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Erhard Audio

Zack Sainz

Zack Sainz

Active Member
Hey all!

I just wanted to shout out to Holger and his gear, I have listened to KEF LS50s, KEF Q150, B&W 704 SII, Dynaco A25s, KLH 5s and even Sennheisser headphones!

The Buddys and Aretha rock so hard and have such holographic imaging. In comparison with other amps that I have heard power all these speakers, these amps have what speakers crave.

I am currently and patiently waiting on a set of Philharmonic Towers! I can’t wait to see what bliss this pairing brings.
 
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Good to hear. I've been using his Ella preamp with phono stage for a couple years now and have been very happy with it connected to a pair of VTA M-125's and a Dynakit ST-35.
 
Looking at their Buddy monoblock design its evident someone knows a thing or two about good amp design. Twin rectifiers plus autobias regulation will ensure stability and maximize tube life and SQ quality. Build quality and overall appearance look really good as well.
 
Legrace said:
Looking at their Buddy monoblock design its evident someone knows a thing or two about good amp design. Twin rectifiers plus autobias regulation will ensure stability and maximize tube life and SQ quality. Build quality and overall appearance look really good as well.
Click to expand...

I didn't see anything about twin rectifiers on the page. Can you point me to where it has that information? Thanks!
 
He has expanded the kits and finished equipment over the last couple years.
I built a preamp using his 12ax7 Aikido board and regulated power supply.
After that I was hooked on that design. It just does everything right. Later I bought the Ella using 6SN7's. The optional phono stage using a J-fet and two 6922's sounds good also. I see he has a new preamp with tone controls using 6922's in the line stage and phono stage.
 
Lavane said:
He has expanded the kits and finished equipment over the last couple years.
I built a preamp using his 12ax7 Aikido board and regulated power supply.
After that I was hooked on that design. It just does everything right. Later I bought the Ella using 6SN7's. The optional phono stage using a J-fet and two 6922's sounds good also. I see he has a new preamp with tone controls using 6922's in the line stage and phono stage.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way about my Akaido linestage, but the same phone board in my system was a real letdown. Low gain and not very dynamic, all in all pretty lackluster.
 
Legrace said:
Looking at their Buddy monoblock design its evident someone knows a thing or two about good amp design. Twin rectifiers plus autobias regulation will ensure stability and maximize tube life and SQ quality. Build quality and overall appearance look really good as well.
Click to expand...

I actually was lucky enough to get Holger’s personal set of Buddys and his Aretha. I have the 8ohm Buddys and they have been able to feed some power hungry speakers.

I also love that he includes LEDs on the Buddys that indicate tube life. I’m a huge fan!
 
Lavane said:
It seems to do well with the cartridge I'm using. I tried JJ 6922's and didn't like them though. And I tend to like some of the other JJ signal tubes. I haven't had any gain problems at all.
Click to expand...

I was using a ClearAudio wood body cartridge, which I never thought was worth the hype, then I went back to my 1980s AudioTechnica purple shibatta, and that improved it a bit. I'm using EH 6922s that I got from Jim McShane - never tried anything else.

I just played my new Sarah Jarosz record a little while ago, and it sounded pretty good, but it just doesn't seem to have the sparkle that I get with my CD and DAC.
 
I'm using the EH's as well. Maybe I should try one of my other cartridges. The Nagaoka MP-110 I'm playing with right now sounds pretty good with it. But then it doesn't have a brighter top end like some of my others.
 
I’m going super old school with my turntable, I have an AR-XA and I’ve done some mods (swapped to an SL1200 wand and upgraded to silver wire). Currently rocking a Stanton 681 EEE and a VOM 4606-DEX cart. I must say, for the budget, vinyl sounds delightful with the Aretha and Buddys, the stereo separation and imaging is incredible. I know my table and cart are “entry level” but I absolutely love this hobby from tubes to tables.

Hopefully within the next few weeks I can further mod my table and go further down the rabbit hole.
 
Zvezda said:
Was looking at Erhard's page the other day, and am thrilled to see that somebody is making high-quality preamps with tone controls.
Click to expand...
Holger is great guy, and makes some fantastic gear! I will say, even though I have tone control, his build is so good that I have really never needed to dial those in, however, I am also looking at buying some Philharmonic BMR towers. These puppies dig into the 20hz region in a 3 way ported design. So, I might actually have to dial some bass out! The tone controls might be a huge bonus!
 
Erhard Aretha.JPG

I had been wanting to post about my Erhard for a few months now, but this thread has encouraged me to post my thoughts.

This is my Aretha I ordered in mid-March and received back in early May of this year. Pardon the dusted fingerprints on the top.

I went with the Bird's Eye Maple and bronze metalwork with a flush faceplate. A very classy piece of gear to my eyes.

The only options I felt compelled to add were the remote-controlled volume and tape monitor. Just to the right is an outstanding Hagerman Trumpet MC, so I didn't need the phono option.

First, build quality. The metalwork, lettering, and wood chassis are superb. It's a fly-weight compared to the industrial build of the CJ CT5 I had before this, but the Aretha is very solid, with impeccable attention to detail.

Second, the sound. The circuit with 6SL7s provides a very musical, engaging presentation. Frequency response sounds very flat, and with every genre I've played through it, I find no peaks or dips, unless, of course, it's in the recording. There's plenty of clarity and detail without brightness of any sort. A tough line to walk, based upon my experiences with numerous pieces of gear throughout the years.

The tone controls apply gentle, linear amounts of boost/cut, they aren't heavy-handed or distortion-inducing at all.

As Holger predicted, this preamp has great synergy with my Quad II Classics, driving Tannoy Canterbury GRs. The gain and/or attenuation matches well with the Quads. Depending on who's home, the volume knob is anywhere between 8:00 and 11:00, so finding the perfect volume is a cinch. On too many preamps, that's not an easy thing to find. Many have gain that is too hot.

On a cost basis only, some would say that since my preamp and amp combined only cost 1/6th of the speakers, they're the weak links, but I honestly don't feel I'm missing anything at all right now.

Sure, I may not be squeezing every last bit out of the Tannoys, and upgrade-itis can be a curse, but I'm very happy now and don't see upgrading from the Aretha any time soon.
 
Last edited:
OctalSocket said:
View attachment 2394173

I had been wanting to post about my Erhard for a few months now, but this thread has encouraged me to post my thoughts.

This is my Aretha I ordered in mid-March and received back in early May of this year. Pardon the dusted fingerprints on the top.

I went with the Bird's Eye Maple and bronze metalwork with a flush faceplate. A very classy piece of gear to my eyes.

The only options I felt compelled to add were the remote-controlled volume and tape monitor. Just to the right is an outstanding Hagerman Trumpet MC, so I didn't need the phono option.

First, build quality. The metalwork, lettering, and wood chassis are superb. It's a fly-weight compared to the industrial build of the CJ CT5 I had before this, but the Aretha is very solid, with impeccable attention to detail.

Second, the sound. The circuit with 6SL7s provides a very musical, engaging presentation. Frequency response sounds very flat, and with every genre I've played through it, I find no peaks or dips, unless, of course, it's in the recording. There's plenty of clarity and detail without brightness of any sort. A tough line to walk, based upon my experiences with numerous pieces of gear throughout the years.

The tone controls apply gentle, linear amounts of boost/cut, they aren't heavy-handed or distortion-inducing at all.

As Holger predicted, this preamp has great synergy with my Quad II Classics, driving Tannoy Canterbury GRs. The gain and/or attenuation matches well with the Quads. Depending on who's home, the volume knob is anywhere between 8:00 and 11:00, so finding the perfect volume is a cinch. On too many preamps, that's not an easy thing to find. Many have gain that is too hot.

On a cost basis only, some would say that since my preamp and amp combined only cost 1/6th of the speakers, they're the weak links, but I honestly don't feel I'm missing anything at all right now.

Sure, I may not be squeezing every last bit out of the Tannoys, and upgrade-itis can be a curse, but I'm very happy now and don't see upgrading from the Aretha any time soon.
Click to expand...
I agree completely with everything you have said. And what a beautiful finish!

I have found that the Aretha translates dynamics and presentation exquisitely. The imaging is holographic, even with my HD6xx headphones I can pinpoint instruments and have a great sense of space.

The last bits of anything are hard to squeeze, catching the dragon is near impossible, but the chase is fun.
 
After getting the Ella, I don't feel the need to look for anything else in a preamp.
I'm partial to the Aikido's, but I haven't read a bad review yet on the Aretha.
His 12AX7 version of the Aikido isn't bad either. I built one using his boards. My son is using it now.
 
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