FEICKERT VOLARE

"The Feickert Volare is perhaps one of the most musical turntables I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. It manages to strap both warmth and detail together giving a full and fleshy sound without obfuscation of air and detail. I don’t know what hidden mojo Dr. Feickert has at his disposal, but when you compare the crazy design eccentricity of many competing turntables on the market with the minimalist utility of the Feickert design, you just have to wonder what some of the other high-end turntable designers are smoking….or not, as the case may be"

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Overview

"Looks can be deceiving and performance is not always predicated on the number of zeros after the dollar sign. Case in point : the Volare from Dr. Feickert Analogue (DFA). Of classic good looks and prosaic dimension, Volare is a belt-driven, manually operated turntable. No kooky tricks or gizmos beyond forthright engineering and execution. And at $3695, with the Origin Live Silver Mk3 tonearm, this is pricing that’s well grounded. 

Volare is best thought of as a downsized version of the good Doctor’s flagship Firebird. It’s a non-suspension design that includes a heavy, well-balanced aluminum platter coupled with a high-torque motor. Its chassis topology focuses on 'high mass in the center of a bearing chosen for its stiffness and low friction'. Fairly conventional stuff. Conveniently, it can be had for $2,995 without the Origin arm, and the armboard is a quick-swap mechanism and fits Rega armboard cutouts. There is an optional SME adapter and an LP12 armboard, as well.

Fit and finish of this German-built turntable are excellent. The standard black and silver base is certainly handsome enough. Operationally, Volare is a snap to use. Push-button speed (33, 45, and 78rpm) and speed-adjustment controls reside in the lower left corner of the base. Simply select the speed to set the platter spinning and press the button again to stop. The motor isn’t “high torque” in name only, either. The giveaway is whether you can apply reasonable force with a carbon record brush and stall the platter. Volare passed this test with flying colors, pulling like a locomotive.

Equipped with aluminum footers and short adjustable spikes, it’s easy to level and fine-tune"

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Sound

"When it comes to the ability of decks to separate complex passages and resolve the detail without everything collapsing into a cacophonic mess,

the Volare takes this aspect of playback into another league altogether. Not only does it delineate the complex passages with acuity, it manages to portray each component in the soundscape with warmth and fullness of body. Part of the key to this feat of de-obfuscation is the Volare’s ability to open up the soundscape with excellent depth and layering.

At the frequency extremes the Volare performs very well. It resolves the highest frequencies  and conjures up a rock-solid and extended bass. Throwing on a well-worn copy of Sergio Mendez & Brasil 77’s ‘Primal Roots’, the bass is room-shakingly deep yet remains taught enough not to mask mid-bass information and clarity through the lower midrange.

I’ve heard track #1 ‘Promise of A Fisherman’ on several more expensive rigs and the low bass has washed-out some of the percussion that shimmers deep into the layered soundstage.

The midrange frequencies are where most decks either score or lose the most points, and that is where this table excels. Firing through Ellington ‘Indigos’ on the Columbia label, the Volare never missed a beat, and never missed an opportunity to show off its warmth and musicality. One could almost think that a couple of extra tubes have been added into the circuit, such is the warmth and richness that the Volare exudes. 

It’s rare to have both warmth in the sense of flesh-on-bones and at the same time detail and resolving power, but this Dr. Feickert turntable has it all"