VAN DEN HUL THE COLIBRI XGW MASTER SIGNATURE

State-of-the-art MC cartridge, design and manufacturing pinnacle of A.J. Van Den Hul. Coils with Matched Crysral Gold winding. Samarium Cobalt magnet. Solid Boron cantilever. Proprietary VDH-IS stylus. Timber-treated body with multilayer of special Stradivarius lacquer. Output voltage 1.1MV. Reading weight 1.35 to 1.5g. Compatible with arms of effective mass between 8 and 14 grams.

van den Hul's latest masterpiece is an updated version of one of the most controversial sound recorders in the MC cartridge field, also as a result of a history that starts with an extremely 'manual' approach that from certain points of view yields results that are never fully reproducible.

Our handmade phono cartridge on Top Colibri model, with matching crystal copper coils with 0.30 or 0.38 mV/channel output.

Van Den Hul's ongoing research into improving its phono cartridge designs has resulted in our flagship model 'The Colibri'.

Colibri is the improved successor to our 'Beauty' series of Grasshopper phono cartridges, in which many body components have been removed in a highly successful quest to return to the simple essence of phono transduction.

The result is an incredibly simple 'clean and open' design in all its aspects that closely resembles the 'Colibri', recalling the speed, elegance and beauty of the tropical bird; hence the name of the head.

Compared to our GRASSHOPPER 'BEAUTY' series, the following differences stand out:

By minimising and adapting the cartridge's total magnetic circuit, the relative distortion and noise have been considerably reduced. This opens up many delicate sonic details that have never been heard before. Especially the decay of instrumental sounds now stands out much more clearly in the totality of the music.

Due to the minimisation of the head's total magnetic circuit, the mass of the head has been reduced. Together with the possibility of adjusting the static compliance of the head at the customer's request, it is now possible to use very light arms while maintaining excellent tracking capability.

By removing the frontpole, it was possible to apply an even shorter cantilever. This further improves the immediacy and accuracy of the transduction of the groove modulation.

Due to the minimal magnetic design, the output voltage is slightly reduced.

XG version: (X = cross modulator, G = matching crystal gold wire coils)
_Medium output, most suitable for classical music
Output voltage: 0.38 mV / channel

FREQUENCY RESPONSE

In the event that the compliance value is stated at 100 Hz (usually referring to Japanese cartridges), it simply has to be doubled to find its correspondence at 10 Hz. On the other hand, if the compliance is declared in static regime (usually on cartridges made in the USA), it must be halved to find its value at 10 Hz.

To check whether the resonance frequency is between 8-12 Hz (preferably 9-11 Hz), the optimum value, proceed via the links below.

Resonance Frequency Calculator (table)

Resonance Frequency Calculator

EXTRA INFORMATION

(* 3): Optimised versions for lower driving forces (allowing very light arms) can be built on special request. These have a higher static compliance.

(* 4): suffix type W, P, M and A: each of the above three main versions of The Colibri is available with: - A Pau amarello or Koa wood body. The total weight of the cartridge is 6 grams. Suitable for arms with an effective tonearm mass of 10 g to 16 g. The wooden version carries the suffix -W in its name. - A normal plastic body made of carbon and nylon. The total weight of the cartridge is 6 grams. Suitable for arms with an effective tone arm mass of 8 g to 14 g.