Move to Camarillo Sounded Right to Audio Component Manufacturer

After purchasing a majority stake in Threshold Corp. a couple of years ago, Randy Patton regularly commuted from his home in Agoura to company headquarters in Sacramento.

His plan, ultimately, was to relocate with his wife and son to Northern California, rather than move the high-end audio-component operation and its more than two dozen employees south.

But upon weighing the pros and cons last year, Patton’s plans changed. And last month Threshold and its PS Audio and Forte divisions moved into a 9,000-square-foot facility in Camarillo.

“Our lease in Sacramento was up in March,” Patton said. “I began looking at the overall costs of doing business in Sacramento as opposed to down here. Here, we are closer to our suppliers, closer to ports, closer to an international airport.”

Patton said about 60% of Threshold’s business is done abroad, through 30 international distributors. Camarillo’s proximity to Los Angeles International Airport and ports in Long Beach and Port Hueneme, he said, will aid in transporting products overseas and cut down on inland freight expenses charged to international customers.

In addition to its location, Patton said, Camarillo offered a substantial employee pool.

“Because of the cutbacks and layoffs in the last few years, there is a very capable and talented work force here,” he said. “We are in the process of hiring 15 to 18 people--technicians, people in assembly, soldering and engineering.”

About half of the company’s 27 Sacramento employees made the move from Northern California to Camarillo.

“Camarillo is beautiful and temperate. It has one of the best climates I’ve encountered,” Patton said. “It was really inspiring to our work force who had lived in Northern California for years.”

Patton said the transition from Northern California to Ventura County was aided considerably by the Westlake branch of Ventura County National Bank, which lent Threshold the money to buy the company’s new facility on Cortez Circle for about $750,000.

Gary Trow, the bank’s regional vice president of lending, said the work he did with Threshold is consistent with the bank’s general approach to helping owners of small- and medium-sized businesses establish themselves in Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley.

In the case of Threshold, the company needed to hook up with potential employees and subcontractors.

“We just got the word out to assembly plants that Threshold would be coming down to the area,” Trow said, “and that they would be looking for employees.”

Patton purchased the now 22-year-old Threshold Corp. and its Forte division in 1994, four years after buying the San Luis Obispo-based PS Audio.

Products under the Threshold name, such as amplifiers and preamplifiers, are priced at $2,500 and up per component. Similar products under the PS Audio name are priced between $695 and $2,000. Forte brand components, primarily used in home theaters, go for $1,300 to about $3,000 each.

Patton predicted overall sales for 1996 of about $5 million for the privately held corporation.