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Pass Labs Moves to New, Larger Factory; Increased Efficiencies Across the Board

Pass Labs Moves to New, Larger Factory; Increased Efficiencies Across the Board

Auburn, CA, April 15, 2014 — Pass Laboratories, Inc. has centralized all its operations in a brand new factory offering significantly increased space and productivity.

Located just a few miles from their long-time Foresthill, CA facilities, the new building is almost three times the amount of their former space. Among the many benefits of the location are: A more efficient layout for increased production flow; increased storage that enables Pass Labs to buy parts in larger quantities; closer proximity to transport that means faster shipping.

“Demand for our line has been steadily increasing,” said Pass Labs president Desmond Harrington. “And with the introduction of the 10 models in the new Point 8 series at the last CES, we desperately needed to increase our output capabilities across the board. The new, larger facility enables that, as well as many additional advantages — translating to benefits for our distributors, dealers and customers.”

Pass Laboratories was founded in 1991 by Nelson Pass.  Operating out of his workshop at home, Pass developed prototypes of a single-ended Class A amplifier design that became the legendary the Aleph 0.  At the same time, he constructed an in-house machine shop with three home-built CNC milling machines with which to produce the amplifiers when the design was finished.

By 1995 the company had outgrown Nelson’s expanded workshop, and manufacturing was begun in a new facility, retaining Nelson’s original workshop for research. Within two years that space was outgrown, and operations shifted to a new building in Foresthill, CA.  Additional nearby space has been continually leased to handle the company’s expanding needs.

Now, all operations are united under one roof.

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.

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