An Evening with A.J. van den Hul

by Tony Magee

Thought I'd share my experience meeting A.J. van den Hul in 2017. The event was called "An Evening With A.J. van den Hul" and was presented by Audio Active Australia who were the VDH importers at the time (it's now The Sound and Vision Group).

Held at Hyatt Hotel Canberra, the guts of the event were AJ making one of his Crimson MC carts from scratch. His hands worked methodically and expertly as he crafted the unit by hand. A camera was set up close to his hands and the work-bench and we could see everything on a large screen as he progressed. It took about 1.5 hours.

He was full of humour and very welcoming of questions. 

Staff from both of Canberra's main audio retailers were there - Duratone Hi-Fi and Miranda Hi-Fi (I was with Duratone, I retired in June 2019) plus a few members of the general public.

AJ supports an orphanage in Victoria and he donated all the funds raised at the resulting auction of the Crimson at the conclusion of the event.

It was a superb evening. I’ll always remember AJ with fondness and admiration.

Myself at left with AJ, March 14 2017, Hyatt Hotel Canberra

My name badge (I made all the name badges for the Duratone staff)

The finished product. Van den Hul Crimson Moving Coil cartridge. AJ supported an orphanage in Victoria and funds raised from the resulting auction of the cartridge at the conclusion of the evening were donated to them.