The Colibri “Master Signature”
- Thread starter Tango
- Start date
I ran across the following at: https://www.artisanfidelity.com/phonocartridges/van-den-hul-colibri-master-stradivarius-signature
They are a vdH dealer. More spec on the MstrSig than I've seen elsewhere. I think the effective mass range is what is typical as I've seen this vary by instance and custom support for 'arms with higher EFM
Van Den Hul Colibri MASTER Stradivarius Signature
Body Materials - Stradivarius lacquered KOA, Polycarbonate and African Blackwood bodies optional.
Cantilever Material - Boron
Diamond Stylus - VDH profile, extended long life
Output voltage: (Low) 0.5 mV and (High) 1.1 mV
Recommended vertical tracking force: 1.35g - 1.5 g
Recommended effective tonearm mass: 10g - 16 g
Optimal loading: 50 ohms - 600 ohms
Internal coil impedance: 13 ohms
Anti-Skating force 0.3g - 0.5g
Weight - 7g - 8g est.
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Thanks Tima. My settings are:
VTF: 1.5g
Loading: 500 ohms
AS: 0.5g
My Master Signature hit 100 hours last night, so I may start to experiment with lowering the VTF by 0.05-0.1g
Another observation: I don't know if it has to do with stylus profile or not, but I notice that my stylus seems cleaner than on my other cartridges and that I do not need to clean it as often. That is a good thing as the exposed cantilever really makes me nervous in the rear arm location as cleaning it is awkward. I can simply remove the headshell which I may now do every few days or so. What are other people's cleaning habits with this cartridge?
VTF: 1.5g
Loading: 500 ohms
AS: 0.5g
My Master Signature hit 100 hours last night, so I may start to experiment with lowering the VTF by 0.05-0.1g
Another observation: I don't know if it has to do with stylus profile or not, but I notice that my stylus seems cleaner than on my other cartridges and that I do not need to clean it as often. That is a good thing as the exposed cantilever really makes me nervous in the rear arm location as cleaning it is awkward. I can simply remove the headshell which I may now do every few days or so. What are other people's cleaning habits with this cartridge?
Be careful, the azimuth changes somewhat when you remove/reinsert
the headshell.
The 13 ohms is incorrect, I believe. @mountainjoe tracked down the info so he could have a proper SUT built and determined it to be in the mid 30s as I recall.
Correct - mine has 0.9mV output and has 36 ohm impedance - I believe the normal 1.1mV output carts are 39 ohms.
Yes, but we can avoid it handling firmly the headshell when we lock the collar. The tension of the azimuth locking screw is a critical adjustment - particularly as the metal of the arm connector is soft and the thread can be easily damaged.
You're welcome for trying to help you.
I saw the other post but don't know what is correct. At least the above is published by a dealer. This is a van den Hul problem - normally the maker is open to publishing such information and we would not have guesswork like now. Same for compliance. Probably because every cartridge is a one-off.
I got the same 13 ohm response from the US distributor but it's hard to believe that can be correct - especially in light of the high output of this cartridge. I then asked the person I bought it from ( who is on this forum) - who lives in Europe - and he got the answer I gave in my reply (I believe from his dealer).
I was also frustrated by the lack of a clear spec from VdH but from a technical perspective, it seems much more likely that the higher value is the correct one.
Just to remember - do NOT try to measure it with an ohmmeter - the current they inject can fry the very thin coils!
However if you have a phono with variable load it is possible to measure it indirectly - just look for the variation of level versus loading.
However if you have a phono with variable load it is possible to measure it indirectly - just look for the variation of level versus loading.
Not sure - I got the information through Christopher Thornton at Artisan Fidelity who said he got it from the US distributor.
Then that would be Finest Fidelity.
When you say 30/39 ohms more likely because of higher output, could you pls say a bit more on that? I'm not questioning you, just trying to learn.
Yeah, my bad for the previous hasty reply on the go. Your help is definitely appreciated!
Hi Tima;
Not sure what you mean by "Finest Fidelity" - I'm referring to Artisan Fidelity - see here Artisan Fidelity
Here's a bit of background in regards to the impedance issue:
In essence an MC cart works on the same principles as a transformer. In a transformer a signal is applied to a coil of wire (the primary) that is magnetically coupled to another coil of wire (the secondary) and the voltage you get out of the secondary is a function of the ratio of the number of turns in the coils. Assuming you hold the # of turns on the primary constant, the voltage at the output of the secondary goes up as a function of the # of turns in the secondary winding (for a given signal level applied on the primary).
In the case of an MC cart, there is a fixed magnet instead of a primary and so the # of turns in the coil will determine how much voltage is generated at the output leads (for a given amount of magnetic flux). In order to generate a high output like 1.1mV, that implies either the magnetic flux is very high (the Master Sig does appear to have a very strong magnet as I discovered with my issue running this cart on my Artisan Fidelity TT) - or that there are lots of windings, or both.
Given the very fine gauge of wire used on these carts, they will typically have a high resistance so you expect that the higher the output voltage of the cart, the higher the number of windings in the coil, and consequently a relatively high impedance compared to lower output carts.
Perhaps VdH is doing something I don't understand but basing things on other MC designs, it seems unlikely that they could achieve such a high output and very low impedance (13 ohms) at the same time - even with such a strong magnet.
I could be wrong about this but other knowledgeable folks I've talked to (including Dave Slagle who built my SUT) in regards to the impedance were just as incredulous wrt the 13 ohm spec as I was. That said, the magnet on the Master Sig is by far the strongest I've ever seen in a cart - enough so that the ever so slightly magnetic SS screws holding down my platter caused the cart to pull towards the platter every time the screw head swung around to the cart position! No other cart I've used has exhibited this problem on this particular TT so nothing would surprise me at this point ;-)))
Hope this helps, Joe
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Sorry - didn't have time for earlier follow-up.
Yes, agreed - the Master Sig does have very (very) strong magnetism, much stronger than any previous vdH cartridge. Vaguely recalling being told that it has two (!) magnets, but not certain I'm recalling this 100% correctly. I may be able to check on this and will post back.
So... do you know what magnetic flux density, in what, some Gauss range?, could yield a lower internal impedance such as the cited 13 Ohms? Given the strong magnetism It sounds like, at least theoretically, that lower impedance is possible.
@microstrip - do you know or have a Web calculator for us?
Yes the high output 1,1mV VdH MS has around 39 ohm.
I do have 2 of them. One is 39.3 ohm and the other 39.7 ohm.
I do have a mid output 0,75mV VdH MS which has 23.2 ohm.
And my newest low output , 0,38mV VdH MS which has 12.2 ohm.
So 1.1mV/0.38mV = 2.89
And 39 ohm/13 ohm (nominal) = 3.0
This seems very reasonable to me as both resistance of the wire and voltage output are linear functions (of wire length and # of coils).
Cheers, Joe
Thanks for that. Do you have direct access to AJ or how did you get those numbers? Not doubting them - just frustrated at the unwillingness of vdH to publish and when we have dealers publishing incorrect information. Not sure why it's hard to get straight information from the manufacturer about this and other of his cartridges. I also have two 1.1mv versions.
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