Pass 40/40 Coherent Reference Amplifiers

Register to hide this ad
Do you have a picture of the boards? Do you know if they are the regular PASS A40 boards? I have some A40 boards from back in the Audio Amateur/ Old Colony Sound Labs days. I also have a stash of the unique Lambda Darlington output transistors. I built an A40 in a SUMO Andromeda II chassis years ago and still have it.

Craig
 
Last edited:
Do you have a picture of the boards? Do you know if they are the regular PASS A40 boards? I have some A40 boards from back in the Audio Amateur/ Old Colony Sound Labs days. I also have a stash of the unique Lambda Darlington output transistors. I built an A40 in a SUMO Andromeda II chassis years ago and still have it.

Craig
IMG_5233.jpeg

Here they are.
 
Those are NOT the standard A40 boards. I would get over on PASS Diy and see what Nelson has to say, he just might have some old boards laying around. I got a pair of the regular A40 boards from him when the Old Colony Sound Lab boards sold out. He might even have a schematic. You should be able to get some history about the amps from him.
 
Only 40V rated main filter caps?
That seems very low to me.
What am I missing?
Moderate output doesn't require high rail voltage. And, being Class A, it's sorta like your question on Class G/H. Keep the voltage low as possible to minimize dissipation as much as possible.

If I recall properly, my 25wpc @8, 50wpc@4 PasssDIY F6 is maybe 25V rails.
 
Last edited:
Moderate output doesn't require high rail voltage. And, being Class A, it's sorta like your question on Class G/H. Keep the voltage low as possible to minimize dissipation as much as possible.

If I recall properly, my 25wpc @8, 50wpc@4 PasssDIY F6 is maybe 25V rails.

Gottcha. Thanks.

My only experience is with my Adcom GFA555 II's and the rail voltage is closer to 80VDC and the main filter caps are rated for 100VDC.
 
With 32V rails the A40 draws 1.5A at idle, approximately100W, when biased for 40W into 8 Ohms. Bias is .51V across the .68 Ohm emitter resistors, 10 times the current of an average A/B amp.
 
Those are NOT the standard A40 boards. I would get over on PASS Diy and see what Nelson has to say, he just might have some old boards laying around. I got a pair of the regular A40 boards from him when the Old Colony Sound Lab boards sold out. He might even have a schematic. You should be able to get some history about the amps from him.
Got shot down, was told it’s not a Pass Labs product and to ask on the forums.

I’m wondering who did manufacture this thing?
No marks on the back plate makes this tough.
 
Last edited:
With those blue circuit boards it sure looks like a Threshold era product. What type of output transistors does it use?
 
With those blue circuit boards it sure looks like a Threshold era product. What type of output transistors does it use?
On the working one, someone replaced them with MJ15024 and 25, four of each on each channel, 16 devices total per unit.
The non working unit uses Motorola devices marked CLASSA6 and 2N5878.
 
I think I can reverse engineer the circuit boards. A schematic sure would be nice though, I’m going to make sure I document exactly what is connected to where.
There’s a mix of fuses, but I believe the correct values are 5A rail fuses and then a 12A main fuse.
 
CLASSA6 and 2N5878 , normal BJTs, are the same ones used in Threshold amps, the original A40 used Darlington outputs. This would explain the driver transistors near the bottom of your circuit boards, Darlingtons don't require drivers. Also the clip-on heatsinks on the TO-92s are the same ones used in Threshold amps. Lots of coincidences.
 
Back
Top Bottom