The Colibri “Master Signature”

Lagonda

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Every Colibri leaves vdh with a compliance beeing ideal for SME V or 312s.
The recommended effective arm mass is written on the box.
You can order LW (light weigt) versions as standard, but also versions for heavy weight tonearms @order .

The most Colibri gets customized for a dedicated tonearmwhile having the 300h service.
Jürgen, do you know what retipping a Master Sig cost ?
I could not find the price on their website.
 

bonzo75

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what is this Colibri 300 hour service requirement ?

You can send it back to get it checked and adjusted for a specific tonearm if you want within that period
 
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shakti

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what is this Colibri 300 hour service requirement ?
this is not a requirement!
The 300h Service is a free of charge offer from vdh to check the cart after a while.
This service is even not a must to get the factory warranty
 

Lagonda

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bazelio

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Every Colibri leaves vdh with a compliance beeing ideal for SME V or 312s.
The recommended effective arm mass is written on the box.
You can order LW (light weigt) versions as standard, but also versions for heavy weight tonearms @order .
Ok that's great. And presumably, the lower compliance versions for heavier tonearms will then have higher recommended anti-skate values. Either way, I find that using an oscilloscope is really the only way to know for sure where anti-skate should be set - and that it's very touchy.
 

microstrip

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Ok that's great. And presumably, the lower compliance versions for heavier tonearms will then have higher recommended anti-skate values. Either way, I find that using an oscilloscope is really the only way to know for sure where anti-skate should be set - and that it's very touchy.

And we still have to choose at which position and with what signal level we optimize the bias. I have found many times that systems optimized for static test signals are not optimally set-up for music.
 
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rockitman

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I find that using an oscilloscope is really the only way to know for sure where anti-skate should be set - and that it's very touchy.

How do you do that ? What are the steps/settings with an o-scope to do the test and perhaps one for azimuth, if you can explain it here ? Thanks in advance.
 

shakti

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Jürgen, do you know what retipping a Master Sig cost ?
I could not find the price on their website.
it depends on the individual importers profit margin and of cause on the individual cart defect. Only a retip should be below 1000,- eur
 
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shakti

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What is the effective mass of the SME 3012R arm? There are many reports of the Colibri Master Signature sounding fantastic on that arm.
the effective mass depends on the headshell used and the individual colibri weight. Mostly between 14 and 16g
 

Lagonda

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it depends on the individual importers profit margin and of cause on the individual cart defect. Only a retip should be below 1000,- eur
Thank you Jürgen !
 

microstrip

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bazelio

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How do you do that ? What are the steps/settings with an o-scope to do the test and perhaps one for azimuth, if you can explain it here ? Thanks in advance.
How about we start a different thread on the general topic of oscilloscope-based cartridge setup? I have some o-scope traces from a recent anti-skate experiment I did. I don't think I saved any from the last azimuth adjustment I performed. But I need to adjust another table soon, so I can capture some traces then.
 

rockitman

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How about we start a different thread on the general topic of oscilloscope-based cartridge setup? I have some o-scope traces from a recent anti-skate experiment I did. I don't think I saved any from the last azimuth adjustment I performed. But I need to adjust another table soon, so I can capture some traces then.

That would be cool. I have a standard Tektronix analog O-Scope....something like this. I am here to learn.
1F19795F-6C1D-4745-9783-C2CD9DC4D487.jpeg
 
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microstrip

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How do you do that ? What are the steps/settings with an o-scope to do the test and perhaps one for azimuth, if you can explain it here ? Thanks in advance.

An oscilloscope will only show large distortions - I prefer to use an audio spectrometer, that is much more sensitive. It is the way analog-magik do it, BTW.
That would be cool. I have a standard Tektronix analog O-Scope....something like this. I am here to learn.
View attachment 49943

IMHO a good USB soundcard oscilloscope will be much more useful and easier to use.
Besides the software is free. Although a donation of .05% of the value of our cartridges will be fair ... :)

a1.jpg
 
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bazelio

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The spectrum analysis on most low end oscilloscopes is ... low end. I agree that in that area, a sound card wins. If you want to spend a bit over $1k USD, then you can get a good spectrum analyzer function on a scope. And if I wanted to do more in depth analysis of harmonic distortion performance of my components, then I'd use a sound card and audio analysis software. Or even better, a dedicated audio analyzer instead. But for cart setup, I don't need that. We are looking at phase offsets, waveform breakup, amplitudes, and channel separation of a fundamental frequency. So I do find that the $200 Bitscope provides what I need to very accurately set up cartridges. The Bitscope is attached via USB to my Macbook. I use the main oscilloscope function, the vector scope, and as I said the spectrum analyzer to see channel separation (in dB) of the fundamental signal left vs right. But I don't need to do much more than that. If you do, then you can use a different tool. I don't think Audio Magik offers an advantage for cartridge azimuth other than ease of use, and at least as far as I know, it's not going to help with anti-skate. With a sound card and software, you can achieve the same. But I use the Bitscope for other things for which I can't use a sound card. I'll probably get a sound card for room measurements eventually. Right now, I'm just using the USB UMIK-1.
 

mountainjoe

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The spectrum analysis on most low end oscilloscopes is ... low end. I agree that in that area, a sound card wins. If you want to spend a bit over $1k USD, then you can get a good spectrum analyzer function on a scope. And if I wanted to do more in depth analysis of harmonic distortion performance of my components, then I'd use a sound card and audio analysis software. Or even better, a dedicated audio analyzer instead. But for cart setup, I don't need that. We are looking at phase offsets, waveform breakup, amplitudes, and channel separation of a fundamental frequency. So I do find that the $200 Bitscope provides what I need to very accurately set up cartridges. The Bitscope is attached via USB to my Macbook. I use the main oscilloscope function, the vector scope, and as I said the spectrum analyzer to see channel separation (in dB) of the fundamental signal left vs right. But I don't need to do much more than that. If you do, then you can use a different tool. I don't think Audio Magik offers an advantage for cartridge azimuth other than ease of use, and at least as far as I know, it's not going to help with anti-skate. With a sound card and software, you can achieve the same. But I use the Bitscope for other things for which I can't use a sound card. I'll probably get a sound card for room measurements eventually. Right now, I'm just using the USB UMIK-1.

Analog Magik does include anti-skate setup - I've found this usually puts me at a much lower setting than the tonearm instructions would suggest. I can compare to the scope method if I ever have the time...
 
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microstrip

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The spectrum analysis on most low end oscilloscopes is ... low end. I agree that in that area, a sound card wins. If you want to spend a bit over $1k USD, then you can get a good spectrum analyzer function on a scope. (...)

You can get one of the best for free during one month ... See http://www.spectraplus.com/Downloads.htm
 

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