Which Threshold s are best?


Just wondering for those of you up on Thresholdif one were looking for a vintage piece which Threshold to look for?I assume one made while Mr.Pass ran the show.Thinking more than 100 maybe 150 to 300 a side.Also thoughts if any about the licence he gave Nakamichi to build their Stasis 100 and 200 wpc amps.Can they deliver on the cheap?Are there problem amps to avoid?
Thanks
chazzbo
chazzbo
I can tell you my opinion.I owned a Threshold ( new purchase)a S/300 sereis 2 for many years of trouble free operation. Great peice no hassles.Very non-solid state sound.One of the best of the best! I would definately recommend the S-series.In my opinion this was the best of the Nelson Pass efforts.They were also built to last a lifetime.....Hope that helps
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I believe that the SA series, made in the mid 80's were the best amps made by Threshold when Nelson Pass was in control. Pure Class A. The SA3 a 50 watt model was outstanding and the SA1 mono's are a classic. They still cost 3K+ if you can even find them on the used market. The S500 was a great AB amp if you needed a lot of power.
Threshold SA/1 mono block (pure class A) power amps are the best sounding poer amps that Nelson Pass had designed, period.

Personally owned just about every Threshold amp that was ever made, and still have about two dozen Threshold pieces.
The SA/1's standout alone on top.
As good as many Threshold amps are, they can all benefit from component upgrades / internal modifications.

One of my friends has a very highly modified Stasis 2. He swapped out many of the caps, diodes, etc... of the existing circuitry, increased the filter capacitance of the power supply and then had Jon Soderberg of Vintage Amp go through and align it. While this was the most heavily modified amp that Jon has ever worked on, he also said that it was probably the best sounding Threshold amp that he had ever heard. Given that Jon used to work for Threshold and has probably repaired / modified hundreds upon hundreds of Threshold based products, even after they went out of business, i think that his comments should say something about how much parts quality equates to what we hear. This is just another reason why i encourage others to upgrade / modify what they already have, if they are basically happy with it.

With that in mind, i don't think that you can go wrong with any of the mid to later series Threshold pieces, even in stock form. Some are better than others, but all of them have the potential to sound very nice. While I can't say that i've even come close to hearing or examining every amplifier or design out there, Nelson Pass is my favourite amplifier designer at this point in time. He has been for several years now. Sean
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