Dr. Feickert - Woodpecker Turntable

Dr. Feickert's classic recipe — wooden box, platter and tonearm — with a sliding armbase that lets you swap arms from 9 to 12 inches in minutes.

The Woodpecker came out of customers' enquiries. Most people picture a turntable as a wooden box, a platter and a tonearm, and this is Dr. Feickert's version of that idea. The performance level of the older models was already established; the brief was to transfer those virtues into a traditional chassis without giving anything up.

That took some doing. The answer was getting a single mass layer to interact correctly with the chassis, which here is a constrained-layer sandwich of aluminium top and bottom plates around thermally treated MDF. The well-proven inverted stainless steel bearing was refined, running in oil with spiral grooves that pump lubricant around the shaft, and the motor electronics were developed from scratch to suit the new approach. Speeds are 33-1/3, 45 and 78 RPM, selected electronically.

The sliding armbase is the feature owners talk about. It carries a pivot-to-spindle scale and quick-release fixings, covering 205 to 300 mm, so almost any tonearm from 9 up to 12 inches will mount and can be changed in a couple of minutes. A Delrin platter is standard; the optional Inertia platter adds eight machined MS58 brass inserts and weighs 13.2 lbs.

Features

• Belt drive with a software-controlled three-phase DC motor and phase-locked-loop speed control
• Three speeds — 33-1/3, 45 and 78 RPM — with fine adjustment on each
• Constrained-layer chassis: aluminium plates around thermally treated MDF
• Inverted stainless steel bearing running in oil, with spiral pumping grooves
• Sliding armbase with pivot-to-spindle scale, 205-300 mm — 9 to 12 inch tonearms, swapped in minutes
• Delrin platter standard; optional Inertia platter with eight MS58 brass inserts
• Two-year warranty on chassis and electronics, five years on the bearing

Specifications

• Type: Belt-drive turntable with electronic speed control
• Speeds: 33-1/3, 45 and 78 RPM, electronically selected with fine adjustment
• Platter: Delrin as standard; optional Inertia platter in Delrin with eight machined MS58 brass inserts, 13.2 lbs (approx. 6 kg)
• Bearing: Inverted stainless steel, oil-lubricated with spiral pumping grooves and a service grub screw
• Chassis: Aluminium top and bottom plates around a thermally treated MDF core
• Finishes: Matte Nextel Black as standard, with Tineo, Zebrano, Walnut, Palisander, gloss white and gloss black available; black or silver plates
• Armboard: Sliding armbase with pivot-to-spindle scale and quick-release fixings, 205-300 mm — 9 to 12 inch effective length
• Tonearms: One
• Integrated Protractor: Optional
• Dimensions: 480 x 380 x 140 mm (18.9″ x 15.0″ x 5.5″)
• Weight: 13.5 kg (29.8 lbs) chassis; 18 kg (39.5 lbs) complete without tonearm
• Power: External 24 V, 500 mA DC supply. The optional Dr. Feickert Linear Power Supply replaces it
• Warranty: Two years on chassis and electronics; five years on the bearing
• Included: Turntable, platter, belt and power supply. Cartridge is not included; a tonearm is included only on Deluxe package configurations
• Note: Dr. Feickert publishes no speed accuracy, wow and flutter or rumble figures for any model in the range

Tonearm Package Options

• Deluxe DFA S-10: 10″ Dr. Feickert DFA straight tonearm, Feickert S-Cord DIN to RCA cable, Inertia platter and enhanced premium finish
• Deluxe ORT-12LPSU: Ortofon AS-309R 12″ tonearm with DIN to RCA cable, Ortofon LH-4000 headshell, Inertia platter, Linear Power Supply and optional premium finish in wood veneer or high gloss
• Deluxe TS-MXX: Schick 10.5″ tonearm package
• Deluxe K-SS12VTA: 12″ Kuzma Stogi S12VTA tonearm with Kuzma Stogi arm base
• Deluxe EMT909: EMT 909 HI tonearm (cable not included)