Hovland HP 200 vs. Cary SLP 05

I listened to the HP-200 a while back and it sounded good. Please be aware that the volume graduations are a joke and IMO not good enough for any high end pre amp. It was easy for one setting to be too low and the next too high.
The conrad johnson prem 16 was overall the better sounding pre amp in my system and its volume and balance control is SOTA.

The cary SLP98 is a killer little pre amp, have not heard the 05

I believe Hovland went out of business. Something to consider if you ever have an issue with the piece down the road..

If you play vinyl, a Hovland with the phono card is a killer combination and this is coming from a guy who owns the Cary. I use to own the Hovland HP100 and it was also stunning. You can't go wrong with either pre IMHO.

I really like the Cary House vsound and the fact that this is a 6SN7 based pre makes it a top candidate for tone control. Tube rolling 6SN7s is easy with tons of older tubes floatimg around. Getting really good ones may be hard but you can get a good idea of what they sound like before narrowing your search.
As for space soundscape and real 3D dimensionality I am afraid that you really need tube power amps to naccomplish this. Others may argue that some SS amps do this well and I agree but never to the extent that I have heard using tube power amps. In your case 200 watts of tube power without an SS element slipped into one of the gain stages may be tough at a reasonable price. It is doable but costly.
Try the SLP-05 first and see if that floats your boat.