My Micro Seiki BL-91 is a gorgeous, classic hi-fi vintage belt drive turntable with a massive, low slung plinth with thick and dense plywood construction for stability and vibration reduction, overlayed with a hand-rubbed rosewood veneer with a huge, 12.2 inch solid brass platter, a 12.2″ platter seated on a 16 mm main shaft, and an oil bath damping system designed to support the rotating assembly in complete isolation from all mechanical resonances. No longer in production, it’s a collector’s classic.
For the unaware, from the 1970s through the 90s, Micro Seiki was at one time the largest manufacturer of turntables, according to Rainer Horstmann. Renowned for their flagship professional reference RX-5000 turntable with its 16kg gunmetal platter, they not only produced decks under their brand name, but also other well-known brands such as Luxman, Sanyo, Denon, Sharp, Toshiba, Sansui, Kenwood, Telefunken, Saba, Marantz, and Pioneer as OEM manufacturers that were rebadged. (micro-seiki.nl/webshop) Unfortunately, they ran into financial troubles in the late 90s and were forced to shutter in 1999, “with the exception of a high end variant of (their) 8000 turntable that was made to order well into 2001.” (www.micro-seiki.nl) A few former MICRO employees and insiders have continued producing turntables under the rarified name of TECHDAS, who make top tier tables, but at atmospheric prices (micro-seiki.nl/webshop). For the last several years, I’ve been fortunate enough to own their BL-91 as my reference turntable. Having replaced some caps and the speed potentiometer, I mounted an Audio Creative GrooveMaster 3 tonearm, and have been using a Dynavector XX-2A phono cartridge mounted on a Korf Audio HS-A02 Ceramic Headshell to produce lovely music with great fidelity in my listening room. Lately, I’ve been running it with the SOTA Turntables Eclipse external motor package that’s featured in a review I’m wrapping up, which has enhanced its timing characteristics.
About a month ago, a Dr. Feickert Analogue Woodpecker turntable arrived for review. According to a press release from MoFi Distribution, the U.S. distributor for the brand, “Dr. Feickert Analogue was founded in 2002 by Dr. Christian Feickert, a music lover and choir singer with a PhD in Physics/Chemistry. The brand is currently available in over 30 countries. Owning countless record players since the age of 13, he became acutely aware of the common flaws to various turntable designs. Consequently, he sought out to create a perfect turntable design in the tradition of ‘Black Forest Craftsmanship,’ whereby a product should last a lifetime.” I had heard great things about them and marveled over their bass weighted platter at an AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) show several years ago, but alas it was out of my price range — at least until now. I had previously attempted to acquire a review sample several years ago, but had failed. However, with a more robust resume of turntable-related reviews under my belt, I managed to impress the right people at MoFi Distribution.
So far, I’ve been enjoying listening to its robust and refined delivery of vinyl, and have been anxious to share the experience with friends. My initial impressions were that its presentation was a little more robust sounding than the Micro Seiki’s. Then a few weeks ago, my wife, Belle, told me that she’d like to visit some grandchildren over a weekend. What a perfect opportunity for an listening get-together, I thought; I’d invite friends to witness a comparison between the two turntables, solicit their observations for input into my review, and enjoy some good food, and comaraderie! I sent out invites via texts, planned and waited. Unlike previous gatherings, however, this time the usual responses weren’t there. Perhaps it was bad timing. After all, it was the weekend prior to St. Patrick’s Day. There were other competing interests: St. Patrick’s Day parties, date nights with wives, sickness, a half marathon the next day to rest up for, and others. Life happens.
Bob, at left, leafs through the glossy inserts from the Acoustic Sounds Analogue Productions UHQR 45 RPM release of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Axis: Bold as Love album, while Jeff takes in the music from a dining chair behind the listening couch.
Nevertheless, two retired friends, Bob and Jeff, made it, bringing side dishes to pass. Bob, is an affable and fit retired mechanical engineer who plays drums, shoots pool, and exercises; his wife, Susan, was out of town visiting her ailing mother in Florida. He brought a tasty cheese and crackers plate. Jeff, a chatty 6′ 3″ retired capital equipment salesman who tinkers at home, exercises, and listens to music daily was only too happy to join us, bringing along a bottle of red wine, a sweet brie pastry, and an artichoke dip that his wife, Nancy, a part-time nurse, had made for the event. When they arrived, I was playing the Bill Evans Trio Explorations album. We laughed, chatted, and noshed on brie, artichoke dip, Bob’s cheese and crackers plate, and pulled pork with bruschetta rolls that Belle provided (thanks, Belle!).
But soon, it was time to begin our comparisons. Using my Dynavector XX-2A MC phono cartridge, the plan was to play a few cuts on the Micro Seiki BL-91, remove it, mount it onto the Dr. Feickert Analogue Woodpecker turntable, play those same cuts, observe and discuss, play some new cuts, then switch back to the Micro Seiki for further comparisons as we cycled back and forth. To expedite this process, I wrapped thin strips of masking tape alongside the mounting screw slots on the Micro Seiki’s Korf Audio headshell and the Dr. Feickert Straight-10 Tonearm (it has a built-in headshell) and marked the screw positions with dots after using their respective protractors to get the exact overhang and alignment. I also deployed this hack I discovered several weeks ago for quickly affixing the stamped brass finger lift of the Korf headshell (which is a separate piece): I taped it in position to the top of the headshell, threaded the screws, made alignment adjustments with the dots, and tightened the screws. It was challenging, and took more time than I’d like with the process of unscrewing and screwing the cartridge, plugging tiny phono wires, weighing and adjusting the tracking force, and swapping out the Audio Art Cables phono cables into the MC-1 Moving Coil Transformer (which, in turn, was connected to a Pass Labs XP-17 Phono Preamplifier). However, by using the marked screw positions, I eliminated some crucial time.
First up, I lowered the Micro Seiki’s needle on the Acoustic Sounds Quality Record Pressings 180 gram reissue of Verve’s Jimmy Smith album, Organ Grinder Swing: The Incredible Jimmy Smith.
“Oh! I love that Hammond B-3,” Jeff exclaimed.
The rich and warm sounds of Jimmy Smith’s Hammond B-3 organ, accompanied by guitarist, Kenny Burrell, and drummer, Grady Tate, snaked its way from the Dynavector XX-2A cartridge, cradled in the Korf Audio HS-A02 headshell, up the GrooveMaster 3 tonearm, the BL-91 turntable, the prototype Audio Art Cable’s phono cable, into the Quadratic Audio MC-1 Moving Coil Transformer, out to the Pass Labs XP-17 phono stage via Straight Wire Expressivo AG interconnects, to the Pass Labs XP-12 over Straight Wire Serenade 3 interconnects, the Pass Labs X150.8 amplifier via Straight Wire Crescendo 3 balanced cables, and out to the ATC SCM40 loudspeakers over Straight Wire Crescendo 3 speaker cables — accompanied by a pair of REL S/812 subwoofers linked directly to the amp using their proprietary high level cables. It was at once captivating, detailed and natural, well articulated across the sound spectrum. We listened, enthralled, to Side A before making the switch to the Dr. Feickert Analogue Woodpecker. Preamplification electronics were plugged into my Richard Gray’s Power Company RGPC Custom 1200 power conditioner, while the amp and subs were plugged directly into the wall (the Woodpecker was plugged into a Panamax M5300 EX power conditioner and the BL-91 to a 120 to 100 volt step-down transformer into a surge protector since all the bays in the RGPC were occupied with other electronics).
I replaced the stylus guard, removed the screws, unplugged the tiny cartridge leads, removed the phono cartridge, reconnected it to the Straight-10 lead wires, inserted the cartridge screws, carefully aligned them with the dots before tightening them, removed the stylus guard, lowered the needle onto digital stylus force gauge, lifted it off, rotated the counterweight slightly, lowered and re-weighed the cartridge force, and repeated this process until I hit 2.05 grams tracking force. I placed Smith’s album onto the Woodpecker, tightened its record clamp, brushed the needle with a stylus brush, hit play, wiped the record’s surface with an anti-static brush, and lowered the needle again.
After all this, Jeff exclaimed, “I can’t believe how quickly you changed cartridges!”
The infectious and dynamic attack of Smith’s whirring, whining, and shrieking organ combined, combined with Burrell’s tasteful guitar licks and Tate’s masterful and punchy chops on drums were mesmerizing. Bob was impressed with Tate’s techniques, alternating between the snare and Hi-Hat with dexterous and dizzying riffs.
I put on Eva Cassidy’s cover of “Field of Gold” on her album, Nightbird. Her soprano vocals and acoustic guitar were emotively vulnerable, the timbre of her acoustic guitar rich and resonant in this excellent detailed recording.
“You can really hear the breathiness of her vocals,” Bob noted.
Up next at Bob’s request, we played Stevie Nicks’ duet with Tom Petty in “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” on the 45 RPM 180 gram Ultradisc One-Step Pressing of Nicks’ Bella Donna album by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. Waddy Wachtel’s guitar vamp was lush and — to Bob’s delight — Russ Kunkel’s drums are crisp and robust with plenty of slam, hitting us in the chest, the ride cymbal’s metallic ring is very present. We could hear the effects with Nicks’ vocals, which were lucid and clearly articulated. Her duet with Tom Petty was well fleshed-out and three dimensional.
“Your speakers gets the midrange just right!” Bob effused with a wide grin.
We switched back to the BL-91 and played the same cut. Brimming with detail and dynamics, its lush delivery was similarly captivating, which begged the question, “What were the differences between the two turntables’ deliveries? Playing through my system, both sounded extremely detailed and vivid and strikingly similar. While the Woodpecker seemed to pack a little more weightiness in its presentation, up to this point, the differences were challenging to discern. Despite my best efforts to make the cartridge swaps with speed and precision, the minutes lost during transition made comparisons a bit more challenging.
We put on another Acoustics Sounds remaster, Bashin’: The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith, which featured the Hammond B-3 maestro with a big band on Side A, and a trio on Side B. Jeff was especially taken by the realism, luster and detail of the big band backing Smith.
Then, we put on Acoustic Sounds’ Analogue Productions UHQR 45 RPM stereo remaster of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Axis: Bold as Love album. As with a few other records in my collection, since the spindle on the Woodpecker is slightly thicker than others, I had to gingerly twist a reamer through this record’s smaller a few turns to get it to fit. At first, I thought I made a mistake in setting the speed to 45, as the emcee’s voice sounded too fast, but when I reset it to 33 1/3, Jeff corrected me; the sped-up introduction was done for effect. Crazy panning from left to right channels with kaleidoscopic effects led into raw, rip-roaring guitar riffing by Jimi Hendrix in his treatise on psychedelic rock.
We must have looked confused at first, judging by Jeff’s consternation.
“Don’t you recognize this?” Jeff asked with incredulity at the Philistines seated with him. No, we had not; Bob didn’t listen to Hendrix when he was younger, and I was mostly a Top 40, pop and Motown listener when I was a kid. Still, it was pretty dynamic, mind-blowing, on a very clean recording. And the artwork and packaging of this album were top notch! Still, Mitch Mitchell’s skilled and frenetic drumming really captured Bob’s and Jeff’s attention.
We switched back to the Woodpecker, listened to some Hendrix, The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith album, and a couple cuts from the Bella Donna Ultradisc, and then switched back to the BL-91 — which is when the differences really became apparent.
Listening to the title cut of Bella Donna, it became apparent to all of us that while it was equally detailed, the BL-91’s delivery was more treble balanced compared to the Woodpecker, which had a fuller and more robust balance down through the mids, mid-bass, and bass regions.
Switching back to the Woodpecker, I put on an old standby favorite, a direct to cut Japanese import, The Third’s Take the ‘A’ Train by Toshiba Records (LF-95011 Stereo). Beginning with the muted tones of a Yamaha KX25 Midi Keyboard, plucked strings, and Yasuo Arakawa’s double bass, Takeshi Inomata’s brushed snare, and building to the brassy explosion of the saxophone, trumpet, and trombones by Kenji Yoshida, Takeru Siroiso and others, it was a visceral big band treat. The Woodpecker conveyed the performance with vivid, lifelike clarity and punch.
“I’ve heard this album many times,” Jeff said, “But this is the best I’ve heard it!”
We talked more about our observations regarding the Woodpecker (“Write the check!” Bob said, urging me to buy it) and recent audio developments, including the Modwright Bridge tube buffer that had impressed many at our last get-together here in November (I am thinking about reviewing this in the coming season). Jeff and Bob got into a lively back and forth session between Jeff and Bob on the best way to connect preamps and AVR processors to subwoofers. It’s amazing how passionate we can get about our hobby!
We continued listening to more vinyl, including Sade’s Love Deluxe, where the the rhythmic and distinctively deep bass notes of Paul Denman’s Washburn AB-40 acoustic bass and Helen Folasade Adu’s (AKA, Sade’s) smoky contralto vocals soothed and tantalized. But, soon it was time to go. Bob had to turn the lights on for his cat, and I wanted to visit with Belle (she came down with a head cold earlier that morning, canceled her visit to the grandkids, and decided to hibernate with Liam in our master bedroom with our Goldendoodle, Liam).
It was a lovely and informative evening. I got a chance to socialize with friends and get some invaluable insights and input for my Woodpecker turntable review. I am planning on conducting more focused A/B comparisons between it and the Micro Seiki BL-91 turntable and wrapping up sometime early in April before AXPONA. That’s the plan, anyway! (We all know how best laid plans sometimes go.) I am thinking of connecting both turntables’ phono cables to an A/B box to expedite faster turnaround times for comparison. We will see how it goes.
Cheers!
