Zarathustra
Active Member
Do you still have the QLS's?
I drive mine with Threshold on the Watkins woofers (SA/1) and a CJ Premier One b on the mid/high section.
the Threshold owners thread
- Thread starter jeremyjustic
- Start date
I drive mine with Threshold on the Watkins woofers (SA/1) and a CJ Premier One b on the mid/high section.
Zarathustra
Active Member
That's always great a dedicated listening room. It's for a highend audio installation a must. The guy from which a bought an Audio Research pre a a couple of SA/1's had those SA1/s running on Infinity RS-1B's but his neighbours start complaining every evening so he quit listening and with bitterness he sold his complete set.
That's a kind of tragedy in my eyes. I'm lucky to have a dedicated freestanding location for now...
tomlinmgt
Lunatic Member
Ugh...that is tragic!
I have a set of IRS Betas I picked up a little over 10 years ago and have never listened to them because I didn't have the right space to do them justice. That's about to change. I live on almost two acres, so fortunately disturbing the neighbors isn't a issue for me...which is a damn good thing since I'm a drummer.
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Zarathustra
Active Member
Now that's another matter! Congrats with such a great set of speakers. But 10 years not listening to them must be some kind of ordeal. Your building a room around them I gather now.
Friend of mine has a IRS III with a Threshold SA/4 on them. He's now looking for a set of Aleph 1.2's because the former owner had a with a set of Aleph 2 which sounded superb on them according to him.
You could consider the Thresholds on the low end and tubes on the mid/high section of your Beta's. Nudell used mainly tubes from Conrad Johnson en Audio Research like Harry Pearson from TAS on their reference systems.
tomlinmgt
Lunatic Member
I have an Aleph 5 kit amp I'm going to try on the mid/high panels and either the s/300 or a Phase Linear 700B (that's been gutted and rebuilt with all the White Oak components) on the bass towers.
Zarathustra
Active Member
Where did you get the Aleph 5 kit? At DIYaudio.com Pass Labs forum?
It looks like my Pass X600.5's
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tomlinmgt
Lunatic Member
Believe it or not, I found it on US Audio Mart and the seller happened to live about an hour from me. I sent it to my tech (who has built several of the Pass DIY amps including a few Alephs) and let him basically rebuild it for me (which included replacing some of the components with better pieces than the original builder used and tidying up the layout). I also have a First Watt F5 kit that sounds fantastic but won't be enough muscle for the Betas. Sounds great on my Altecs, though.
Zarathustra
Active Member
My first US speakers where Altec Lansing Fifteens. You do not see much of them on the web these days. They are easy to drive indeed.
Hi All,
Just came across this thread and figured this would be a good place to pose this question. I was fortunate enough to pick up a Threshold S/300 series IIe recently. The "e" mod was done by the factory and was confirmed by them based on the label (see picture) that was applied to the case. However they didn't disclose what the "e" mods included other than to say the amp had been sent to the factory and the "e" mods were done during the service. The factory added balanced inputs at that time as well. Anyone have any knowledge of what was different between the series II and the "e" series?
Just came across this thread and figured this would be a good place to pose this question. I was fortunate enough to pick up a Threshold S/300 series IIe recently. The "e" mod was done by the factory and was confirmed by them based on the label (see picture) that was applied to the case. However they didn't disclose what the "e" mods included other than to say the amp had been sent to the factory and the "e" mods were done during the service. The factory added balanced inputs at that time as well. Anyone have any knowledge of what was different between the series II and the "e" series?
Zarathustra
Active Member
You probably got a optical bias board also.
I'm curious yo peak inside your S300 'e' Series. You got a switch too I believe on the backside to switch between balanced and normal?
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Yes, there is a switch to choose between balanced and single ended inputs.
Here is a picture of the inside I sent to Threshold along with the serial number and picture of the label that was added. I was hoping they would have been able to tell me when the service was done. They said their records only go back about 20 years so the assumption is it was done some time before that.
Zarathustra
Active Member
Have some intel here:
S/1000 Series II updated
S/1000 Series II updated
I've been enjoying the S/300 series II I got a while back so much that I just grabbed up a Threshold Ta 300. Anyone familiar with them or own one? Very little about them on the inter web other than one post I came across over on DIYAudio.com. According to the poster the Ta 300 was a one year transition model between the S series and the delayed T series. Apparently, it is based on the S/250 chassis and can be modified to run in full class A mode identical to the SA 3.9e. More research to do as I am intrigued by this option.
Zarathustra
Active Member
As far as I know this amp doesn´t have the unobtainable IGBT outputdevices in incorporated as did the later T Series (that's why I would never buy the pretty Threshold T800D), so you safe there.
And indeed when you can lower the railvoltage there's more "room" for Class A enrichment. That's what Nelson Pass is doing from the days of the Threshold S and SA series and Pass X and XA series, basically same hardware but other settings.
Would be a nice option to convert it with a higher biassetting. Probably better sound and more current at tougher loads.
Yes, from what little info I have been able to gather. The transformer has an unused second winding available that provides a lower rail voltage and then the bias is cranked up putting it in to class A operation at the "cost" of reduced overall power output, dropping it from 150w to about 60w.
Now I just need to figure out which pair to use, as seen in the picture of the transformer, and the procedure on resetting the bias.
tomlinmgt
Lunatic Member
Pretty sure my tech @FootFungus said the S series amps can also be converted to SA for full class A operation (but lower max output power).
While I can agree with this regarding Krell, I can’t with Threshold, but then my experience with Thresholds was all on stats. IMO Crown and Threshold are in two different leagues. I never had the chance to hear an Accuphase amp.
So the amp has to be properly matched to the speakers. it would be hard to argue with that.
Mrmky
Member
Hey All, I’ve been rocking an SA3 fed by the NS 10 preamp for a couple years and loving it. They’re pushing either JBL4315’s, or a pair of Altec 605a’s. My only complaint is that the preamp only allows for mm carts on the phono stage. My options now are track down an m1 module, or try something like the SL preamp. Any of you guys have experience/advice on those two preamps?
DaveThreshol
More Q's than A's.....
As you can tell by my name, I LOVE Threshold gear! (The d wouldn't fit when I signed up here!) You could try a passive transformer. You have to know all the cart specs, and that limits you to similar cartridges, or the next cart may not sound right. If you plan on upgrading, you could try the phono pre that I use. They go for under a grand on eBay. I use the Fet-10e line with a separated Fet-10e phono preamp. I bought them used on eBay, and never looked back. I have had about 8 pieces of Threshold. If you add up all the electronics/years, it's about 300 years of service, and the only problem is an S-300 amp has a bad switch, but if you finagle it, it still works!