Seems like you are a bit of a romantic.
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Apt Holman Preamplifier Review (vintage Audio)
- Thread starter amirm
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Absolutely! And I really like that they added DIY schematics for measuring noise and phono if your equipment lacks.The service manual is just a joy isn't it?
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
The inverse RIAA and the gain stage, both with PCB artwork. Love it. I'd buy one just for that.
Yes, I skimmed and scanned it and it's nice. Telephone number on the front page. I like where they recommend a Tektronix O-scope or a HP, a Simpson 260 multimeter, HP 3580A (they are still in use today.), a list of the hand tools required. The only thing missing in the recommended test gear is a Sencore Cricket transistor/FET tester. I loved that device, I had a very well used one handed down to me by a old techy that said this is what is needed and it saved my donkey many times. If you don't have one I recommend getting one for your lab.
I have 2 of them because I use every bit of one & run the phono pre-out of second into aux of the first one.
No remotes for the music side of the system, no cell phone control (the cell signal is iffy, anyway [even using Verizon, calls are occasionally dropped & frequently one can only hear every other word]). Remote control? Only for the TV/video part of the system.
The house has had a hard wired intercom system (yes, it uses tubes) through out it's 3 stories since it was built in 1964 (for [baby?] monitoring, for front door communication, for music in every area?). I was 8 when we moved here upon the completion of this house. (I have friends that were born in the house that they currently live in).
The stairs of the house are open to the living room, if I want the music on any floor, I can just turn it up. Or I can turn the monitoring of the intercom system on & send it to other rooms.
If music is on, it's because the music being played is the music that I put on because that is the music that I want on.
I do want to start digitizing my music, however.
No streaming service. I get 36 channels of HD over the air TV. For Free. And twice that for great FM.
A 3rd story chimney top antenna is a great investment when you are not in a city (which I hope to never be near). But the city is encroaching in this direction. Maybe one day I will have to move further out. So I can continue to grow & hunt my food & have my horses, dogs, etc. So far the covenants allow me to keep doing that.
I see that AT& T are running a fiber optic cable toward me, perhaps, if it gets to here, that may change some things.
Schollaudio
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What refurbishments have been done? Are the opamps the originals, if not what are being used now?
Mostly even order distortion looks good.
Mostly even order distortion looks good.
A lot of equipment from the 1980's had excellent noise and distortion performance. You can read reviews from publications like Audio, High Fidelity and Stereo Review from their inception as magazines until they stopped publication (or in the case of Stereo Review changed to Sound & Vision). You can find them at https://worldradiohistory.com/ I read through them over many weeks. You could even find receivers with .005 percent distortion from ... wait for it... JC Penney! We really have moved backwards.
I've always wanted to try this model. I love older preamplifiers because modern ones normally don't have all the features of the past (tape loops, external processor loops, tone controls, switched outlets, etc.). For someone like me, who still listens to a multitude of formats, including compact cassette, records, CDs, radio, and minidisc, there's a real joy having all the buttons and bells and whistles in these older preamps that serve as the "command center". I have a small collection of various preamps and like them all for different reasons. I feel like manufacturers have really cheaped out on features, not to blame them entirely because I suppose it's a response to the audiophile trend that seems to shun any alteration of sound. I can appreciate that some people are the opposite, and just want their preamp to attenuate the signal, but rooms and ears are all vastly different so I like having the ability to use a preamp that has more than a simple volume and balance knob. Some of my faves include my Pioneer C91, Mcintosh C712, and my DBX CX1. I got a NAD 1300 that was fully restored last year, and I love it. The tone controls are well thought out and are incredibly useful. By now, most of these vintage units require some restoration, but I think the $$ is well spent to bring them back to life if you appreciate any of those older features. There's also a tactile joy that comes from using them, often lost on more modern gear.
Yeah, that's the main reason I keep and rotate in my NAD 1020 and the Nikko Beta 20. And why I rotate a number of receivers/integrateds in my house systems, some restored, some not. I don't normally need a lot of preamp control but it's definitely nice to have on the setups where I have multiple inputs and where I am set up for taping. The Nikko has rack ears but is a really nice looking Pre and was made very well, it's probably the one I will put money into someday (bought for $50 at an audio garage sale locally).
Yup. Nobody needs two tape loops (or even one) any more, though one can be expanded with external passive switching devices if necessary, at the expense of complexity.
And few buy preamps with phono sections any more, being convinced in the "modern" era that only separate phono preamps are worth anything.
A used Apt Holman is about the same money as a Topping Pre90 with input extender, after spending the money to refurbish the Apt. For a person with only a DAC, maybe a CD player, and (living large) an external phono preamp as sources, that would make a lot more sense, it seems to me.
When I was shopping for a preamp recently, I was down to an Apt Holman and a B&K MC-101. The Apt has two tape loops (I really need three), and the B&K only one. Both have a processor loop. The B&K has much more headroom on the phono input. It uses the same TL-072 op-amps as the Apt, with about the same voltage (15 volts regulated, with separate regulators for each channel). B&K apparently rated it at its worst performance--20 KHz--but as Amir's test shows, the op-amps themselves show very low distortion (considering their age) when putting out voltages at the level where we are able to discern the most--up to three or four hundred millivolts.
I went with the B&K because of two things: 1.) it was newer by a dozen years and therefore less likely to need a refurb, and 2.) the line amp can be bypassed (though I doubt I'll ever use that--we'll see once I try it with the more powerful amp coming my way).
Edit: BUT, the B&K lacks that superb user and service manual, and that's something I'm missing.
Rick "who almost bought that Apt Holman Amir mentioned that was on ebay" Denney
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I have a 1700, which is essentially a 1300 with a tuner, and am very fond of it. The distinctive tone controls are fun to play with. What did you have done to your 1300?
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See now you understand why I like tubes. This is state of the art for me so if the tubes or r2r matches it, I'm think good.
Is it true that for some reason they don't weigh the results for human hearing around here.
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I actually do need a tape loop for my Schiit Loki tone control/equalizer deal. I don't want to put it between the dac and amplifier. I want to use it with all my sources to work with my speakers on a tape monitor loop in my amplifier.
What anyone with your use case really needs is a processor loop. The difference is that the processor loop is in the playback chain, while the tape loop is upstream from that. If you put an EP on a tape loop, you leave the Tape Monitor switch always on and select sources with the Record selector. Some preamps make that a lot less fun than others. But with the processor loop, you select using the standard source select controls. Most preamps with processor loops had defeat switches for them, too.
Of course, the Apt Holman has a processor loop in addition to the tape loops. So does my B&K, and so do both the Adcoms and also the SAE in my pile o'stuff. The Kenwood Basic C1 does not; neither does the Onkyo Integra P3040 that's currently in the fixit pile.
Most people using a DAC with a preamp like the Topping Pre90 are doing EQ in the computer, but of course that's not downstream from the other sources.
Rick "agreeing that between the preamp and the amp isn't the best place, mostly because active preamps with a lot of gain can overload the inputs of many processors too easily" Denney
It was fully recapped. I had a 1700 for a bit, yep basically identical save for the tuner and remote on yours. I love the tone control turnover points. Most tone controls are an afterthought, or have the generic 100 Hz bass and 10,000 Hz treble turnovers, which I've never found particularly useful for my own needs. But, a little boost at 50 Hz can be magic for the right speakers.
pseudoid
Master Contributor
Is that like the "Revenge of the W.A.F."?
I sounds like too many of us were reading Audio Magazine in the late '70s and early '80s to make such brands brands with cult-ish following.
au
What do you mean "in the playback chain" and what difference does it make in term of signal routing? You feel the tape monitor button degrade the signal?
lostinbostom
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Thanks, Amir nice review. I bought an upgraded Holman from Quirk Audio a couple of years ago. Peter does great work. I go through a lot of equipment and this one always finds its way back into the rack.
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
It depends on the implementation. Some do degrade the signal. This Holman has active buffered tape outs which increase the noise very slightly, but offer a decent drive to the processor, whereas unbuffered tape outs load the source.
Personally, I prefer a separate rec-out selector which can route any source to the tape outs, all sources are actively buffered AND can be set to off. Better implementations also shut down the phono stage altogether when it is not being used as it can put noise into the line inputs.
Yamaha CX-1000 (internet pic)
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No, it doesn't degrade the signal because it's all passive switching (except for the buffer). It's a control convenience and understanding issue. If I'm using a PEQ for room correction, I want it on all the time, no matter what the source. If I put it in a tape loop, I'll have to leave that tape loop in "monitor" mode all the time, which means I'm listening to what's being piped to the record bus. That's the Record Selector, or the dubbing controls to route the source to the record bus. The return from the tape loop is activated by the "listening" button being set to Tape 1 or whatever (or by use of the tape monitor switch if there is one). On my Onkyo preamp, it means that the nice lighted controls to show the source basically always said "Tape" and I had to use other controls to select what was being fed to the tape loop (and therefore the EQ). Each preamp handles this a bit differently, and it can get confusing.
And if I want to listen to a tape in the second tape loop, now I have to dub the second tape loop to the first tape loop, and still listen to the first tape loop's monitor input.
But if it has a processor loop, everything--tape monitors and sources alike and their buffering--get switched before going to the processor. So, the tape handling works as we expect it to, without having to run everything through a tape loop and then "dub" that tape return signal to the line amp. And it means the tape loop can be used for what it's supposed to be used for--recording stuff, including the ability to listen to a tape monitor for those recording systems able to monitor what's being recorded (both my tape decks do that, and so does any typical computer USB sound card that I might be using, say, for needledrops).
It's especially complicated for me, because I have a multi-tape/multi-processor signal router in the tape loop of my preamp, and believe me, the buttons on that thing are confusing enough. I need that to support computer recording and two tape machines, plus a switchable processor output at unamplified line level for going to my external headphone amp. But if I'm just listening to a CD, I unswitch the tape monitor and all that stuff is bypassed including any effect of the tape loop buffering, but the PEQ is still happily making room corrections in the processor loop.
In terms of connectivity, they are similar. The output from the preamp to tape loops and to the processor is just switched line-level audio from the input source. The difference is that the signal goes through all the tape loop switching before it gets to the processor loop switching. The return from the processor loop goes to the line amp, which is what feeds the external power amp.
Edit: pics...
The Record Selector is on the left--it determines what is fed to the record bus to go into the tape loop. The Source Selector next to it determines what goes into the line amp (through the processor loop, which is called the "eq loop"--see the button just left of the volume knob).
(borrowed from a for-sale listing that sold a long time ago)
"Tape" as an input on this is a separate line-level source, for a tape playback system only. For playing tapes from something in the tape loop, you have to press the "tape monitor" button just to the right of the source selector.
Rick "who has lived for years at a time with EQ in a tape loop, until preamps that had separate processor loops got cheaper" Denney
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