His is 0.5 gold. (XGW, G for gold). Now in think you only get koa. It's the output that I don't understand how people decide, looks like trial and error.
The Colibri “Master Signature”
- Thread starter Tango
- Start date
His is 0.5 gold. (XGW, G for gold). Now in think you only get koa. It's the output that I don't understand how people decide, looks like trial and error.
Not quite I did the trials myself and the outputs I recommend are based on client’s systems.
david
with my Boulder 2008 phonopre I like the
VDH Colibri XGW (crosscoils, golden wire, wood body) AGW (African black Grenadille / Ebony) body, Stradivarius (unique paint), Master Signature 1.1 mv (strong magnet, output depending on magnet size)
like shown in the pictures:
VDH Colibri XGW (crosscoils, golden wire, wood body) AGW (African black Grenadille / Ebony) body, Stradivarius (unique paint), Master Signature 1.1 mv (strong magnet, output depending on magnet size)
like shown in the pictures:
Decision for me was easy - it was an impulsive buy. Black Wood Grenadille, XGW Stradivarius, .90mV. Since that day it is surely the best of the best, no doubts!
AJ VDH is an old man, I have seen already some more typo errors on his boxes...,
the side info letters on the box are correct
Last edited:
Stradivarius signifies his special wood lacquer, not always applied.
david
From the press release:
"A further key distinction in this new edition is the ‘Stradivarius formula’ lacquer that coats the Colibri’s body, a treatment which was recently tried and tested on the company’s ‘Crimson’ model, to great acclaim. While the details of the formula’s composition remain under wraps, its inspiration comes from that used on Antonio Stradivari’s iconic violins, hence the cartridge’s name. van den Hul applies three separate layers of the 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 advantage,” explains van den Hul, “is that the harder outer coating destroys the standing waves inside the softer body, reducing unwanted resonance."
A local dealer had the following to say about the Koa vs the African Blackwood. I'm curious if anyone here could confirm or deny these impressions:
Considering the choice of body, the Koa XGW Master Signature Stradivarius body is the common body and sounds sweet, natural. The African Black Wood Grenadille XGW body is slightly more expensive, but has improved bass and dynamics, and in my view is a bit more precise. Personally I prefer this African Black Wood Grenadille body.
Considering the choice of body, the Koa XGW Master Signature Stradivarius body is the common body and sounds sweet, natural. The African Black Wood Grenadille XGW body is slightly more expensive, but has improved bass and dynamics, and in my view is a bit more precise. Personally I prefer this African Black Wood Grenadille body.
I would add, that the AGW body has a more defined and better lower mids , upper bass. The tonal balance has also a higher focus on the lower mids / upper bass. I loved the Koa with my tube phono stages, but the AGW is better on my Boulder 2008
I just set up a Colibri MSS on my Bergmann Galder/Odin (just a few hours ago). Now this is a really special cartridge, I am very very happy with it!
Thanks people
I set the mss up yesterday. I am at 1.5gr vtf, 1gr anti-skating (min. I can get with a 4 point, how does Tima deal with this?), vta/sra parallel, azimuth correct and I used the Kuzma supplied protractor for 66mm and 120.9mm 2 point protractor and the cartridge aligned at both null points. I have my preamp set at input 1mV and 60ohms loading.
Now, the frequency extensions on both sides, resolution and liveliness gives me great hope that I will achieve a very good sound out of this cartridge. However as of yesterday, the upper-mid and treble energy was overpowering. The sibilance is very much present and to a very high degree.
There are a few things I will try tonight and I am also open to suggestions for proper setup from the experienced people here. I am suspecting the problem is not at only one point.
One part of it may be the preamp settings mismatch. I will try different settings. Yesterday, I was going to try the 300ohm load which is the preference by some people here but even 100ohm was too bright so I opted for 60ohm last night. If I sort out the highs then I may try a higher load after that to get more liveliness. As for the input sensitivity, I can go higher with the input set to 2mV or lower to 0,50mV and less in gradations. It is set at 1mV now and my mss is a 1.1mV one. I was surprised to have lower volume than my 0.3mV cart set at 0,3mV input sensitivity.
For vta, I tried briefly tail down and tail up, a slight tail up gives the most clarity and clean but strong bass but then again having already too much highs, with the tail up the sound is a little more brighter. Tail down creates a blurrier image and did not get rid of the harsh sibilance either. Frankly I don't think I could find the spot where vta creates big differences yesterday. It did not react to much to it.
Now, I emailed Franc Kuzma about the lower anti-skating bias than 1 gr. He told me to take off the weight completely or try a smaller weight that he can send. However there was no mis-tracking on the records I listened to yesterday. Maybe I should take the weight off and try.
So, ddk, tima, sujay, bazelio, shakti, rockitman, jackellson and tang, may I hear about your settings I have read the thread and got some but a comprehensive list with every parameter including the preamp settings could be a great info exchange between us and would help me.
I set the mss up yesterday. I am at 1.5gr vtf, 1gr anti-skating (min. I can get with a 4 point, how does Tima deal with this?), vta/sra parallel, azimuth correct and I used the Kuzma supplied protractor for 66mm and 120.9mm 2 point protractor and the cartridge aligned at both null points. I have my preamp set at input 1mV and 60ohms loading.
Now, the frequency extensions on both sides, resolution and liveliness gives me great hope that I will achieve a very good sound out of this cartridge. However as of yesterday, the upper-mid and treble energy was overpowering. The sibilance is very much present and to a very high degree.
There are a few things I will try tonight and I am also open to suggestions for proper setup from the experienced people here. I am suspecting the problem is not at only one point.
One part of it may be the preamp settings mismatch. I will try different settings. Yesterday, I was going to try the 300ohm load which is the preference by some people here but even 100ohm was too bright so I opted for 60ohm last night. If I sort out the highs then I may try a higher load after that to get more liveliness. As for the input sensitivity, I can go higher with the input set to 2mV or lower to 0,50mV and less in gradations. It is set at 1mV now and my mss is a 1.1mV one. I was surprised to have lower volume than my 0.3mV cart set at 0,3mV input sensitivity.
For vta, I tried briefly tail down and tail up, a slight tail up gives the most clarity and clean but strong bass but then again having already too much highs, with the tail up the sound is a little more brighter. Tail down creates a blurrier image and did not get rid of the harsh sibilance either. Frankly I don't think I could find the spot where vta creates big differences yesterday. It did not react to much to it.
Now, I emailed Franc Kuzma about the lower anti-skating bias than 1 gr. He told me to take off the weight completely or try a smaller weight that he can send. However there was no mis-tracking on the records I listened to yesterday. Maybe I should take the weight off and try.
So, ddk, tima, sujay, bazelio, shakti, rockitman, jackellson and tang, may I hear about your settings
I have read the thread and got some but a comprehensive list with every parameter including the preamp settings could be a great info exchange between us and would help me.
Last edited:
The grail has not arrived yet, I am using Transrotor Phono mc8 sym. It was the reference unit they have built with seperate power supply and it is an exceptionally quiet and a very neutral pre. It can be adjusted from 0,07mV to 2mV (sadly from 0,5mV to 1mV and from 1mV to 2mV there are no settings in between) The load can be from 60ohm to 1000ohms with quite a lot of settings in between. There is also 4,7kohm setting.
Similar threads
