Nelson Pass on learning his craft, then starting Threshold, Pass Labs, First Watt
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- This is the second in a six part series of Nelson Pass interviews that post every Saturday.
Nelson Pass on learning his craft at ESS, then starting Threshold, Pass Labs, First Watt
Nowadays Nelson Pass is the head honcho for Pass Labs and First Watt.
If you have questions for Nelson, email nelson@passlabs.com
www.passlabs.com/
www.firstwatt.com/
Follow me on Twitter: / audiophiliacman
Amazing interview of a man who I most respect in the audio world.
He is also a great guy if you are a tech. I had to work on an older
Threshold amp that no one else could fix and he sent me
a schematic for the amp. I found the issue and it actually was simple,
well to me anyway. The amp had high offset voltage in one channel
and it was little more then a bad differential pair in the front end.
I made sure to replace the failed components in the bad channel but
also did the same to the other channel to maintain a perfect channel
to channel balance. Once done the amp sounded totally amazing.
I have worked on both Threshold and Pass Labs amps and all
were nice to service and sounded wonderful.
i can listen to nelson for one year straight and not be bored. thanks for this interviews.
True story: Before I purchased my Pass amp, I called Pass Labs to find the date of manufacture and verify the warranty. The conversation went:
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. If something goes wrong, simply bring it up here and if you're a nice guy, we'll take care of it." You could hear the smile on his face.
I replied, "Wow! You must be The Man there!"
"I am."
"Wait...it this Nelson Pass???"
"It is."
I'm rarely star struck, but t's not everyday that you're able to talk directly to one of the true giants of audio, an icon in every sense. The fact that he personally answers the phones at his company made me a customer for life.
Nice...!
there is a reason he is called papa in diy community. The nicest person
Same thing at Soundlab speakers
Great video, Steve! Nelson is a man whose forgotten more than I'll ever learn about this stuff.
Fascinating interview of a totally down to earth person who's efforts and creations enriched the lives of us audiophile equipment junkies. I am the proud owner of a NS10 preamp, purchased used in 1980, that I think will have to be pried from my cold, dead hands, as well as a used pair of ESS AMT1 speakers, which, I had no idea of his involvement in until now. His background of learning about repair work to see what works, and what doesn't, seems to be a very sound part of what he's accomplished over the years.
I watched this video all the way through. Steve, thank you so much for making conversations like this public. There is so much knowledge and so many stories in the audio world, and Nelson is no exception. Listening to Nelson and you go back and forth is extremely enlightening and interesting. I got into HiFi not just for the music and the equipment, but for the community. The conversations. The absolute wealth of knowledge amongst everyone. Every time you upload a video, I get excited because of the interactions and wisdom shared through you. I’m 21 and have gained an immense amount of knowledge over the past 9 years because of people like you.
I just moved to North East NJ about 2 weeks ago and would love to meet you sometime. Thanks again, Steve.
Audio’s Steve Wozniak! Lovely interviews! Thank you Nelson and Steve!
These are great interviews. Thank you 🙏
I only hope the younger guys that don't know much about Nelson come to realize & appreciate what a incredible designer as well as a man he truly is, he is nothing short of a American treasure.
Pass Labs (and First Watt) are Class A in more ways than one!
Thanks again Steve - this is a great series, even for us die hard Pass fans.
Looking forward to the next installment! : )
How is a Pass amp?
Thank you what a nice interview WoW ! I am 52 years old, I can connect the history dots more because of you guys.
What a great people. Congratulations from Portugal. Kudos, Kudos, Kudos.
That was a great interview 👍. I’ll be looking forward to the next ones with Mr Pass !!
I love this man, and am a proud owner of some of his products.
I remember my Threshold A400. It's one of the best amps I have had. Talk about controlling the speakers. Jesus. Great video, thanks Steve.
I love my ADCOM GFA 545 MK2, Nelson pass is a guru.
Great Admirer of Nelson Pass , he has given so much to the community that it won't be an exaggeration to compare him with Linus Torvalds.
Such a treat to hear Nelson speak about his philosophies and his history in HiFi.
Thanks so very much, Steve!
I love Pass Labs and First Watt gear. So elegant and revealing with low noise. I have an XP-20 and an SIT-3. It is hard to stop listening to that combo. Also, yes, Nelson does answer emails!
Nelson Pass is my own personal God. I worship this man and all he does. Thank you Steve for this great interview.
Loved every minute of this! Thank you.
Fascinating to hear an audio legend talking about his experiences. Great interview series. Thank you Steve.
Thanks for the interview Steve (and Nelson ) Very interesting to listen to him talk about his past . I think Nelson has a resemblance to George Carlin. Looking forward to the remaining interviews .
The worst sting of seller's regret I experienced hit me when I sold an X350. I've admired Nelson for decades; now, I feel something even deeper. I could listen to him talk all day, but thanks for cutting him off, because I have things to do.
Such an awesome video, cant believe i hadnt seen this one yet. I relate a lot to this, went to school for electronics because once i heard a vintage stereo i wanted to know why it sounded a certain way. Started repairing and now working for an audio company and designing my own amps to hopefully sell my own designs one day. Getting to meet Nelson Pass is on my bucket list.
Waiting to hear him recount his excellent work for Adcom. My old GFA-535 was a revelation when it came to pure bang for the buck back in the day. I know Nelson is (very sensibly business-wise) more into fairly "high-end" designs nowadays, but I'm very grateful that he did some more affordable "entry-level" stuff, because that overachieving little amp helped me develop the "budget audiophile" mindset that's guided me ever since.
Same, had several Adcom amps and pre-amps over the years. I had a salesman sit me down and listen to an Adcom pre-amp/amp compared to a top of the line Yamaha. As you say, it was a revelation and the beginning of my slow journey into hi-fi.
I still have a 535.
That's really interesting. I built a Pass Amp Camp from DIY Audio and drive it with a Dynakit tube PAS preamp, something just right about the combination. Sounds good. Thanks for the video!
Nelson is one of my heroes! I wish he would do a couple designs for car amps again. The stuff he designed for Soundstream was phenomenal. We need another batch of that to save car audio!
Such a great interview, thank you Steve so much, you are both great guys.
Hi Steve, this interview with Nelson is a real breath of fresh air. He is the same age as I am and we have traveled along many of the same roads in life. He has so much to say and has the most engaging personality, you can listen to his stories forever and still continue to learn! Thank you for sharing this with us! Lary
So interesting listening to the 1960’s & 70’s gurus..any chance of interviewing carver or bob hovland..
Papa Nelson is also one of my (2) heroes too Steve, along with John Curl. my absolute respects, always loved his designs
Nelson is my hero too. So interesting to hear his memories. Thanks Steve. Your the man.
Wow I love the Nelson Pass interviews. Good stuff!
Nelson's great man.
My hero, too! I love this.
Fascinating interview thanks Nelson and Steve
I have no idea who Nelson is, but I thoroughly enjoyed this interview and now im looking at his products. Pretty cool that he's only up the road a bit from me.
THIS WAS BRILLIANT!
I had conversations with Nelson when there was only snail mail; He always answered my letters and offered amazing advice.
Steve,
Thank you! This has to be one of my best episodes to watch ( and I'm sure ,any others who follow Nelsons work). Nelson has got to be one e of the most generous folks in the diy audio community. Not to mention Wayne ( Nelsons assistant wizard) designs and generosity as well with some of his designs (have all the parts to put together Waynes whammy class a headphone amp/preamp). Lost count of how many of Nelsons amps I'm wanting to build or collecting parts for. Have 2 monoblock amp camp class a 1.6 I need to build as well. Collecting parts for aleph j and thought about doing the f5, f6 and m2 in the future. Definatley looking forward to more interviews with nelson! I book should be wrote on all the works he has done for other companies (adcom, ess, and some others ). Funny he mentions car amps. Now I know why some of his designs ended up in some. A lot can be learned from nelson regarding circuit design, layout, serviceability etc. I'm no expert but just looking inside some of his designs it's elegant with the minimum amount required to get best sound and measurements. Again, looking forward to more interviews with this legendary designer! Perhaps a tour of pass labs? His listening room seeing the big Tannins? I have heard stories about how many amplifier Nelson has ( heard like 70 plus lol) and he said parts to make a hundred more😀 a video could be almost dedicated to that alone lol. Perhaps a tour of some of them😀 Thanks again Steve! And thanks nelson!
Wow! I want more of this! Nelson wanted to speak more and I wanted to hear him more.
These Nelson stories are so very touching to me . I met with my dear friend in the 70ties ! He is a fabulous personality and so entertaining as well !I fell in love with the Oscar Heil driver at both Rene Besne and Nelsons private houses ! My houses are filled up with Amt Loudspeakers from my friends at ADAM audio in Berlin! Personally I Prefer Class A Oil cooled Tube amps from Columbus Ohio with Nagra and Kondo preamps! Dr Solheim Marbella,
Great treat and looking forward to the next Saturday... Thank you!
Dynaco and AR!!! Good to hear those names where I began my interest in audio
Dynaco sucks!! Oracle, FTW!!! :)
Yup, Dynaco ST-35 soldered up in my dorm room at 3AM.
Great Interview! Thanks!
Thank you both.
Love listening to the great Nelson Pass. Thanks, Steve and Nelson!
"Yeah ya know,the plywood one got a tweeter". Perhaps this is the man behind the audio gear of my youth..... and then some....years..lol !!!!
Fantastic interview. I loved to hear about the relationship he had with Peter. I dig some audio history.
Excellent video, I have loosely followed Nelson Pass on and off as I can, starting with an article in Audio Amateur co-authored by Astronaut Norm Thagard (intriguing to me because I worked ground support equipment on the Space Shuttle program for 20 years). I have appreciated the fact that Mr. Pass has shared so much on the DIY Audio forum. He is definitely one of the audio legends...
I had no idea that he was with ESS before Threshold! I loved ESS speakers with the AMT
Steve, these interviews are solid gold. Thank you and be sure to pass on to Mr.Pass how much we enjoy learning a little about the master behind the magic.
The world would be a much darker place without people like Nelson Pass.
informative interview! Thinking about the Heils at ESS, now that technology is used in the inexpensive Daytons
Great! Thank you Steve!
Mr Nelson Pass!!!!!!!!!!!
I had the privilege to work with Joe S. and he was one of the nicest and honest people I have ever met, was a great mentor and always helpful. He will be missed.
Oh, Oh, Oh, Steve, you ended the episode just when it was getting very goooood! :) Thx papa, plz come back soon!
Four more Nelson interviews coming up, one each Saturday.
what a pleasure this man is - i imagine the architect of the Great Pyramid had to tour the building site, daily, for the whole 20 years, and same way Nelson Pass builds a whole amp, or two, or ten, to prove it can be done
Thanks Steve. Love hearing Nelson talk.
Extraordinary
Wow , Ive worked in the industry for 25 years , never heard such a pure explanation on how this all works , Thanks ... I worked at The Good Guys ! in Marin county , for my whole career . I was able to see many types of speakers Keff , Klipsch , Parasound , Adcom , Polk I used to bring my son to work with me once in a while . My son used to sit in front of a 70 inch Mitsubishi ,playing video games on a Adcom amp and Veritas speakers ... He thought I used to watch TV and play video games for my job ,it was great times ! Nothing exists quite like it anymore ...
@Mdmchannel Yes it was , I started in 88 ish by then they had 23 stores ,they went public while I was there . It was a great fun job .
@Mdmchannel Yes indeed , one of the most enjoyable jobs of my life ,selling TVs and audio gear ,we made in the 100 k plus job ,with generous discounts and dealer accommodations . I won a set of ref series Klipsch home theatre package one year ,trips to CES ,free monster cables . I still have a set of Polk audio Reference series ,Mahogany bookshelf speakers with ref sub ,new in the box never been opened . It was a lot of fun ,I raised my kids up bought a house in the bay area ,and drove an M5 bmw to work ,living large ... lol thanks for the comment .
It’s quite an addictive, interesting hobby following (and building!) Nelson on diyaudio... hope he keeps us busy... thanks Steve and Nelson
Steve, fantastic. I loved each and every minute and can't wait for the next segment! Well done.
That was fun and engaging😁
Fascinating interview. Thanks to you both for doing this.
Really enjoyed listening to a true master....
This is a treat. :)
"It's entertainment, not dialysis"
Love it.
So, how many reviewers could work as double blind testers for Nelson?
I was in the recording end of audio most of my career and we had so many flimflam artists making claims that just had no support from any known physics so ended up using 1 of my 3 studios as a test site for new products and cables when it was not booked. A lot of very well known reviewers and tweaky manufacturers thoroughly embarrassed themselves by not being able to have any better odds than random in picking differences or even intentionally alters performance characteristics. They never do proper testing and when they are not in control of the test, they fail more than not. What is a good system...? One that is paid for, reliable and brings more pleasure than sitting in silence. Even a 5-year-old can instantly pick which is behind the curtain, a great stereo system or a musician. If it is pleasing, it is good, for you Chasing ultimate sound is a fool's errand. A nice glass of wine and a lovely companion listening to anything is a very pleasant experience and that translates to an enhanced opinion of the equipment involved with the real difference was your mood.
@@stanspb763
Indeed. That's without establishing if a perceived "difference" is better or more "musical". It's a fun hobby but there are limits, and musical satisfaction doesn't have to cost a fortune to those with taste and imagination. There are times when my Tivoli audio table radio does the job:-)
I did some contract work at ESS i would tell coworkers. . These are a bunch of long hairs and seem distracted don't bug em.
I also remember management being seemingly extreme bipolar nice friendly one day a holes the next.
Could never afford the gear . Thx for the interview brought back memories i had forgot
Such a great series of interviews!
And man oh man I would love to hear about some of that test gear behind him. That dummy load, all of his gear and why he uses it. A complete tour of his bench and the lab area.
And also what he thinks is most important for that type of work. Would love a long strung out video series of that stuff!
Very cool interview! 👍 It's always interesting to hear the history of how some of these products came into being. And how people got started.
Hey Steve... great interview with Nelson.. Thanks for doing this.. Would love to see more of these types of videos..
Great interview! Can't wait for more from Mr. Pass.
I still have Threshold SA/1 amps from 1985 still operating without service. They just start-up without a fuzz and play. Can´t say that about the Levinsons or Krells I've had. Those latter two do break down and are complicated to work on. If you own a Threshold Nelson will always try to help you because he's that kind of guy. Luckily his amps do not fail that much ;-)
My "Audiophile" and Audio design hero. A living legend. I built one of DYI circuits. (B1 Buffer amp) Plan to build another soon.
Love these types of interviews! I could have watched more!!
Interesting that you mention Bob Carver. I went to Carverfest and built Bob's tube amp kit and then I helped Bob to get one of the amps working.
Looking forward to more of Nelson's interviews.
Wow, what an interview... brilliant, and what an intresting Hifi story.. makes it all worthwhile. greetings from Sweden
and what an wally... five volume knobs of five possible!!
This was a very intriguing show.
Finally picked up a Fet 10 preamp. it is exquisite, matches nicely with my adcom GFA-555 mrk1
I'd like to hear what he thinks about cables.
Fascinating to listen in.
My hero too !! Nelson helped me do the Aleph mini amplifiers ! Till this day Still run them and sell PCB's for this..
Awesome. I knew Joe, and of course Dan, but not Nelson. Always wanted too. Great stuff!
Joe was the first customer of mine to buy my 3D modeled plans for the Jensen Corner horn. He ended up buying about five sets.
Great interview, very interesting! Merci bien...
Steve (and Nelson) - the best ever. So many things...I had to look up the Bailey line www.keith-snook.info/wireless-world-magazine/Wireless-World-1972/The%20Transmission-line%20loudspeaker%20Enclosure.pdf. And the discussion on objectivity and subjectivity in design and listening...priceless. Nelson begins to explain the value of subjectivity in audio in a very coherent way...I wonder if he's ever taken that on as a "thing" to contribute to the conversation. I could listen to you two talk for hours.
I still love my Threshold FET one and S/300
My friend called Advent in the mid seventies to ask a question about his new Advent 300 receiver and wound up speaking with Henry Kloss. I didn't think that kind of thing happened anymore.
You keep this up Steve and I might actually subscribe to your channel. Very interesting interview with the guy who designed my amp. Thanks!
Nice video, loved the stories. Too bad I never really met Hi Fidelity until an electrical engineer, friend took me on a tour of recording history and played a reel to reel master tape at the 15 inch per second speed they played at. The tape was a demo from the early 60's of what stereo could achieve. Needless to say, I was awoken at the age of 56 eight years ago to Hi Fidelity and realized everything prior was just a poor alternative.
Thanks for your efforts!
I’d love to see his listening room
You will in upcoming episodes over the next four Saturdays.
Nelson looks like a sneaky wizard. lol
Hey Nelson...way back down the memory hole....This is Stan who was contracting to ESS and shared lab space with you in the roll-out era of the AMT. As Quintecense Electronics we designed and supplied the electronic cross-overs for the big Electrostatics ESS was making. That was just after we built a complete sound system for the Jethro Tull Aqualung national tour...everything power amps, electronic cross overs, speakers, mixing console, etc for the first hi-fi tour PA system. That was a crazy period at ESS with the monster first orders from unveiling the AMT-1 that increased sales 100x overnight. After a long recording career, moved to St Petersburg Russia in 2000 and loving it. Have 2 incoming tour businesses and an electronics repair shop for pro audio, on my 3rd retirement. Funny, I was, just after getting married myself, became the general head of service for the chain of Sun Stereo also based at their headquarters in Fresno. My wife worked there also and hated Fresno so the day we found out she was pregnant we both, without telling each other, handed in letters of resignation and we moved to the mountains east of Placerville and I created a business to handle all the radio service for Forest Service for several national forests and spending every fall-winter recording albums and owning a large popular recording studio. Brings back a lot of great memories. Life and times were a lot simpler with fewer concerns or stresses outside of whatever passion one had. Starting a business back then or supporting a modest lifestyle was cheap and easy on only took drive and a bit of skill. A different world than now.
That is one reason I moved to Russia, contrary to the western press, it is more like California 1970 in the ease of living and great opportunities and a lot of personal freedom. Imagine how much debt you and I would have carrying still if college was as expensive as it is now. I worked part-time and graduated with a little savings no debt and many job offers but except for 2 years Sun, always created my own businesses. University is free here, as is medical care and up to 4 years of paid family leave and very low taxes. I still have a house on the north coast at on the cliff overlooking Irish Beach in Mendocino County but seldom go back to visit it. With all the careers in sound, both recording and playing back, I do not even have a stereo and prefer every other night attending world-class opera, ballet, jazz. Having music around constantly dulls the senses of it so unless in a theater or club don't hear nor wish to hear, music.
@@mikeveglia8133 Which store? I have a hard time remembering names after all the years but remember equipment. I put on some amp testing events in Sacramento and apparently some liked it and offered me a job at the headquarters which I accepted breaking my vow to never have job. Sun disappeared sometime after i left to return to N. California. I preferred interesting locations and just create a filler for some need. Mostly I was in the recording end of the music scene and never really hung out with the hi-fi end. I did design a number of amplifiers for a small company which focused on the high-end Asian market. All of them were big tube amps, not that I preferred tubes but that is what they wanted. One they sold for $25,000 a channel, where the entire power stage, driver and power tubes, that were small exterior anode tubes with 300 watts of dissipation each, submerged in a clear pyrex column filled with clear transformer oil. They sold some before anyone even heard them. Unluckily they sounded good. There were I designed for them but I felt they were sort of shady and selling hype more than anything. I understand a Saudi prince was one of the first clients. That is when I decided high end was a flaky cult for the most part, with $3k/meter cable and cryogenic power cords for $500. My recordings were not geared toward them either: rock primarily R&B. Getting points on a platinum record or royalties on a hit movie theme song were a significant reward. That whole industry died in the early 90s and took radio and touring with it and none of them really recovered.
I can’t imagine somebody not loving Papa Nelson.
Brilliant!
Another awesome Nelson interview. 7 petty dislikes already?