Cartridges

The new best of the best reference cartridge from Van den Hul.

Utilising the Hawaiin Koa wood for its body which has particular resonant frequencies perfect for cartridge contruction. This wood is very popular in making guitars and Ukeles as its resonant properties are becoming more widely known. Hawaiins have also used this wood to construct smaller, weightier surfboards.

Over and above the Colibri XGW 'Gran Cru' this improved version has reduced thickness and tension in the wiring of the gold coils for an even more dynamic lithe sound. Also upgraded suspension for the canter lever.

And it of course has your hand-wound crystal matched gold wiring coils, an extra magnet for even more resolution. 

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The VDH Colibri XGW 'Gran Cru' is the culmination of A.J. van den Hul's 44 years of phono cartridge research and development. The Colibri Gran Cru (a special Grand Vintage, you might say) features hand-wound gold wire coils and a solid boron cantilever while the outer shell, or cartridge body, is constructed from the Koa tree. This is a Hawaiin tree revered for its use in instrument making and some surfboards.

This translates to a targeted set of resonance patterns within the structure leading to pleasing music reproduction.

Pairing this Koa wood with the hand-wound matched crystal gold coils AND an extra magnet for even more resolution means this cartridge hits the next level in performance.

This is an extraordinary cartridge, that gives you everything - Resolution, musicality, huge dynamics and warmth. 

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Another extraordinary cartridge in the Colibri range of Van den Hul cartridges. This version is made from the Brazillian wood Pau Ferro which has been used for centuries by the most celebrated 17th century Italian violin makers particularly in bow making.

Setting it apart from the Colibri XGW 'Stradavarius' is its extra magnet for even better resolution.

It has the same hand-wound matched crystal gold coils as most of the Colibri range has.

Keeping that effortless musicality but with even more resolution, a beautiful cartridge.

 

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The HYPERION is the cartridge of choice for the most esteemed audio equipment manufacturers. Why? Because when they exhibit their gear at Hi-Fi shows, they want their turntable, amplifier or speaker systems to sound the very best that they can! Peter Ledermann‘s radical design utilizes an actual “cactus spine” for the cantilever. The naturally tapered shape, stacked columnar fibers and desiccated resin damping fit the exact parameters of the perfect cantilever: Low mass, extreme rigidity, internal damping, and tremendous strength. Also available in a Dual Compliance Design for older Linear Tracking turntables as the HYPERION LT. The Hyperions are offered with a choice of CL or OC-CL stylus. Each one hand crafted by Peter Ledermann - Made in  the USA

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The body of the van den Hul Colibri XGW Stradivarius is made from cross-grained Brazilian Pau Ferro wood, a high density wood that is often used in the bows of stringed instruments. It’s coated with what van den Hul calls a ‘Stradivarius’ lacquer, named after the famous violin maker, Antonio Stradivari. Van den Hul applies three separate layers of this secret formula lacquer and each layer takes several weeks to fully cure and harden, meaning that every cartridge body undergoes months of work before any further construction can even begin.

The Coils are hand wound and made from matched crystal gold wiring. 

This combination gives you an incredible combination of rich naturalness and resolution.

Not to be confused with the Crimson XGW Stradivarius, this unit is the Crimson's older, more refined sibling. It has incredible channel separation. Detail, imaging and soundstage are second to none. All of this and it keeps a realism and musicality unique to the high end Van den Hul cartridges.

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The Crimson 'Elite' has the Koa body and all of the other features of the Van den Hul Crimson. It also features the multi layered laquer of the Stradavarius cartridges. But on top of that it has reduced thickness in the gold wire of the coils making for a more agile sound.

Still not the level of resolution and refinement of the Colibri range but nonetheless a beautiful cartridge.

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This is where the Crimson range changes from the Pau Ferro wood to the Hawaiin Koa wood body. This wood has exceptional acoustic properties which make it popular in the making of musical instruments but also perfect for making cartridges.

It also has the additional laquer layering of the Stradavarius.

 

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The Sussurro is one of those cartridges that will stay with you for life. A delicate instrument designed specifically to extract as much information from your Vinyl as possible. 

The MkII version is even lighter than the original. They have reduced the moving mass that creates the electrical signal for even more resolution and dynamics.

The sound of these is warm with little to no sibilance in the high end and oodles of width and depth to the sound. 

This is a Moving Iron cartridge but it does require a Moving Coil capable phono stage.

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For over thirty-five years, SUMIKO has provided a comprehensive range of phono cartridges to music lovers seeking the finest musical experience at a variety of price points. In fact, the great market success of SUMIKO phono cartridges has hinged on their phenomenal cost-to-performance ratio. The Palo Santos Presentation is no exception. New design requirements incorporating advances in material technology and construction techniques have resulted in a significantly improved product which delivers a highly refined and resolved, yet musically satisfying sound quality previously unavailable at or even near its price.

For some Turntables including Regas, we will need to fit a 2mm spacer on you tonearm for this cartridge. Like the HiFi Guru Spacer

 

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Van Den Hul's Crimson Stradivarius is a favourite in the CAV Reference System. It has also become a Superstar with our customers.

The Stradivarius variation of the Crimson cartridge uses a Pau Ferro wooden body but douses that in multiple layers of specialist laquer emulating the laquer used on Stradivarius string instruments. The sound is even more involving, natural and open than the straight Crimson XGW which only difference is the absence of this special laquer.

It is the easiest cartridge to pair with a range of gear. The Colibri range has astounding levels of channel separation but requires more precise matching with the rest of the gear.

 

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The Mezzo and the Nautilus can perform this sonic magic of sounding lifelike and with the exact intentions of the musician, whether it’s played in the concert hall, in the studio, or on electronic hardware and software. Both these cartridges made each record sound like the best sounding record I've ever heard. That is, until I played the next record.” - Tom Lyle, Enjoy The Music

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Soundsmith cartridges are handmade in the USA and are little jewels to adorn your most beloved Turntables. 

They are a Moving Iron design - the third, less talked about category of cartridge design. This design uses less mass than a Moving Magnet design so it's more reactive and dynamic.

The Paua MkII uses a new Aluminium Cantilever which is stiff where it's needed but is also acoustically dampening in critical areas.

An important factor when we choose we high-end cartridges to stock is their retipping service. We like to recommend cartridges that when something happens to the stylus there's a skilled in-house retipping service. Soundsmith offer just that.

And isn't the new sea shell casing just beautiful!

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The Aphelion is the third generation of Rega's unique moving coil cartridges.Taking the technology developed from the latest Apheta 2 to the next level, our engineers have fine tuned every aspect of the original design. Aphelion features a new boron cantilever and super high-powered, neodymium magnet and a coil meticulously hand wound on an iron micro cross that is fifty percent smaller than the original. The weight reduction of the generator allows us greater freedom to track the vinyl groove accurately ensuring even more detail is extracted from the vinyl.The Aphelion is housed within a completely redesigned, single piece, aluminium black anodised body and protected by a CAD designed, clear rigid cover to protect the internal fine wires, making handling whilst fitting, safe and risk free. The Aphelion is the perfect partner for the RP10 turntable and RB2000 tonearm - see complementary components. Learn More

Originally this was a cartridge that AJ Van den Hul made after a specific request from a customer to produce a high end cartridge at a lower price point. He did it and sold a couple of other units after the word got out. Now they're a permanent mainstay of the Van den Hul inventory.

This particular Crimson has a Polycarbonate body. Some people really like the slightly more analytical sound of this cartridge than the wooden bodies. I admit though, we do sell more of the wooden bodied Crimsons than this Polycarbonate. I find the wooden bodies more open, more organic sounding.

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The Crimson is a top performance custom handbuilt moving coil phono cartridge. The cartridge body is made from Pau Ferro wood. This is a Brazilian wood which instrument makers have used for centuries to make instruments and in particular, bows. It has extraordinary resonant qualities as well as stiffness and strength making it ideal for cartridges as well!

Specific characteristics for this great cartridge are a relatively high (0,85mV) output, gold coils, a Samarium-Cobalt magnet, extended channel separation and superb tracking ability.

We have many happy customers with these units. It is musical, warm and sounds effortless. Certainly, if we're being picky, it doesn't reach the heights of resolution that the more expensive Colibri range of cartridges do. Still an astounding performer and well worth a listen.

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Since its introduction in 2009, The Voice has won numerous "product-of-the-year" awards and is – in Peter Ledermann’s words –"probably the best High Output cartridge in production today." Our design goal was to produce the lowest moving mass high output design possible using novel and advanced technology. Featuring a single crystal Ruby Cantilever and our Optimized Contour Line Contact Stylus, we developed a specialized metallurgy for the low mass moving iron system.

A cartridge that disappears. After all, if it sounds like a “record" it’s wrong. The cartridge should bring your directly to the performance; not stand between you and the music.

Also available in dual-coil mono.

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For over five years SUMIKO has provided the Celebration Pearwood Signature to music lovers seeking the musical experience of the finest and most expensive phono pickups at a more reasonable cost. New advances in material technology and construction techniques have allowed for a significant improvement in sound quality and have resulted in the creation of this new Mark II version.

Low Output MC Cartridge

Hand-crafter Pearwood cartridge body

0.5mV output via an Alnico magnet assembly

Long-grain boron cantilever

New ultra low-mass Ogura Jewel Co. P9 Stylus (Vital Design)

Milled Teflon billet back plate

Custom hollow point & tapered brass gold plated connnecting pins

For some Turntables including Regas, we will need to fit a 2mm spacer on you tonearm for this cartridge. Like the HiFi Guru Spacer

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The van den Hul Frog Gold MC Cartridge is a custom hand-built moving coil cartridge with matched Gold-Wire coils and a Solid Boron Cantilever making it sound even smoother and more refined than the standard Frog - the best cartridge available for the price! The Frog Gold has a 0.65 mV/channel output, matched gold-wire coils and an extra internal support magnet.

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Cadenza Black is optimized for an amazing tonal neutrality, dynamics and purity of sound.

The Cadenza Black model is using a Nude Shibata stylus with a boron cantilever. The effective mass of the stylus/cantilever system is extremely low due to the use of a very thin boron rod. This material is extremely stiff and even more lightweight than aluminium. It also uses the WRD/Wide Range Damping-system applied for MC Windfeld, MC A90, MC Anna, Xpression and MC A95 cartridges, controlling the high and low frequency damping separately. The coil wire is the famous Ortofon Aucurum wire, which is a gold plated 6NX copper wire. Cadenza Black is high performing on areas like detail, consistency and sound staging.

You may notice we are not always necessarily the cheapest retailer of cartridges but we will ALWAYS include a free professional fitting with all our cartridges. Along with any routine check-ups on your turntable.

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