georgehifi said:
Sorry George, but on second thought that is too funny.
Thresholds re-issue is what it says, a re-issue.
There's also the question if they have the in-house talent to do something else instead of a re-issue.
There was a time when Threshold was going to the dogs.
I've heard and seen a lot of Threshold models;
S200, S300-II, SA/1, SA/2, SA/3,SA/3.9, SA/4, SA/12. (and all except 1 Forte Audio amp)
The Usher amplifiers are indeed superb with regard to hardware.
But so are/were Vincent amplifiers.
Not to stick a feather up NP's,...but..Usher make look it, it doesn't do it.
georgehifi said:
George,
So what yesteryear would that have been ?
The layout of the R2.5 sort off resembles my personal Threshold favorite, the SA/4.
(same number of parallel heatsinks, 28 Motorola TO3s instead of the 26 of the R2.5)
The SA/4 had 2 Holden & Fisher 700VA toroids, 6 Mallory CG 31.000uF cans, Monster internal cabling, original Tiffany and Canon inputs, and IMO a much cleaner interior layout (sauve the cheapish wire connector blocks at the potted toroids.
The R2.5 may cost 1/3d of the original Threshold price tag, that money buys a second hand original though.
Why anyone would pay a lot of money for a well made replica is beyond me. You don't think it sounds better than the original of the copy ?
Excuse me for finding these Asian beauties truly pathetic.
What is the schematic with the MT100 Sanken(WingChina ?) output devices you posted in early 2005 ?
Sorry but I own a Threshold S300 mkII Opto and the build quality of this Usher is way in front, you picked on the power supply, my Threshold was a mono supply transformer (pic attached) for both channels, this Usher transformer is dual mono and twice the size, my Threshold had two 49000uf Malory's to share the 2 channels this Usher has four 49000uf Nichicon Low ESR's, two for each channels. I won't labour on about the speaker terminals and chassis construction, but sufice to say that they also are far better than my Threshold.
There are some great products comming out of the Asia, and this is one of them, no need to tar them all with the same brush because youv'e seen some shockers.
I'd be proud to own this amp.
Cheers George
There are some great products comming out of the Asia, and this is one of them, no need to tar them all with the same brush because youv'e seen some shockers.
I'd be proud to own this amp.
Cheers George
Attachments
Stating that an Usher is better built than Threshold amplifiers were because it looks better than an S-300 model is deceiving.
I dread to see a first production Usher amp.
The Pass era Thresholds were king of the road in build quality, sound, and their striking clean interior.
(during which a Krell looked like a salad bar)
Not only did this Taiwanese company clone/steal the outer Threshold appearance, the entire interior is a ripp off as well.
If someone totally ripped a design of mine for the sole intention of making a bundle on my name i surely would not be proud of the build quality of the "product".
The 1st quote on my signature is Pass IP as well.
Ever seen other Threshold models than an S/300 ?
Threshold out-Krelled the Krell 20 years ago !
Put your hand over the transformer in the Usher amp and what do you see ?
The Merc of power amplifiers=>
I dread to see a first production Usher amp.
The Pass era Thresholds were king of the road in build quality, sound, and their striking clean interior.
(during which a Krell looked like a salad bar)
Not only did this Taiwanese company clone/steal the outer Threshold appearance, the entire interior is a ripp off as well.
If someone totally ripped a design of mine for the sole intention of making a bundle on my name i surely would not be proud of the build quality of the "product".
The 1st quote on my signature is Pass IP as well.
Ever seen other Threshold models than an S/300 ?
Threshold out-Krelled the Krell 20 years ago !
Put your hand over the transformer in the Usher amp and what do you see ?
The Merc of power amplifiers=>
Attachments
Yes, no arguing they cloned it, and did a better job, and that's what I said, better than yester years threshold's, five old Usher is better built than 20 year old Threshold.
Asian manufacturers are not all bad.
Usher has proved it to me, and everyone else I've lifted it's skirt to show them, they were very impressed.
Until you see one in the flesh, I don't think you'll ever appreciate what the Asians are capable of.
Here is a picture of their baby 1.5 which also uses Motorola output devices as does the 2.5 which I've played with.
Cheers George
Asian manufacturers are not all bad.
Usher has proved it to me, and everyone else I've lifted it's skirt to show them, they were very impressed.
Until you see one in the flesh, I don't think you'll ever appreciate what the Asians are capable of.
Here is a picture of their baby 1.5 which also uses Motorola output devices as does the 2.5 which I've played with.
Cheers George
Attachments
Some time ago NP was so kind to post a couple of schematics of his late 1980 Stasis designs.
Not a complete gunpoint stand-and-deliver deal, heaven knows i shelled him often enough with my entire boring psych. routine.
=>The 1990 Universal Gain module.
=>The 1989 Universal FEB schematic.
=>The 1989 E-line schematic.
Those contain (almost) enough information to build a genuine high bias Stasis design.
(half of the skin on my nose may very well still stick on a display window for that one $15.000 hormones jump starter, think it was testosteron)
I've seen the R-2.5, around $ 5k in these parts of the woods.(US, not Oz)
A Threshold SA/3 cost the exact same number of bills as the S/300II.
Those two also have comparable hardware/weight numbers, and share the same 19" x 13" x 9" case.
The R-1.5 has the makings of an S/300. (the R-2.5 a drained S/500 )
But an SA/3 is not an S/300 !
For a fraction of 5 big ones someone can build a copy of a Threshold award winner.
And if you do it well, the Lone Ranger will probably even tell you.
(anyone interested in drawing me a cartoon of NP hanging over an open amp, preferably with a red nose and holding one of those giant Bourgogne/Burgundy glasses ? )
Not a complete gunpoint stand-and-deliver deal, heaven knows i shelled him often enough with my entire boring psych. routine.
=>The 1990 Universal Gain module.
=>The 1989 Universal FEB schematic.
=>The 1989 E-line schematic.
Those contain (almost) enough information to build a genuine high bias Stasis design.
(half of the skin on my nose may very well still stick on a display window for that one $15.000 hormones jump starter, think it was testosteron)
I've seen the R-2.5, around $ 5k in these parts of the woods.(US, not Oz)
A Threshold SA/3 cost the exact same number of bills as the S/300II.
Those two also have comparable hardware/weight numbers, and share the same 19" x 13" x 9" case.
The R-1.5 has the makings of an S/300. (the R-2.5 a drained S/500 )
But an SA/3 is not an S/300 !
For a fraction of 5 big ones someone can build a copy of a Threshold award winner.
And if you do it well, the Lone Ranger will probably even tell you.
(anyone interested in drawing me a cartoon of NP hanging over an open amp, preferably with a red nose and holding one of those giant Bourgogne/Burgundy glasses ? )
moe29 said:
moe, yes the circuit is posted, back on post 6 of this thread, it has an extra gain stage which makes the amp a little more dynamic than the original S300 II Threshold. As if the the s300 had an Achilles heal it was a little slow/soft sounding.
This seems to have addressed the probelm all else is basically the same except for the bias, Usher ran it at half the bias of the original S300/S500 mkII's even Nelson commented that it would help if it were biased up harder into Class A as this circuit can benifit from that. Here is the circuit again of the R2.5 Usher
Cheers George
Attachments
hello george, i noticed the r-1.5 has four 10,000 uf power supply caps. would increasing the values to 20,000 uf or greater each improve on the perforance of the amp?
have you tried increasing the bias on your r-2.5? if so what improvements did you notice and would this harm the life or stability of the amp?
marvin
have you tried increasing the bias on your r-2.5? if so what improvements did you notice and would this harm the life or stability of the amp?
marvin
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