Speak of the devil. Look at what the cat has dragged in....
van den Hul Colibri Grand Cru
- Thread starter PeterA
- Start date
Congratulation. You found the one that should be getting.Speak of the devil. Look at what the cat has dragged in....
Schroder LT + vdH might be a very interesting combination, and certainly is worth a try. Please give us a full report in due course!
I am currently having one of my best experiences in my lifelong audio journey.
I've been mentally composing this post, that i couldn't drag myself away from listening to actually write, for the last couple of hours
My firstest, biggest impressions are how good it sounds straight out of the box, and how forgiving it seems to be of my imperfect setup- a high mass arm, tweaked to reduce the mass, but really just a stopgap- and you would never know. I can hear no setup flaws
For those who prize the natural sound- and I'm nodding at you- David- you will be blissed out.
Even with half a dozen hours on, this is already the most natural sound I've ever experienced. No undue emphasis on any frequency, its all just so right.
Now here's a thing i can't explain. I'm hearing something that i would normally attribute to the turntable; better rhythm
And i find myself in strong agreement with Peter's observation that there is more information retrieval, every track I've played I'm hearing instruments lines i had never noticed before, and the full bandwidth of those that were already thete, all contributing to the the natural flow.
Ahhh goody, natural flow..speaking of, I'm going to play Zero 7 right now.
Dinner's long cold, who cares,
and thank god for being a bachelor
I have to hear my entire record collection, right now
I've been mentally composing this post, that i couldn't drag myself away from listening to actually write, for the last couple of hours
My firstest, biggest impressions are how good it sounds straight out of the box, and how forgiving it seems to be of my imperfect setup- a high mass arm, tweaked to reduce the mass, but really just a stopgap- and you would never know. I can hear no setup flaws
For those who prize the natural sound- and I'm nodding at you- David- you will be blissed out.
Even with half a dozen hours on, this is already the most natural sound I've ever experienced. No undue emphasis on any frequency, its all just so right.
Now here's a thing i can't explain. I'm hearing something that i would normally attribute to the turntable; better rhythm
And i find myself in strong agreement with Peter's observation that there is more information retrieval, every track I've played I'm hearing instruments lines i had never noticed before, and the full bandwidth of those that were already thete, all contributing to the the natural flow.
Ahhh goody, natural flow..speaking of, I'm going to play Zero 7 right now.
Dinner's long cold, who cares,
and thank god for being a bachelor
I have to hear my entire record collection, right now
Congratulations. What arm are you planning to use it on?
Speaking of what the cat dragged in—I know this is a VdH thread, so forgive this slight derail, but we are talking peak of the cartridge mountain, yes?
Since I went down a light detour almost buying an Ypsilon phono stage, only to learn it was going to be very difficult to match my Benz LPS with it, I listened to the advice of many who said I might get more improvement stepping up into the world of the best cartridges. Then I heard the Etsuro Gold @ Mike Lavigne's place before the Wuhan came knocking. Ever since I've been scouring the world to see if I couldn't perhaps find a lightly used one. Its been months, but I finally found one. I'll wag on about it in another thread once I have a little time with it.
I am timid about setting up such a delicate piece of audio jewelry, hopefully getting started this evening.
Now back to your regularly scheduled VdH tongue-wagging.
Since I went down a light detour almost buying an Ypsilon phono stage, only to learn it was going to be very difficult to match my Benz LPS with it, I listened to the advice of many who said I might get more improvement stepping up into the world of the best cartridges. Then I heard the Etsuro Gold @ Mike Lavigne's place before the Wuhan came knocking. Ever since I've been scouring the world to see if I couldn't perhaps find a lightly used one. Its been months, but I finally found one. I'll wag on about it in another thread once I have a little time with it.
I am timid about setting up such a delicate piece of audio jewelry, hopefully getting started this evening.
Now back to your regularly scheduled VdH tongue-wagging.
wow Bob, you found one!
really beautiful! congrats! i anxiously look forward to hearing about your first impressions.
Edit: Thanks Tang, I didn't realize they were friendly teasing us. Perhaps the Etsuro Gold cartridge deserves its own thread as there is little discussion about it on WBF outside of Mike's experience.
Congratulations Bob on finding a used one. I look forward to reading more about it once you have it set up and playing.
Congratulations Bob on finding a used one. I look forward to reading more about it once you have it set up and playing.
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Can i borrow that cat ?Speak of the devil. Look at what the cat has dragged in....
You get your own puss.. Lagonda. No time share on this.Can i borrow that cat ?
Whether it is a Gran Cru, the Master Sig or the 5Rs, the tracking force is best going on the low side once pass a few hundred hrs. Put on higher tracking force and their magic on high, lightning quick transient and hologram ness will diminish. The point is don't try to tame it. If you hear the signature of these carts as not natural just dont buy it. It is also best to have a second arm/cart that you can rely on in case the sound of your vdh setup go wrong somehow. (It can happen if you play and use it much enough.) I use my Opus1 setup as a bench mark. If one day I feel listening to my Master Sig does not give me that special "sensation" or a preference over the Opus1, I will know my MS does not do its job properly. A few times already, my tracking force slipped somehow. The sound of vdh will vary from one to another within the same model same materials. But the signature is always there.
) I use my Opus1 setup as a bench mark. If one day I feel listening to my Master Sig does not give me that special "sensation" or a preference over the Opus1, I will know my MS does not do its job properly. A few times already, my tracking force slipped somehow. The sound of vdh will vary from one to another within the same model same materials. But the signature is always there.
Remember what happened last time you got caught “borrowing?” cats MilanCan i borrow that cat ?
I thought you’d swore all that stuff off?
More decisive could be which foot left or right that Mr.Van den Hul first set on the floor at time of getting out of bed in the morning before he starts crafting his cartridge. That will determine +/- degree vta of the cart made that day.
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