This short video showed up in my YouTube feed. Good interview with various people, a few of them having been with Nelson since Threshold. Quite clear that Nelson has created a great environment to work in.
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I don't see anyone working, only a bunch of people making amazing toys and having a lot of fun!
aka, Ultimate Amp Camp
aka, Ultimate Amp Camp
About three decades ago, I worked for Jands Electronics in Petersham, Sydney. It was the best time of my life. The atmosphere was exactly the same; I learned heaps, helped design, built, tested thousands of all sorts of amps, lighting desks, dimmers, mixers. I was looking forward to going to work every morning. I'd love to do the same thing again.. but there's no fooling old age. Also, the local manufacturing is now long gone - it's all now in offshoring to make that last bit of profit while destroying everything that we humans appreciate in a workplace.
One stark difference between the video and the place where I worked is the lady who opened the door in the video. My God, she's beautiful. I wish we had someone like that to greet us when I went to Jands every morning.
One stark difference between the video and the place where I worked is the lady who opened the door in the video. My God, she's beautiful. I wish we had someone like that to greet us when I went to Jands every morning.
Anastasia is family, daughter of longtime associate Barbara (all the way back to ESS) and
( by adoption) Joe Sammut, all the way back to early Threshold. Her previous positions were
with Hewlett Packard and Oracle.
Oh, and she is president of the company...
( by adoption) Joe Sammut, all the way back to early Threshold. Her previous positions were
with Hewlett Packard and Oracle.
Oh, and she is president of the company...
Well Nelson, you sure do have a very capable and lovely president. I could work quite happily there, even if only sweeping the floors, tidying benches and packing boxes. Some of your bigger amps must be a challenge to pack, especially for export.
Congratulations for creating the perfect "AMP CAMP".
Congratulations for creating the perfect "AMP CAMP".
I sleuthed the relationship of Anastasia, from Pa's stories about Mr. Sammut, her mentioning stepdad Joe, and her mother's name on the return address on an old envelope I still have for a B1 Buffer PCB I bought years ago.
I look forward to visiting the Pass Labs room this week at AXPONA!
I look forward to visiting the Pass Labs room this week at AXPONA!
It is smart for both business and for simply enjoying your workplace.
Hiring and letting employees go is one of the biggest expenses that a business can incur. Imagine if you had to train a guy to take Mike's place... Or the guy doing the electrical testing... I believe I have seen Mike's initials (MR) on PL amps before BTW. Pretty cool.
There are a couple of interesting engineering techniques that I am noticing in these videos. One, I never knew that the heat spreader plates were milled to make contact at three points with the heatsinks. Is this meant to help the linearity of the heat transfer? Or if the heatshinks are not flat enough, the contact points will be flat due to the potential flex in the heatspreader?
Also, the use of washers underneath the heatsinks on the power supply of the XA power supply. I suppose that does two things. It allows you to run traces on top of the board... Very smart. Also, if you have a ground plane and a device with a metal case, then you don't run the risk of the heatsink being conductive with the plane.
What a fun thing to watch. Every one of those people seem like someone I would want to sit down and have a beer with and just chat. That kind of work environment comes from the top down.
Queue Sarah McLachlan…
“In the arms of the angel…”
overdub:
“Every day there are thousands of displaced and neglected audiophiles around the world in need of a home.”
😉🤡
“In the arms of the angel…”
overdub:
“Every day there are thousands of displaced and neglected audiophiles around the world in need of a home.”
😉🤡
Really enjoyed visiting the PL room last week and talking with Kent, Wayne, and Anastasia, who also confirmed my memory from Pa that her stepdad could hear the most minute amp differences using a Tannoy speaker! 🙂 And if you need a new top tier preamp, Wayne's got it for you.
Gee, this video is killing me. It must be really nice to work in such a small company where everyone brings their share of motivation and passion!
They're so happy and chirpy, knowing that life is so easy, due to fact that all dead amps and preamps are routed to OPLDF, and they are free taking all time for construction and production.
One thing that struck me, comparing this with the tour of the company in Switzerland with the stratospheric pricing - the name escapes me. I know they are not for me when part of the advertising copy has to tell you the fasteners are invisible. That is so important ...
This looks like a serious business - by that I mean a business that is interested in giving value for money. Sure PASS is expensive but you always suspect that there is something in there along with sensibility in overhead to give value to the product.
The other company was producing their jewelry in an office complex with all of the accoutrements of a big time legal firm. Guess who pays for those baubles?
Audio near perfection can be achieved sensibly when you do not run your business like it is some high flung NGO/"nonprofit" scheme.
Mr. Pass attracts fine people who want to work for him because they know he is genuinely interested in making a fine product and that he cares deeply for all people including his customers!
This looks like a serious business - by that I mean a business that is interested in giving value for money. Sure PASS is expensive but you always suspect that there is something in there along with sensibility in overhead to give value to the product.
The other company was producing their jewelry in an office complex with all of the accoutrements of a big time legal firm. Guess who pays for those baubles?
Audio near perfection can be achieved sensibly when you do not run your business like it is some high flung NGO/"nonprofit" scheme.
Mr. Pass attracts fine people who want to work for him because they know he is genuinely interested in making a fine product and that he cares deeply for all people including his customers!