Van den Hul - The Condor series

What do you get when you cross a Colibri with a Frog?
Yes…….. a Condor!

The CONDOR is a top performance custom handbuilt moving coil phono cartridge. A crossbreed of our The FROG and The COLIBRI (two of the world’s finest cartridges) featuring the best of both and available in a wide range of versions matching the personal demands of the customer.

A huge leap beyond the pond:

“Up there, high in the sky, she graciously glides, her sharp senses capturing the entire soundscape, never missing any detail”

A.J. van den Hul’s newly created phono cartridge, named The CONDOR, is a very innovative moving coil design specifically made for very high replay quality. It is the first cartridge in the world that doesn’t have any mechanical signal transfer to the tone arm or the other way around: No sound coloration and no background noise!

The CONDOR is based on The FROG and uses the design philosophy of The COLIBRI: take away from the body what you don’t need, thus making the cartridge lighter and with fewer materials to resonate and influence the sound in a negative way. The CONDOR has no front-pole and employs a very strong magnet. The suspension is an advanced three rubber system. While being more robust in construction and having a healthier output, The CONDOR exhibits the same highly refined sonic properties as The COLIBRI: a very high resolution combined with an extremely good spatial reproduction. The CONDOR is made for many different arms without any problem. Tracking is excellent and the top-end is very smooth.

The CONDOR is built in a number of versions:

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

• Low output all-round model

• Output voltage: 0.25 mV/channel

• Types available: XCP-LO and XCM-LO (P and M type suffix see *4)

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

• High output, most suitable for jazz and pop music

• Output voltage: 0.55 mV/channel

• Types available: XCP-HO and XCM-HO (P and M type suffix see *4)

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

• Low output, most suitable for classical music

• Output voltage: 0.25 mV/channel

• Types available: XGP-LO and XGM-LO (P and M type suffix see *4)

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

• High output, most suitable for jazz and pop music

• Output voltage: 0.45 mV/channel

• Types available: XGP-HO and XGM-HO (P and M type suffix see *4)

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 preamp 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.

Production time:
The production time for a CONDOR cartridge after ordering is about two weeks. Please call your authorized distributor for delivery time.

There are 4 types of Condor in the series, so prices reflect the variations.

1.Standard version - Low output 0.25 mV/channel

2.Standard version - High output 0.50mV/channel

3.Gold wire version - Low output 0.25 mV/channel

4.Gold wire version - High output 0.50mV/channel