Our top model custom hand built phono cartridge The Colibri, featuring matched crystal copper coils with 0.30 or 0.38mV/channel output. A version with matched crystal gold coils and 0.65 mV/channel, output is also available.

As a result of phono cartridge builder A.J. van den Hul’s continuous research into improving his phono cartridge designs our top model “The Colibri” has seen the light of day.

The Colibri is the improved successor to our Grasshopper “Beauty” series of phono cartridges where many building components have been removed in a highly successful quest to return to the plain essence of phono transduction.

The result is an unbelievably straightforward sounding “clean and open” design, in all its aspects bearing much resemblance to the “Colibri” named tropical bird’s swiftness, elegance and beauty; Hence the cartridge’s name.

Compared to our GRASSHOPPER “BEAUTY” series the following differences stand out:

• By minimizing and adapting the cartridge’s total magnetic circuit the related distortion and (Barkhausen) noise have undergone a considerable decrease. This opens up many subtle sound details that never have been heard before; Especially the decay of instrument sounds now stands out much more clearly in the music’s totality.
• Due to the minimization of the cartridge’s total magnetic circuit the cartridge’s mass has been reduced. Together with the possibility to tune the cartridge’s static compliance on special customer demand it is now possible to use very light tonearms whilst maintaining a very good tracking ability.
• By removing the frontpole is has been possible to apply an even shorter cantilever; This further improves the groove-modulation-transduction’s directness and accuracy.
• Due to the minimal magnetic design the output voltage has slightly reduced.

The Colibri is available in three main versions:

XG Version: (X = cross shaped modulator, G = matched crystal Gold wire coils)

• Medium output, most suitable for classical music
• Output voltage: 0.38 mV/channel
• Types available: XGW, XGP, XGM, XGA (-W, -P, -M and -A type see extra info)

XC Version: (X = cross shaped modulator, C = matched crystal Copper wire coils)

• Low output all-round model
• Output voltage: 0.30 mV/channel
• Types available: XCW, XCP, XCM, XCA (-W, -P, -M and -A type see extra info)

XC-HO & XG-HO Version: (X = cross shaped modulator, C = matched crystal Copper wire coils, G = matched crystal Gold wire coils, HO = High Output)

• High output, most suitable for jazz music
• Output voltage: 0.65 mV/channel
• Types available: XCW-HO, XCP-HO, XCM-HO and XCA-HO (-W, -P, -M and -A type see extra info)
  XGW-HO, XGP-HO, XGM-HO and XGA-HO (-W, -P, -M and -A type see extra info)

Special customer demands/specifications:
Thanks to the many variations in materials available, it is always possible to build a unit to match the personal demands of the customer. With these personalized cartridges the wooden container can mention the name of the customer it has been specially built for. This option is exclusively available for The Canary, The Grasshopper III series, The Grasshopper IV, The Grasshopper “Beauty”, The Condor and The Colibri versions.

The customer demands/specifications that can be taken into account when building a personalized cartridge for instance are:
The tone-arm used, the pre-amp and load impedance used, a particular brand of records to be played, the type of music generally played (jazz being more dynamic and classical more spacious and detailed) and other personal/sound preferences.

Frequency response from the Colibri: