Van Den Hul MC-One Special

A custom handbuilt moving coil cartridge; Special selected version of the MC - 10 Special with 0.65 mV/channel. The designation “Special” in this cartridge’s name indicates important improvements over its previous version: The cartridge is equipped with a thicker frontpole and an extra small magnet, both further enhancing its resolution capabilities and output voltage.

Compared to its forebear, the MC One, this Special version has a thicker front pole and an extra small magnet which increase output and are claimed to enhance resolution. The cartridge has a relatively heavy aluminium body with threaded inserts to make installation less fiddly. It comes with the bare minimum of accessories and instructions - just the specifications inscribed on the inside of the box.

Lock it into the headshell and drop it in the groove and you'll hear why apparently sane individuals are prepared to spend the price of a decent pair of speakers on a moving coil cartridge. It reveals the third dimension, depth, and brings genuine stereo to the table. All the less costly cartridges here do this to some extent but next to them the vdH sounds like real three dimensional sound compared to a facsimile thereof. The inability to resolve this elusive aspect of reproduction is what kept CD from sounding convincing for so long and it's still got a way to go to match something like this cartridge.

The effect on music is to give the sound ample space to expand and take shape, to sound solid in the true stereo sense. With the Beefheart this makes instruments and voices sound more real and vivid, better able to draw you into the music. You can fully appreciate the contortions of both singer and band to pull together this apparently disparate collection of noises into a musical whole, and you can enjoy the music all the more for it.

Technical characteristics

• Very high performance pickup cartridge, low output and exceptional quality / price ratio manufactured by hand on request.
• Mobile coil design (MC) with silver monocrystal windings.
• Output of 0.65 mV RMS.
• Type 1 Needle van den Hul.
• Frequency response of 5-50,000 Hz.
• Channel imbalance less than 0.5 dB.
• Internal resistance of 9 ohms.
• 200 ohm load impedance.
• Supporting force between 1'35 and 1.5 grams.
• Weight: 8.2 g.