Opinions on Apt Holman pre amp

[Fongolio]

As many of you know, I'm into vintage gear. I came across an Apt Holman pre amp that has been fully serviced and upgraded (op amps, caps, volume control, mute circuit). I've read some glowing reviews on this old piece but would like to hear from any Polkies who have had experience with it. Good or bad. I've purchased it and am waiting for it to arrive so I won't be swayed in any direction. Just looking for opinions. Thanks

Kelvin

[markmarc]

I remember the Apt Holman as a very clean budget audiophile unit. Let us know how it sounds.

[George Grand]

I've been using one non-stop for about 7 or 8 years in my Half-Ass HT rig. You couldn't pry it out of my hands. Sleeper piece.

[lakesailor]

Great vintage unit for the $$$. Had a decent onboard phono section as well.

[starkiller]

Excellent unit! had one new with a pair Holman power amps, Rogers LS35/A's, Satterburg subs, and a Rega Planar 3 with Grace F9E and the sound was superb. those were the days....:)

[Fongolio]

So here's the skinny: I purchased the Apt Holman pre along with an older PS Audio moving coil amplifier (basically a step up transformer) the two shipped to my door for $300. As I mentioned above the AH unit has been upgraded and serviced fairly recently. After playing several records (Weather Report, Minnie Riperton, Sting, David and David) and several cd's I can say with total enthusiasm that this was an excellent upgrade from the Carver C-1. That said the Carver is an older unit with original caps so it may sound considerable better after servicing which is my plan.

As for the Apt Holman PS Audio MC unit and Carver amp, this combination makes the SDA 1C's sound magnificent. The first thing I noticed was extraordinary detail (and I really thought the system sounded great with the Carver pre). Little details I'd never heard before were suddenly evident. And the three dimensional sound stage is astonishing; wide and deep and with height as well. The frequency range is also fantastic with the mid range especially silky. Voices sound exactly like they should and when Minnie hits the really high notes it's clear and clean with no trace of edginess. Spectacular.

To say I'm very impressed with the synergy of all the parts in my system now is a gross understatement. This piece (along with the PS Audio MC unit) has taken my system to a new level and made the SDA's sound world class in my humble audio world. To my ears the system now sounds every bit as good as any megabuck system I've auditioned in high end show rooms. And the best part, with the exception of cables and perhaps the turntable (about 12 years old) it's all vintage and cost a fraction of what this kind of sound would cost in a new system. Now don't get me wrong, are there better sounding systems? Oh yes, and many that would I'm sure beat the pants off mine. But could I get this kind of sonic nirvana without spending 10's of thousands of dollars? Not likely. Now, time to go put another record on.