Van Den Hul MC-1H

Posted by: Justin on 06 October 2001

I recently bought an old Rega 3 on Ebay. To my surprise, it arrived with a plastic bodied cartridge on the end of the tonearm. The cantalever was off to the left more than 25 degrees, which explained why it had been thrown in as a freebie. Anyway, I pushed the cantalever back over and, wouldn't you know it, it worked.

Anyway, it says "BOSTON" on the front in big white letters. I just assumed it was from Boston Acoustics, a pretty low end American manufacturer. However, when i took it off the arm, a small plaque is very clearly displayed on the top of the cart (the part that buts up against the bottom of the headshell). It reads "MC-1H Van den hul, made in Japan".

I checked thier website and the only thing close is the "MC-One" which starts at $1200 US and goes up from there. I can't believe it is a rebadged one of these.

Anyway, I wouldn't be so interested except for the fact that it cleans the damn floor with my dyna 10x4 MKII. I mean it's no contest. The dyna is GRAINY, disjointed, slow, and recessed in comparison.

Anybody out there know what this cartridge is? Thanks
Judd