What's your initial impressions regarding comparing the fet/ten HE and the T2 preamp

This point will be deeply developped in the upcoming second part of the Fet/Ten He review, but here is the first conclusion:

-The Fet/Ten He has been compared with the T2 and the with the Upgraded T2 (U-T2).
-The Fet/Ten He and the T2 play in a totally different area: whereas the Fet/Ten He was designed with a "simpler is better" approach, with the goal to design a world class competitor, the T2 has been designed later when Nelson PASS had already left the Company. The T2 emphasizes more on the design, the ergonomy (remote control), and the look (LCD panel).
-The quality of the internal parts used in the Fet/Ten He is far higher than those used in the T2, where there are a lot of "made in Taïwan" parts. This has a big impact on the final sound quality. This is not true for the external parts, mainly the cabinet, that is for sure at a very high standard.
-The Fet/Ten He is far more musical than the T2, as its primarily target is the "state of the art" level.

Against the U-T2, the competition becomes harder: the U-T2 is far better than the original T2 has we explained in the U-T2 review ( http://thresholdlovers.free.fr/articles.php?lng=en&pg=121 ). But there is no doubt: the Fet Ten/He is still more musical than the U-T2: this is a very significant performance because we are talking about a non upgraded version of the Fet/Ten He !

As a conclusion, the Fet/Ten He won the "Absolute Reference" award from the French Coherences challenge in 1992, and we really believe that it worths it: it is really state of the art, and it is still a state of the art preamp... able to compete with the today > 10k€ preamps...

and how do they sound on the SA/4e and or the SA/3.9e or SA/6e's?

The Fet/Ten He was compared with the T2/U-T2 using the SA/6e, 125W class A monoblocks: it has not be lessoned on the SA/4e but as the designs of the 4e/6e are almost identical, there is no doubt that the differences would be exactly the same (I perfectly know the SA/4e).

We will detail the differences in the second part of the review, but the Fet/Ten He wins the competition against the U-T2, and humiliates the original T2 as if it was a "supermarket preamp", which it is not...
This Fet/Ten He preamp is clearly a killer: just wait until the end of the review...

I see you use tubes on the midrange of the Apogee Divas so what other speakers work best with these newly modified Threshold gear without any tubes for the midrange?

In addition to the fact that I do not totally understand your question, this question is for Florent, named Provence13 on the Forum.

---> Florent, this is a question for you...

Can you give an example of say any of today's current solid state gear that the above modified Threshold gear sounds like or compares to?

Your question is very interesting: we will try to write an article on this subject, but here are the mains thoughts.

The reply depends if we refer to the amps or to the preamps.

Regarding the SA serie amps, they sound very analogical, detailed and sweet. The SA serie sound in NOT the standard transistor sound: they sound like the tubes, a sort of velvet sound but with more details than with the tubes.

Regarding the T2 and more particularly the U-T2, it provides more detail than the Jadis JP80MC but provides nevertheless a sweet sound: please refer to the U-T2 / JADIS JP80MC reviews on our site for more information.

The Fet/Ten He is one step beyond compared with the U-T2: its sound is cleaner, particularly in the highs where the better parts make the difference, and in the low medium/bass where this preamp articulates more than the U-T2.

Feel free to ask for more detail: just use this forum...

I have just read the answers you've posted to my questions about the fet/10 and the T2.

So it seems that the difference between the two preamps is that the fet10 is more musical and the T2 w/upgrades is a bit more detailed. Would that be correct?

The Fet/Ten He is far more musical than the T2 and is also a little more musical than the U-T2.

The U-T2 is not more detailed than the Fet/10 He, but the general feeling is that the high frequencies seem to be played with more presence than with the Fet/10 He. The problem is that these high frequencies are less clean and less pure than with the Fet/10 He. There is more harshness, certainly because the schematic of the T2/U-T2 is more complex, and because the internal parts are of a lower quality than in the Fet/10 He.
Are you looking to upgrading the fet/10?

Probably yes, but we have to study how, and particularly to identify the best possible parts to upgrade.
For logistics reasons, it will probably take us a few months before we proceed (we are moving to another city and will not perform the upgrade until the relocation is done).
I know you mention replacing the volume pot already and the power supply could definitely use some help? Maybe add new transformers, one for each channel and more power regulation through out the unit.
This makes sense of xourse, but we also have to identify the best possible parts for the upgrade...
I believe the T2 has a lot more power regulation going inside it then the fet/10?

You are right, but the T2 requires much more power than the Fet/A0 He.
Despite the wonderful power supply upgrade done on the U-T2, the Fet/10 He is still a little bit more musical...

Remark: our U-T2 is currently at the workshop for changing a few other critical parts that were not upgraded during the first upgrade. I cannot say more, but this should help to reduce the noise floor of the U-T2 and probably increase the U-T2 musicality. But I do believe that the Fet/10 He, when upgraded, will win the race.

Hi Morrosco42,

Your message is very interesting. I would just like to share my thoughts with you:

Regarding:
From my point of view the power supply of the 10 is underdesigned (short) and the T2 and T3
ridiculously overbuilded.

I am not totally convinced: the Fet/10 HL power supply is much smaller than the T2 / T3 one, but the preamp is much simpler, and drains less current than the T2/T3. I nevertheless believe that the FET/10 power supply needs an upgrade to get the max out of the Fet/10. There is no doubt for me that the P.S. capacitors should be replace by better ones: I have seen a huge improvement after having changed them in my T2.
Florent and I have planned to meet a preamp specialist in the coming weeks to discuss what could be done on the FET/10 to improve it: we already know some tips, but we want to go further and have a detailled information about the parts that should be upgraded. Note that when we will upgrade it, we will probably replace the volume control by a DACT attenuator.

The T2/T3 original power supply does not look overbuilded to my ears: the P.S. upgrade is a "must have" in my opinion: power supply capacitors upgrade and improve filtering provide a huge sonic improvement. Some other parts replacement achieves to push the T2 in another world compared with the original one.... Amongst them, the preamp capacitors renewal (90° -> 105°C) and the voltage regulation upgrade have a huge impact on the T2: I have no doubt it would be the same on the T3.

Let me know if you need more info, or contact me by MP

Have a nice weekend,
Nounours