Threshold Audio, Inc. is a manufacturer of high-end and professional audio equipment based in Houston, Texas. It carries forward the longstanding Threshold tradition of building high quality audiophile products with the latest innovations in technology. Threshold products redefine the state-of-the-art in design, performance and construction. They are elegant, reliable and musically beyond compare.

Each piece of Threshold equipment receives a level of personal attention unrivaled in the industry. Every unit is hand crafted with a degree of care that is beyond the capability of volume-oriented manufacturers. Every component is carefully selected based on its measured performance, and most importantly, on the musical qualities revealed in critical listening tests. Furthermore, specialized test equipment designed and constructed at Threshold is used to verify and match critical components before installation.

HISTORY

The Threshold brand was founded in 1974, introducing the first of what would be a long series of groundbreaking products using the STASIS technology, developed and patented by founder-engineer Nelson Pass.

The term stasis means a state of equilibrium and balance among various forces. Threshold amplifiers always delivered on this implied stability. STASIS, however, was also a technology in motion. In a world where the only constant is change, the name STASIS has meant continuing research, evolution, and improvement. Advances occurred with each new STASIS model, including the famous 400A (1970s), the SA3 and S/500 (1980s), and the e series flagship, the SA12/e (early 1990s). Threshold also made some well regarded preamplifiers, including the FET 10/e, which although not a STASIS design, was a mainstay of the Stereophile Magazine Recommended Component List for many years.

Even after the founder retired from Threshold, the company maintained the tradition of forward-looking design. In the mid 1990s, Threshold developed a new line of amplifiers, the T series, based on an innovative output device called the IGBT, which was then the best way to marry the advantages of bi-polar and FET technologies. These amplifiers also featured a sophisticated new front-end stage and power supply topology. During this period, Threshold also manufactured the T 2, a state-of-the-art audiophile preamplifier that incorporated a visual readout of all functions and a proprietary remote control. The T series proved very popular with audiophiles, and like its predecessors was selected for the Stereophile Magazine Recommended Component List.

In the late 1990s, like many U.S. stereo equipment manufacturers and dealers, Threshold experienced difficult times, but the strength of its product offerings and the excellent reputation of the brand allowed it to reinvent itself as Threshold Audio, Inc., simultaneously expanding into the realm of professional audio. It was at this time that Threshold developed its first active loudspeaker, the Applause S. Interestingly, it was the demands for power and control for this speaker that brought Threshold back to STASIS circuit topologies. The renewed evolution of STASIS technology was the driving force behind two new STASIS series amplifiers. In these state-of-the-art products, Threshold combined an updated version of the T series front-end stage and the latest incarnation of the STASIS output stage, while still maintaining the critical benefits of both FET and bipolar technologies. The company has also developed the world's first STASIS preamplifier.

In 2003, Threshold achieved a breakthrough: the introduction of the S/e series, offering a traditional Threshold robust, rugged, and reliable high-current amplifier at an affordable price. Today Threshold is about to introduce its first surround sound products, so visit us online again after CES 2004!