Dr. Feickert Turntable

tablejockey- are you saying it was competent at it’s price point, but perhaps not exceeding like priced competitors. I see quite a few choices in the 3-4K price range. The ones I would consider would be a Polytable/Sorane arm, a Well Tempered Amadeus, or the Volare. Other popular choices would be 1200GR, and VPI. But then the next jump up to $5K-$7K, there seems to be less to choose. It’s almost like you spend $4k, or jump up to the $8K-$11K range....Woodpecker, Stabi R...even a Stabi S with Kuzma arm will run well over $4K. I’d love to hear a Volare, and plan to soon. The OL live arm is supposed to offer excellent performance for the $.

fjn04-

IMO, difficult to say "X" is "best" at the $4K PP. As you mention, the others will compete with it.

You can nitpick every choice. I should have said in the initial post-I think it' a solid buy with the OL arm.

I purchased a used Luxman a month or so ago. The seller brought it over and we got to talking turntables. He recently purchased the Volare and I asked what he thought. Giant “meh”. I was stunned. He preferred his old Rega. That’s with his new upgrade, a class A Luxman. He said the Volare was too soft/smooth. He was big into garage rock.

Ptp Lenco is in that $$ range

I’ve had my Volare since April or so. Bought it with the OL arm, but tried it with 2 others as well and settled on an Audiomods arm, strictly due to ergonomics. The OL Silver actually sounded a touch better, but I prefer the handling of the Audiomods. 

As far as the table goes, it’s likely my last. I’ve been through a bunch of them the last couple years and this one just does it for me. Recently put a Hana ML on, and I’ve hit end game status. 

Double bonus that it is beautiful to look at (in my opinion).

I will also echo what was stated above, phono stage should match the quality of the table/cart.