The Colibri “Master Signature”

[DaveyF]

likely degrees of energy projection and space mostly based on what i've read. i've not actually listened to the .38 Koa Strad in my system.

i bought the $8k .38 Koa Strad (there are a number of reviews) and then before i received it, also bought the .7mv Sig Strad. i decided not to use the .38, and only tried the $11k .7mv Sig Strad, which i wrote about and liked alot. i ended up letting Jazdoc try the .38 Koa Strad for a few days (that's where the 10 hours came from), he returned it to me, and i've never used it. when i sold my NVS and standard Telos and then only had the one tonearm i've just used my GFS cart and never had occasion to try the .38 Koa Strad.

i know Dre did a review directly comparing the Koa Strad and Stad Signature.....you could read it. and before i sold my .7mv Strad Sig i did loan it to Jazdoc briefly. Jaz is not one to live with the dark side of vdh.......he's like Ron in that way. a Benz LPS kinda guy..

Mike, I saw your 0.38mv Colibri on the market. You made an interesting comment about Jazz...maybe for the less initiated you could elaborate on what a Benz LPS kinda guy is.. Aren't they both on the warm side ( LPS and VDH) and both have the same engine wound by Van Den Hul himself? Different body design. LPS vs. VDH Colibri...your thoughts on the differences

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, I saw your 0.38mv Colibri on the market. You made an interesting comment about Jazz...maybe for the less initiated you could elaborate on what a Benz LPS kinda guy is.. Aren't they both on the warm side ( LPS and VDH) and both have the same engine wound by Van Den Hul himself? Different body design. LPS vs. VDH Colibri...your thoughts on the differences

hopefully Jazdoc will chime in here. until he does i would say that the occasional edge that the vdH displays has more significance to some of us than others. for me i really love the energy and space of the vdH and play lots of large orchestral music where that takes me places i value, Jazdoc does high energy stuff too,, but not so much large scale. so the downsides of the occasional edge are not sufficiently balanced by the positives like me.

the LPS is a very balanced and well behaved cartridge. it's not warm and gooey like Koetsu wood bodies, but stays in the lane. not hanging out there. it plays to the music Jazdoc likes. i'm oversimplifying, as the nuance of his views are deeper than that.

 

[bonzo75]

Thought Dre did a review on compare of crimson strad and signature strad.

 

[DaveyF]

hopefully Jazdoc will chime in here. until he does i would say that the occasional edge that the vdH displays has more significance to some of us than others. for me i really love the energy and space of the vdH and play lots of large orchestral music where that takes me places i value, Jazdoc does high energy stuff too,, but not so much large scale. so the downsides of the occasional edge are not sufficiently balanced by the positives like me.

the LPS is a very balanced and well behaved cartridge. it's not warm and gooey like Koetsu wood bodies, but stays in the lane. not hanging out there. it plays to the music Jazdoc likes. i'm oversimplifying, as the nuance of his views are deeper than that.

Thanks for that.
I too would be interested in what Jazzdoc thinks..

BTW, PM sent.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Thought Dre did a review on compare of crimson strad and signature strad.

maybe it was Myles who reviewed both of those. i'm running off to work now and will research that more later.

 

[jazdoc]

Thanks for that.
I too would be interested in what Jazzdoc thinks..

BTW, PM sent.

IMO, this is about personal preferences, not a question of good and bad. The van den Hul and LPS are both very good cartridges. I preferred the vdH Mike loaned me but for one caveat: the tendency to more high frequency energy. That was a deal breaker for me. In all other respects, I thought the vdH bettered my LPS. I spent close to 20 hours with the cartridge trying to adjust set up to ameliorate the high frequency energy with little success. BTW, the vdH bass extension is extraordinary and the midrange presentation excellent. FWIW, I heard the same sonic signature in Mike's system.

 

[DaveyF]

Jazzdoc, thanks for that. I think the sibilance issue will be an issue for me.. I’m very sensitive to high frequency anomalies.
I do wonder if the more current Crimson Strad has the same issues. The older regular Colibri was known for this problem...luckily some people are less bothered by it than others. Seems like you and I are in the same camp.

 

[Tango]

Dear Tang,

Can you give us precise examples of two or three recordings where you notice this sibilance? I am usually sensitive to them in voices in mediaval music , but I did not find it in my recordings. I had a few cases in the past where the vinyl playback had sibilance but the CD also had it, so I concluded it was intrinsic to the recording.

Dean Martin's Dream with Dean. Ella & Louis are obvious.
Both recordings have intrinsic spots for sibilances in them. If ones didnt find sibilances in Dean's or Louis's voice then there were problems with the system.

However when I mentioned of the issue. I didnt mean just sibilances. I meant degree of sibilances. You know all my equipments were the same. Same SME arms on the AS. Only differences were carts. Least to most in term of degree were AtlasSL => Opus1&ZYX => Master Sig.

Your Master Sig might have less of this character than mine Micro. Your system down the chain might also be less sensitive or less prone to sibilances than mine. I don't like to point finger at just the usual suspect.


Kind regards,
Tang

 

[microstrip]

Dean Martin's Dream with Dean. Ella & Louis are obvious.
Both recordings have intrinsic spots for sibilances in them. If ones didnt find sibilances in Dean's or Louis's voice then there were problems with the system.

However when I mentioned of the issue. I didnt mean just sibilances. I meant degree of sibilances. You know all my equipments were the same. Same SME arms on the AS. Only differences were carts. Least to most in term of degree were AtlasSL => Opus1&ZYX => Master Sig.

Your Master Sig might have less of this character than mine Micro. Your system down the chain might also be less sensitive or less prone to sibilances than mine. I don't like to point finger at just the usual suspect.


Kind regards,
Tang

Thanks for your clarification - it is now clear we point in the same direction - reproduction of sibilance existing in the recording and to what degree they show. Voice sibilance usually shows in the 5-10 kHz band and can be enhanced by the recording process.

I have not listened to the recordings you refer with my vdH - probabbly I will do it sometime next week.

 

[tima]

maybe it was Myles who reviewed both of those. i'm running off to work now and will research that more later.

Andre Jennings
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/art...arius-and-colibri-xgw-signature-stradivarius/

Myles Astor
https://positive-feedback.com/revie...libri-xgw-stradivarius-moving-coil-cartridge/

Interview w/ AJ van den Hul
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.hifi.nl/artikel/26569/Luisterbezoek-Van-den-Hul-en-BHC-van-Music2.html

No reviews yet of Master Signature that i know of.

 

[sujay]

Dean Martin's Dream with Dean. Ella & Louis are obvious.
Both recordings have intrinsic spots for sibilances in them. If ones didnt find sibilances in Dean's or Louis's voice then there were problems with the system.

However when I mentioned of the issue. I didnt mean just sibilances. I meant degree of sibilances. You know all my equipments were the same. Same SME arms on the AS. Only differences were carts. Least to most in term of degree were AtlasSL => Opus1&ZYX => Master Sig.

Your Master Sig might have less of this character than mine Micro. Your system down the chain might also be less sensitive or less prone to sibilances than mine. I don't like to point finger at just the usual suspect.


Kind regards,
Tang

Couldn’t agree more. Yes, the Colibri is prone to highlighting sibilance relative to other carts that I have but only on some passages/music, not all. And yes it does lean on to the higher frequency side of the spectrum as compared to my zyx and the Benz LPS. This is consistent with the observation made by others on this thread. Notwithstanding this, I unequivocally love the Colibri and prefer it to my other two carts, especially on classical, as a generalization. I’m unabashedly happy that I have carts that are so different in character and suit different music.i wouldn’t want a situation where my carts all sound similar.
Cheers
Sujay

 

[Tango]

Notwithstanding this, I unequivocally love the Colibri and prefer it to my other two carts, especially on classical, as a generalization. I’m unabashedly happy that I have carts that are so different in character and suit different music.i wouldn’t want a situation where my carts all sound similar.
Cheers
Sujay

I say you have such exquisite taste, Sir.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[sujay]

Merci, Khun Tang! in all honesty it doesn’t even come close to the diversity of music and audio equipment you have or for that matter some others on this forum!

 

[Tango]

Andre Jennings
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/art...arius-and-colibri-xgw-signature-stradivarius/

Mr.Jennings was using the Basis one arm turntable in evaluation.

Anyone that can compare same brand of carts in such delicate details with only one arm on the table each time will always get my bow.

Tang

 

[kodomo]

i know Dre did a review directly comparing the Koa Strad and Stad Signature.....you could read it. and before i sold my .7mv Strad Sig i did loan it to Jazdoc briefly. Jaz is not one to live with the dark side of vdh.......he's like Ron in that way. a Benz LPS kinda guy..

Where can I find that comparative review by Dre, I have only found Crimson vs Colibri?

 

[DaveyF]

One thing about Van den Hul cartridges....their naming nomenclature sure leads to much confusion. I would think it also leads to much mis-information as well. For example, I listened yesterday to a VDH KOA Colibri Stradivarius... not a VDH KOA Colibri Stradivarius Signature!! This cartridge was built before the change of the motor to the current motor by VDH and has less output, but the same KOA body. The problem with sibilance wasn't noticeable to me....although the speakers in use may have had something to do with that! The speakers were the new Maggie 3.7s---with the ribbon tweet ( excellent speaker..for the money). Instead, I noticed that I heard less impact and resolution in the bass and less resolution in the extreme highs---than a number of different cartridges that I have heard on this system. If this same finding would hold for the Crimson Strad..or the Colibri Strad Signature...or the Colibri Master Sig...I have no idea. Apparently, the model I heard yesterday ( and I'm not sure if VDH is still making this model, although he was up until the beginning of this year) has exactly the same motor as the Colibri of decades ago! With the exception that the body is lacquered differently ( which accounts for the name Stradivarius-- BIG deal IMHO--- and of course, a much higher asking price!).

 

[bluedoor]

I have the Colibri XGW Master Signature Stradivarius (1,1 mV) in African Black Wood Grennadille (yes, the nomenclature of the names should be more easy), it should be around 80/100 hours and I haven't heard any sibilance at all.
With the "regular" Colibri in my setup yes I've heard some sibilance (one of the reasons I've sold it), however in a friends place it was tamed and no sibilance at all. It's system dependent and if properly adjusted it can play without sibilance.
YMMV.

 

[sujay]

I have the Colibri XGW Master Signature Stradivarius (1,1 mV) in African Black Wood Grennadille (yes, the nomenclature of the names should be more easy), it should be around 80/100 hours and I haven't heard any sibilance at all.
With the "regular" Colibri in my setup yes I've heard some sibilance (one of the reasons I've sold it), however in a friends place it was tamed and no sibilance at all. It's system dependent and if properly adjusted it can play without sibilance.
YMMV.

Hi Bluedoor, I am about to pull the trigger on the XGW MSS 1.1mv African Black Wood, upgrading my current Colibri XGW 0.38mv. What are your preferred phono settings in terms of gain and load impedance?

Thanks

Sujay

 

[shakti]

Hi Bluedoor, I am about to pull the trigger on the XGW MSS 1.1mv African Black Wood, upgrading my current Colibri XGW 0.38mv. What are your preferred phono settings in terms of gain and load impedance?

Thanks

Sujay

I prefer 400ohm Impedance and 65 db gain with my 0,9v Master Signature and the Boulder 2008 Phonopre

 

[bluedoor]

Hi Bluedoor, I am about to pull the trigger on the XGW MSS 1.1mv African Black Wood, upgrading my current Colibri XGW 0.38mv. What are your preferred phono settings in terms of gain and load impedance?

Thanks

Sujay

I think I have 300 ohm and the high setting, who adds some more dbs on the Nagra VPS.