+1I am interested. Please PM me.
EJ3
+1I am interested. Please PM me.
EJ3
Really cool to see a review of this unit. When I was a young audiophile, this was an aspirational piece that I could only dream of owning. Great to see it's held up well over the years. Fun fact: the "Holman" in Apt Holman is Tomlinson Holman, the same guy who invented and whose initials form the first two letters in "THX" cinema sound.
I believe the MSRP was $499, but I got mine from a friend who ran a shop known as Good Vibes across the street from the Purdue engineering campus (and sold a TON of Apt gear to EEs, etc.) It had been loaned to one other customer for an overnight home demo and I got mine for $450.So what was the price back then?
many times when we have the impression that old products where better it is because they were not as afordable
Welcome to ASR, it's a real pleasure to have you here.Designed Sept '77–Jan '78. Built from 1978–1982 approximately. Original serial numbers started at 1001 and went through more than 10000 when the numbering system was changed.
D'oh!That was noted, and he himself posted, earlier in this thread.
It's is great that you have come on here & given some interesting history & perspective. Thank you. Yes, indeed, it is a real pleasure to have you here.Designed Sept '77–Jan '78. Built from 1978–1982 approximately. Original serial numbers started at 1001 and went through more than 10000 when the numbering system was changed.
I got my Apt preamp used at Audible Difference. I recall being scared just walking into the store. I paid $375, used, in really nice shape. With the greatest manual of all time. I used the Apt with so many different combos, including Time Window speakers which I loved!I believe the MSRP was $499, but I got mine from a friend who ran a shop known as Good Vibes across the street from the Purdue engineering campus (and sold a TON of Apt gear to EEs, etc.) It had been loaned to one other customer for an overnight home demo and I got mine for $450.
Good Vibes sold so much Apt gear that Holman himself came to the store to do a seminar on the development of the circuitry and explain why that continuously variable stereo/mono control was included.
Eventually I paired it with an Apt One power amp when I could afford that. For many years, my system was a Kenwood KD500 turntable with a Platter Matter mat, Grace 707, SME 3009III, or Fidelity Research (unsure of the model) arm with a Sonus Blue, Denon DL103D, or Grado Signature (forgot the model) cartridge...Apt Holman/Apt One...and the original DCM Time Windows. In that era, those were almost all Class B components as rated by Audio Critic (best value.) I do recall that for a while, the Apt Holman was their Class A preamp.
The most problematic part in all those components were the relays for muting and tape loops, which were also used to mute the output from the Apt One for some time after it was powered up. I don't know anyone who didn't have to send theirs back to Apt for new relays.
I got my Apt preamp used at Audible Difference. I recall being scared just walking into the store. I paid $375, used, in really nice shape. ...
It too had a relay go bad!
I couldn't afford them, but I had friends with LS3/5as and with Magneplanars. I though they sounded pretty good.
I had a college roommate with Frieds. Mid-70s. They were good enough that I still remember what he had. I know my own scholarship-student system, a Technics that I only had because my dad was a Panasonic dealer, lived in boxes.I recall Fried and Thiel were often fairly well reviewed but never heard them at all.
TL082???????According to quirkaudio a refurbed preamp gets new ICs, so I expect that in the tested unit those TL072 have been replaced by something more modern. With a +/-18V supply voltage I would chose a model like the OPA2604 which is rated for +/- 24 V to have some reserve.
Thanks! Makes sense. I guess if wired as you suggest, a bad relay would simply result in incomplete muting.The output relay could have been wired differently. Instead of putting the relay in series with the output, requiring the signal to pass through it, the 330R resistor could have been placed before the contacts and the relay could have been wired to short the output to ground when muting.
That way, both the preamp-out is tied to ground and the amp input is shorted when muting is pressed/or turn-on.
TL082???????
I really wish someone in the US close to Amir could send him the old Japanese classics of the same era, such as the Yamaha C-2/2a/2x, Denon PRA-1000/2000/3000, Kenwood LO-7c/7cii, Sony TAE-86/86B, Technics SU-9070/9200/9600 etc. Surely some of you guys have some in your collections?
I had a college roommate with Frieds. Mid-70s. They were good enough that I still remember what he had. I know my own scholarship-student system, a Technics that I only had because my dad was a Panasonic dealer, lived in boxes.
No, it does not even meet the requirements set forward by the main consumer media in 1979 - that of the phonograph record. The overload margin of phono input above 5 kHz - where almost ALL of the action is ( due to the RIAA curve ) - is way too low . Too low even for normal better recorded musical material, let alone for ticks/pops - not to mention an occasional scratch that is sadly unavoidable in records. It is the typical limitation for the circuits operating with standard +'- 15 V DC power supply rails using op amps.1979 this thing exceeds the performance of any consumer media aviable at the time ?
And loudspeakers of that era how good where they.
At the time this would have been “transparent” to the end user . And probably still is today in most cases