Product Description
The van den Hul Crimson Stradavarius is a top performance, custom, hand-built moving coil phono cartridge. This is the result of a crossbreed of our models “The Canary” and “The Condor”. This cartridge is available in natural light wood colour, dark wood colour and a red coloured (also wooden) version. The wooden models are all available with a special lacquer which is the original lacquer of Stradivarius violins. All the wooden models are available as the new “Crimson Stradivarius” which gives the cartridge a unique sound impression. On special request a Polycarbonate body is available.
Specific characteristics for this great cartridge are a relatively high (0,65mV) output, gold coils, a Samarium-Cobalt magnet, extended channel separation and superb tracking ability.
As the popularity of vinyl is reviving again, many requests came in to develop a High-end phono cartridge for a more affordable price than The Colibri. The Crimson is the result and probably one of the cartridges with the best value for money available. It is completely hand built by the Master himself and comes with a 200 hour service check-up, free of charge (for the original owner).
Van den Hul Crimson XGW Stradivarius | REVIEW
By Marc Phillips
Last year I reviewed the Van den Hul The Grail phono stage, and I gave it a firm recommendation. If you’ve read that review, you’ll know that I hoped to spend some seat time with one of the legendary cartridges from AJ van den Hul, something I’ve never done until right now. John McGurk of AudioShield could obviously read between the lines. Before I knew it, John had shipped out the Van den Hul Crimson XGW Stradivarius phono cartridge. It’s been here for a long time now, apologies to John.
I do feel like I’m leaving out several narrative details, as if I’m telling a joke and I keep starting over because I’m messing it up. In the middle of all these two reviews, I was able to meet John McGurk in person, both at AXPONA 2022 and in Munich just a few weeks later. What I’ve learned about John is that he has great taste in gear–which is very important in the world of high-end audio. At those two shows I spent some time with John, along with Credo of Switzerland’s Michael Kraske, and I listened to almost the same system each time.
I didn’t care about taking another listen, other than the fact that the third-level atrium at the MOC in Munich will now be known to me as The Great German Sauna. Man, it was hot up in there. I stayed, though, sweat running down the sides of my head, and I could have bowed out earlier than I did but I loved the sound of that system–EMM Labs, VPI, Credo and, of course, Van den Hul. The VDH cartridges, by the way, are currently distributed in the US by VPI.
As I sat there, listening, I knew that I had the Van Den Hul Crimson XGW Stradivarius moving-coil cartridge waiting for me back in cool, misty and overcast Portland. It did take some effort to get The Grail, the Crimson and a worthy turntable in my listening room at the same time, but I’m so glad it all happened. This is a different analog sound than I’m used to, and that’s not a bad thing at all.
READ FULL REVIEW
