.
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Me :) . To my ears, there wasn't much difference before and after. I have to say the S/300 was in pretty good nick when I bought it anyway, so it was more to prevent than to improve.
I've heard very good things about Jon, so I wouldn't hesitate to bring my gear to him.
 
jeremyjustic said:
I first became aware of Threshold at a young age..
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As with me as well. I became an electrostatic enthusiast after hearing JWC's Dayton-Wrights back in '76. The audio shop where I hung around picked up the brand, but needed a power amp that was capable of driving its notoriously difficult reactive load. The first one was a Dunlap-Clarke that was up to the job, but didn't sound particularly well. Then Julian discovered the Threshold 800A, a truly ground breaking design by a talented new designer named Nelson Pass. It was both powerful and with its revolutionary sliding bias Class A output stage, sounded great. Pass was well aware of those speakers and actually demoed his amps at shows using them.

I bought a Stasis 3 in 1981 to drive Acoustat Monitor 4s. I kept it for over thirty five years. I proactively replaced the Mallory power supply caps and bypassed them with films, but never had any trouble with it. That amp taught me the value of low level resolution.

Nelson's current stuff at First Watt and Pass Labs remains at the top of the audio game.
 
E-Stat said:
As with me as well. I became an electrostatic enthusiast after hearing JWC's Dayton-Wrights back in '76. The audio shop where I hung around picked up the brand, but needed a power amp that was capable of driving its notoriously difficult reactive load. The first one was a Dunlap-Clarke that was up to the job, but didn't sound particularly well. Then Julian discovered the Threshold 800A, a truly ground breaking design by a talented new designer named Nelson Pass. It was both powerful and with its revolutionary sliding bias Class A output stage, sounded great. Pass was well aware of those speakers and actually demoed his amps at shows using them.

I bought a Stasis 3 in 1981 to drive Acoustat Monitor 4s. I kept it for over thirty five years. I proactively replaced the Mallory power supply caps and bypassed them with films, but never had any trouble with it. That amp taught me the value of low level resolution.

Nelson's current stuff at First Watt and Pass Labs remains at the top of the audio game.
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Dan D'Agostino got his start repping for Mike Wright and used a Threshold for his dealer demos. René Besne described Dan's role as schlepper.

Not a Threshold, but my Aleph 5 is a keeper even though it's not up to driving my main system panels.
 
I kind of place Threshold, Ayre, Krell, Crown and Accuphase in the same camp. All tend to be on the Austere side. Even a little cold. My woofers love that kind of control but the mids and tweeters etc not so much, so I just say though the amps might be great for some folks speakers and listening environments, they are not for me. A little more laid back back is my preference. That doesn't mean I don't like intimate recordings, I do, I just don't want to be able to see the decay build up on the Sopranos tongue and teeth. A lot of that has to do with your choice of loudspeakers and not the amp at all. So if you need a pair of Thresholds to clean up a pair Klipsch speakers and tighten the bass , go for it. Or if your old JBLor Altec two ways need some renewed openness go for it. But for speakers such as B&W, Snell, Kef, I would much prefer other amps. Some of todays current speakers seem to sound best with tube amps to take off the edge, Tannoy, Mcintosh, and a few models of the DD series JBL. One of my favorite speakers never to have owned but use briefly was the JBL 4435. And I bet a pair of Thresold mono blocks might just be the perfect match. I used the 4435 with a Crown Micro Reference amp and the combination could be fantastic in the Studio, but with commercial digital recordings and some older analog stuff was almost intolerable. So was it the amps fault, the speakers, source material, the pick-up the players, probably. But there was an old MC275 around for just those occasions. I would have preferred a pair of 3500's but thats another story.
 
My introduction to Threshold came through Nakamichi. Although I don't own any actual Threshold gear (because I definitely can't afford it at this point), I've got a Threshold-licensed Nakamichi PA-5 Stasis Power Amplifier. I love it.
 
Nightwisher said:
My introduction to Threshold came through Nakamichi. Although I don't own any actual Threshold gear (because I definitely can't afford it at this point), I've got a Threshold-licensed Nakamichi PA-5 Stasis Power Amplifier. I love it.
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I have the original PA-7 myself--if you look at schematics and even pop the hood and look inside, it looks frighteningly similar to the similar Threshold amps from that era. Pass simply recommends freshening up the capacitors and setting the bias properly to bring these to peak efficiency. There is one questionable coupling capacitor that some owners have changed which helped flesh out the bass a little--in the same era Thresholds and in later PA-7 versions, they used a different value. That is probably the only modification I would ever make. The rest is too good to mess with.

Threshold, and Pass's newer amps, are known to have more "tube-like" characteristics. And I have to agree that while this PA-7 does have a good bit of heft to the sound, I can listen to it all day due to its easygoing nature. It is never tiring. I briefly had a Rotel in my system prior to this one (since my Carver had gotten noisy), and found the Rotel to be thin and sterile sounding. Did not like it at all. I heard a set of Pass monoblocks through a pair of Focal speakers at AXPONA and it sounded like something I could live with, no complaints. ;)

My next move after this might be a higher-powered tube amp, like a pair of C-J Premier 12 monoblocks or the Premier 140 stereo amp. (I already have a C-J preamp I really like.) But I'll likely still hold onto this one. I like it that much.
 
Nice thread

I´m a proud an happy owner of a S200 (optical bias). Got i for a good price a few years back (ca $1000).
The build quality and of course the sound quality is very good. They can drive my Tannoy Arden with ease (probably don´t leave the class A mode very often, if ever).
 
yeah , I'm not sure I would call the Threshold sound cold or warm. To me it just seems right. I went from a biamped vintage McIntosh system, which had a very laid back warm sound to the Threshold. Maybe I just happened on a great system combination, who knows but I dont think I've experienced listening fatigue one time with the Threshold. Also , I dont miss having tone controls one bit, I was a bit concerned because in the McIntosh system I was using a DBX driverack pa for room correction, I have never felt it necessary to hook it up in the Threshold system.

I guess thats why there are more than one audio manufacturer, something out there for everyone!
 
Satch said:
I own a Threshold S/300 amp. Serviced it a couple of years ago and it's as good as ever. Don't imagine myself getting another poweramp, unless this ons breaks down *knocks on wood*.

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Um, I would replace the Mallorys right about now.
 
I first got interested in Threshold when I read the Stereophile article about the Threshold SA/12e monoblock amps. WOW!

No way I could afford them as a young college student - or ever. But I really fell for Nelson Pass' design principles and circuits and use of Class A bias. I also looked into his prior works. All very interesting.

Was an avid audiophile so I frequented the NYC audio stores in the mid 90s. One day, there was a Threshold SA/3.9e in the used section. Stopped me dead in my tracks. Of course it came home with me. It was then updated by Jon Soderberg at Vintage Amp repair. Was my main amp for about 20-25 years. Best stereo 60wpc amp I've ever heard.

I eventually picked up the Threshold SA/6e monoblock amps (which are basically two separate SA/3.9es). At least those I could afford and more importantly LIFT by myself. LOL. Because of them, I sold the SA/3.9e (still sorry that I did). They also went to Jon for updating.

I also picked up some Pass Labs Aleph 2 monoblocks and used them for the main system for a while but then went to an active crossover setup so that I could use the Threshold SA/6es for the LF and the sweetness of the Alephs for the MF/HF.
This works very well with my B&W Matrix 802s.

Also built the Nelson Pass DIY amp camp amplifier. Nice little 6W class A monoblocks! Waiting to find a pair of some very efficient speakers for them.

Photos of my Thresholds and more information can be seen here...

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass...overview-schematic-collection-all-models.html
 
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