Apt-Holman pre-amp

It was a great design in its day.  I had one, I bought it used when i was 16.  It was my first preamp and not a bad introduction to separates.  Then I replaced it  with a P.S. Audio 6.2 preamp which was a great preamp, and the first component I regretted selling.  I replaced it with a McIntosh C15 which was good , but I think I liked that PS better.  Don't get me wrong, the Apt was good but finding a nice one can be tough, and people ask too much for them in my opinion.  In hindsight I wish I still had the Holman because it is unique and super flexible.  I had the Apt 1 amp which I thought was pretty good also.  Another piece I wish I had kept.

Ironically the Apt had a very good phono stage, fairly adjustable.... so if you were looking for a classic pre with a good phono it might not be a bad choice.

17 years later....

a few years ago I used to upgrade the holman preamps.

They are old enough now that a full recap would be a good choice.
There are two short falls with the Holman pre amp.

1. a tiny power supply transformer
2. the TL072 texas instruments op amps.

Both can easily be corrected. Tons of choices out there now for dual op-amps. Same with transformers. I would normally leave the original in place and bring in the secondary wiring from the new transformer into the unit.
The apt pre also uses quite a few electrolytic caps to couple the stages together. These should all be bypassed with a film and foil cap.

And if you really want to go wild, you can Vishay the whole signal path resistors with the metal foil types.

best