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A.J. Van den Hul is a Netherlands high end manufacturer famous for a number of products. The Van den Hul stylus was the first line contact stylus capable of reading an entire LP groove. His phono cartridges are audio cables are famous worldwide. Who knew he also made electronics? Well, we did, because A.J. has been going to shows with his own amps and preamps for years. We always thought they sounded gorgeous, and wondered why he didn't make a North American version. He did. These are expensive products because they are at the state of the art. Through a special purchase, The Audiophile Boutique can offer them for less than half the original price.
How good are these units? We at UHF Magazine actually considered a pair of M-1's for our Alpha reference system. And we have links to reviews at the bottom of this Web page.
NOTE:
Prices are shown in Canadian dollars, currently trading at or near par with the US dollar, though that can vary from day to day. Clicking on the "Buy It" link takes you to the order page of UHF Magazine, of which The Audiophile Boutique is a division. Shipments to US customers will be made from the US, shipments to Canadian customers will be made from Canada.
We knew all about Van den Hul electronics, but even so, we were astonished at the build quality, and also the sonic quality, of these luxury monoblocs. The drivers are class A without inverse feedback. There are no integrated circuits, except in the power supply control circuit (which is also the protection circuit). The amplifiers are rated at 125 watts into 4 ohms (no 8 ohm rating, but we can suppose they're half that at 8 ohms). Yes, those are WBT binding posts at the rear. You can order them for less than the original dealer price. Original price: US$7350. Now C$3400.
It looks like a single monoblock, and essentially it is...but it's a full stereo amplifier. It is rated at 100 watts per channel, still into 4 ohms. It shares much of its circuit principles with the M-1 monoblocks, of course. It's difficult to believe an amplifier of this quality can be obtained at this sort of price...brand new and with full warranty! Original price was US$3795. Now C$1900.
This gorgeous remote-controlled preamp is near the state of the art for a luxury solid state unit. First-class build quality, too. It comes with a Philips universal remote that runs the Array right out of the box, and can also run your other components. Original price US$3895, now C$1785.
You probably know that the free power cords supplied with most gear are just terrible. Van den Hul doesn't bother even including one. We recommend GutWire power cords, available from The Audiophile Store's AC page. They begin at $74.95. If we ship one at the same time as a Van den Hul unit, we will take 10% off the price of the cord. Note that the Audiophile Boutique and The Audiophile Store share the same shopping cart, so you can mix products from the two catalogs.
*Sales tax applies in Canada. Shipping free within Canada, 5% extra to USA, 10% extra to other countries
VAN DEN HUL REVIEWS
Tweak Shop
Positive Feedback
Absolute Sound (not free, but e-mail us for a free PDF)
Stereophile (CES report)