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Threshold?

I'm considering trying one of their older amps. Which one? I've never heard any of their products other than some Forte stuff. Sean has offered some advise. I'm looking at the lower end of the price line. Would prefer something that can put out about 200 watts into 4 Ohms. I've been told that the class A ones are the only ones to consider, that the pre T series sound better. Are the amps with balanced inputs truly balanced? What are the input impedance and sensitivity like? What non- Threshold pre-amps work well? For what ever its worth, I'm partial to the sound of Pass X series and Krell KMA 160b's. Please share your thoughts? As always thanks in advance.
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Showing 2 responses by rockvirgo

rockvirgo
587 posts
 
Nrchy, take a peek at Threshold (www.threshold-audio.com) and you'll find it embraces the Stasis concept. To get a feel for what Nelson Pass has been trying to accomplish have a look at his development discourse in the current X-Series owner's manual. He specifically mentions the Stasis amplifier and its sales over the last 19 years or so. Pay attention to how he made those amps and how he makes them today and you'll find, rather than a completely different design direction, a natural evolution.
rockvirgo
587 posts
 
Jrd351 nails it. Here's some anecdotal evidence from my Threshold journey:

In the early 90's I phoned Threshold to ask them which new Forte power amp they'd recommend. To my surprise, Threshold suggested a used Threshold S/300. My contact deadpanned, "you should be able to find one, they were quite popular." Sure enough, shortly thereafter a S/300 Series II appeared in the local paper and I got it. Paired with a Forte F44 preamp, the bass was just a tad slurred. At top volumes, high pitched intruments like soprano sax, flute, upper register piano and violin sometimes sounded screechy. Trying to solve these problems, I replaced the large can caps in the S/300 with equivalent new OEM Mallorys. The sound became a little smoother but it didn't help with the distortion at extreme levels. Then I switched to a Threshold Fet ten/hl preamp and all the problems vanished.

Search everywhere you can, get a handle on the different iterations and you'll figure out which model is right for you.
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