Opinions on Hovland HP 100

i just bought a hovland hp100 about 2 months ago and it is superb!! i am not sure what the first poster was listening to but there must have been something wrong in another part of the system. the preamp is the most musical pre i have ever heard.i sold my aloia that replaced a arc ls15,both very good preamps and neither compares to the hp100. the bass is outstanding and the mids and highs are to die for. you won't find a review,and there are many,that doesn't think the hovland is at the top or bettered by only a few others.call hovland and talk to alex crespi,owner/designer..he's a great guy.

I am glad to see these last few posts, I was scratching my head at the other posts as I was not finding the negatives they were at all, in fact just the opposite.

As I stated, I am using a "cheapo" amp while waiting for my new one. This is a Heath amp that I paid $200 for about 10 years ago and later sold to a buddy of mine, who is not into audio, and I bought a Forte Model 6 which clearly bettered the Heath; I later replaced the Forte with a Meridian 557 which really put a whoppin' on the Forte, especially in bass; I later went with the ML 383.

I said all that to give you an idea of what I have the Hovland mated with. When I had my wife sit down and listen with me for her comments, her first was that it seemed I had more bass than before, and this using an amp that I don't feel is bass heavy. I had a Mac C42 hooked up for a short time and the Hovland has better bass.

I really liked and still do like the 383 I owned, it was a wonderful unit, but I have better performance with this setup even w/o my new amp. I find the dynamics better than I have ever had as well as imaging; coming to this conclusion using a TDK test CD.

It has extremely quite background; I have the disc Fourplay - Yes please..., on track 7, I believe, I had to replay the beginning 3 times as I heard a "crackling" in the left channel I has never heard before in the many times I played it. I thought it was a problem at first. The more I use it, the more I am amazed.

My serial number is 1165, I would be curious of where this falls in.

brian..'calloway' here. mine is #1284.glad you like it,by the way. it is a great preamp,imo.

Perhaps my audition of about a year ago dates me, but I didn't mean to indicate that the Hovland sounds "thin" on normal program material. It doesn't. But if you want your music produced with all the depth, extension and slam as was in a full-range recording, my experience indicated that the Hovland came up way short. I think if you put the Hovland up against a CAT Ultimate or the First Sound Linestage you will find that they are in a different league on an overall basis. This is despite the beautiful, extended and detailed high frequency presentation you get with the Hovland. If they have improved the bass (and the dynamics), I congratulate them. Perhaps they will have a preamp which now lives up to the hype of this product by Stereophile and Soundstage whose reviews were published BEFORE Hovland made any such improvements. To Calloway, I would say that this preamp is supposed to be or to compete with the best, so its not enough that there are only a few which better it. All I say is find a way to listen carefully, or better, to A/B it with some of the other suggestions in this thread. Despite the low upgrade price, Hovland has raised the retail price at least 20% since its inception and it is no longer cheap for the quality category in which it is intended to compete. I am not one much for reviews or reviewers, but in the Soundstage review of the First Sound, Todd Warnke, who also reviewed the Hovland, compares HIS list of the top preamps, including the Hovland. Check and see what he said:
http://www.firstsoundaudio.com/review.html

I tried the HP 100 in my system. I found that it did some things very well.. Voices were about the best I heard, Highs were smooth and silky, The dynamics were lacking and the overall presentation was ... weak. The best advice is to get one to TRY in your system. We all have different tastes and goals in what we like.
mike