
Pass worked at ESS designing crossovers and enclosures through 1973. In 1972, he joined ESS speakers in Sacramento just prior to the arrival of Oscar Heil, who would design the Heil Air Motion Transformer which was a key component of the ESS AMT series of speakers. While a student, he founded PMA to design and manufacture speakers. In the early 1970s, Nelson Pass was studying Physics at the University of California-Davis. Nelson Pass and the founding of Threshold The company, today based in Houston Texas, manufactures mono-block and stereo power amplifiers, multi-channel power amplifiers and stereo control amplifiers. Threshold Audio is a high-end audio equipment manufacturer originally established in California in 1974 by audio engineer Nelson Pass and graphic designer René Besne.
