Dutch company Van den Hul, known for decades as maker of superb cables and cartridges employing exotic materials and technologies, has just introduced its new flagship cartridge for a global debut.

The new hand-built limited run Colibri Gran Cru Moving Coil cartridge has been offered to Australian distributor Sound & Vision Group as a world-first in lieu of its planned showing at the cancelled High-End Munich 2020 show. In fact, it’s ‘Sample 1’ and A.J. Van den Hul’s own personal unit. Van den Hul has spared no expense in creating the company’s best ever cartridge offering, making full use of many decades of experience in adopting exotic and advanced materials for its upper tier products.

For starters, 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 a specific wood type which, we’re told, is derived from an Italian musical instrument dating back several hundred years. This last feature, we’d guess, would translate to a targeted set of resonance patterns within the structure leading to pleasing music reproduction. The Colibri Gran Cru incorporates Van den Hul’s renowned VDH-1S stylus type which the company has been using and perfecting since 1973.

The Colibri Grand Cru has a tracking force range of 1.35 to 1.5 grams, however, Van den Hul claims the cartridge is capable of tracking accurately down to a lower 1.25 grams. The output voltage is a “heathy” 0.5mV while the load impedance has been quoted as 120 ohms to 47 kohms.

Company Founder A.J. Van den Hul told SoundStage! Australia, “After making so many models, I needed something to jolt my creative thought process. This was the trigger to think more deeply about cartridge design and the Gran Cru is the result.” Van den Hul went on to say, “As for detail resolution and dynamics, the Gran Cru will have few rivals in my opinion. When I was designing the Gran Cru, I also focused carefully on its space and timing qualities.”

The VDH Colibri 'Gra 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 a specific wood type which is derived from an Italian musical instrument dating back several hundred years. This translates to a targeted set of resonance patterns within the structure leading to pleasing music reproduction. The Colibri Gran Cru incorporates Van den Hul’s renowned VDH-1S stylus type which the company has been using and perfecting since 1973.

Tracking Force between 1.35 - 1.50 grams

Anti-skating Force between 0.0 - .6 grams

Effective Arm Mass recommended: 10 - 16 grams (Suspension optimization services available.)

Load Impedance: 50 ohms to 47K ohms

Optimal Loading: 50 ohms to 600 ohms

Internal Coil Impedance ~ 12ohms

Output Level 0.40mv., 0.45mv., 0.50mv., 0.75mv. and 1.1mv. versions optional.