High-tech drivers and elegant shapes made out of precious wood. The Børresen 01 has left a lasting impression on LowBeats. Not because they cost more than 25,000 euro but because they sound so fascinatingly light. (photo: Børresen)

February 2, 2019 was the day when my HiFi-world began to turn upside down. It was a Saturday, and as I strolled along the aisles of the Holiday Inn Hotel in Hamburg, which was hosting the Norddeutsche HiFi-Tage 2019, I was looking around for interesting novelties. And indeed, I made a particularly exciting find on that day – something I had not been fully aware of until then. I discovered the brand Børresen from Denmark. More precisely, the compact loudspeakers Børresen 01. Only a few beats coming from the loudspeakers were enough to captivate me for a few hours. What followed then is what I have already told to some extent in my Børresen visiting report in April. However, I could hardly wait to listen to the ‘little ones’ as test loudspeakers at my place. But - after all - good things will take some time. It was not until June that a pallet arrived with the Børresen 01 loudspeakers packed in three boxes. The party could begin.

The Børresen 01 has a cabinet inspired by Sonus faber and utilizes the concept of minimum mass. The attractive compact loudspeakers weigh just about 11.5 kg each. (photo: Børresen)

The price for a pair of Børresen loudspeakers 01 starts at 25,000 euros, contingent upon the configuration with the matching ‘Darkz Resonance Control’. Three of them belong under each of the loudspeakers and couple them with the loudspeaker stands. I’ll come back to this later. With the Darkz, the price can increase to over 30,000 euros.

Such a high price for such ‘small loudspeakers’ of course will have a deterring effect and limits the number of potential buyers enormously. However, as it turns out, the price is not without reason. But, first things first. The model 01 measures of 36.8 x 18.4 x 41.5 cm (height x width x depth) and is the smallest Børresen loudspeaker. However, the stand, which is an integral component of the entire sound concept behind the small loudspeakers, adds another 73.5 cm to the overall size.

The stands are an integral component of the sound concept and a perfect optical fit. It is important to note that the loudspeakers are not being sold without stands. (drawing: Børresen)

In addition, floor-standing loudspeakers are currently also available - the 02, 03 and 05 - which are all markedly even more expensive. Their list prices extend into the 6-figure region, which puts the Danish manufacturer on the same level as Magico, Wilson Audio, TAD, Estelon and other manufacturers of exotic super loudspeakers.

The setting-up of the Børresen 01 is very easy because they are pretty light – which for loudspeakers of that category is completely unusual. The same goes for the stands. Each of them weighs only 6.5 kg on the scales. In addition, the stands are pre-assembled. Carefully remove them from the packaging, place them at their designated spot, and done. There are no spikes or the like that need to be mounted since the 01-stands, along with all other Børresen floor-standing loudspeakers, have four flat and floor-protecting feet that can be adjusted to eliminate any wobbling and/or tilting.

On the top of the stands, there are three pits into which the Darkz must be placed. There are also three pits on the bottom of the loudspeakers. So, one only needs to lower the loudspeakers on the Darkz which are placed in the pits of the stands. And that is about it.

All Børresen loudspeakers have single-wire terminals for banana plugs. (photo: F. Borowski)

For connecting the loudspeakers, the 01 is like all the other Børresen loudspeakers equipped with single-wire terminals for banana plugs. These are also in-house developments. The terminals consist of solid brass, and for sound reasons are made with a minimum material/mass ratio. Even if there were ample space on the back of the loudspeakers, they would never think of installing thick gold-plated terminals, says Fritz Dalmose, Børresen Head of Sales. Bi-wiring is also out of the question for the Danes.

The 01 have a mean impedance of 6 Ohm. The impedance curve is uniform and regular, particularly on the bass, and remains unaffected as to the use of amplifiers. The degree of sensitivity is stated by Børresen at 86 dB at 1 Watt/1 meter. But this seems arguably to be very generously interpreted. The loudspeakers play definitely quieter than my KEF loudspeakers that come to reach a real 85 dB. A sensitivity of 82 – 83 dB is realistic and therefore, powerful amplifiers of 100 Watt or more are appropriate.

Børresen 01 impedance (blue) plus phase (red). 
(The measurement diagram was provided by Børresen.)

Against this backdrop, impedance and phase of a loudspeaker are important. A maximum of only 14 Ohm at 25 Hz and 10 Ohm for the second port-resonance at 80 Hz are rather unusual. Normally, vented loudspeakers in this segment always have significantly higher impedance variations and phase rotations. The relatively steep peak at about 1.7 kHz (caused by the different impedance of drivers and the crossover switch) is, according to Michael Børresen, not critical since it requires considerably less energy.

The Børresen 01 are not only small miracles of technology, but also a designer’s work of art. This initially begins with the stands, which alone would deserve a prize for outstanding product design.

The Børresen 01 are a dream of craftsmanship. The loudspeaker cabinets are available in a standard version using a natural walnut finish (as shown above). Upon request, and at extra costs, Børresen can deliver the loudspeakers in almost any color. The dark lacquered MDF baffle board is mounted and with its milling grooves, provides sound guidance and keeps edge reflection at a minimum. (photo: F. Borowski)

But not only for product design would theBørresenloudspeakers qualify for a reward but also for their construction. The cross plate at the lower end of the stand, with its four feet, is not made of one piece of cut steel sheet or cast aluminum with the typical (and cheap) longitudinal grain but instead is milled from a massive block, then polished, painted in silver metallic and finally sealed with a clear lacquer. And all of this is done at the highest level of excellence.

High class (and costly) manufacturing – wherever you look. (photo: F. Borowski)

The column: Here this is not simply (unlike the vast majority of loudspeaker stands) a matter of simple pipes or wooden posts cut to the right lengths. Instead, a relatively thin wooden panel is bent in the (approximate) shape of an aircraft wing, closed with a further concavely curved piece in the rear. The ensuing relatively light construction is not only visually a dream come true but also extremely stable and low in resonance. In regards to resonance control, the column does not always have to be sheer mass.

The affection to detail continuous with the upper plate of the loudspeaker stand. It consists of a three-dimensionally milled solid piece of aluminum that at the rear nestles up closely against the shape of the column. And, of course, the plate is as excellently coated as the ground cross plate. The pits for the Darkz are fitted inside with felt pads.

The matt black front plate which consists of massive MDF has been shaped using CNC technology. It provides precisely defined sound guiding for the loudspeaker cabinets. For decoupling purposes, the front plate has a narrow (< 1mm), hardly visible distance to the actual cabinet. This stroke me not until some time later. Of course, this design element is also part of the plan and serves among other things as resonance control.

On illustrations of the rear end of the loudspeakers, you have presumably also noticed the aluminum parts that look like bottle openers. They serve as diffusers to avoid flow noise of the bass-reflex ports. Of course, these aluminum parts are also specifically made and meticulously processed down to the most minute detail.

The entire construction, loudspeaker and support feet are almost completely screwless. Neither the attachment of the cabinet, nor the screws on the rear of the loudspeaker are visible – not even screws on the loudspeakers’ stands. Only the four feet have three small screw openings each, with Allen grub screws for fixation. The look of the loudspeakers has an unmistakable Scandinavian flair. They look slim, graceful, noble and valuable without obtrusively crying all this out to the rest of the world. To me, this is pure elegance.

With a membrane weight of less than 0.01 g, the closed magnetostatically working tweeter is ultra-light. Conceivably, only the electric arch of ion tweeters have even a lower mass. But, when compared to those, the Børresen tweeter has a many-times larger membrane area. Extremely strong Neodym-magnets are used as driver. 

The ribbon tweeter offers a large membrane space and is ultra-light. (photo: F. Borowski)

What is really extraordinary, is the magnet system of the bass/mid-range unit. It is the first electromagnetic loudspeaker driver since its invention about more than 100 years ago, and it is completely iron-free. This is significant, because among other things, iron adversely influences the electrical parameters of the voice coil. And, on top of this, it does so in a constantly varying way contingent upon the voice coil position in the magnetic gap. This will create distortions.

The Børresen driver consists of four neodym ring magnets which are located opposite each other. They squeeze the magnetic flux line together and push them over two solid copper rings that act here as poles (and at the same time as heatsinks). The copper rings also reduce voice coil inductance to 0.04 mH, which, according to Børresen, is less than 10% of that of conventional standard drivers. This lower inductance ensures a much faster driver and a delay-free acceleration, which has a corresponding effect on both acoustic performance and resolution. In addition, it also means less phase rotation and less impedance variations for the driving amplifier.

Last but not least, these electrical peculiarities also cause a weakening of the typical impedance rise in the lower frequency range as result of the tuning holes (which Børresen deliberately does not call ‘bass reflex’). By the way, Børresen uses Titanium as carrier material for the voice coils which is not only very light and rigid but also avoids the Hysterese effect – an effect that is caused in the magnetic gap when aluminum is used as carrier material.

The crossover fitted with unrivalled, state-of-the-art innovative technology is also a reflection of the high Børresen standards. (photo: F. Borowski)

… are also an important part of the overall loudspeaker concept. What is even more, this is something the customer can influence himself. The structure of the Darkz is comparatively simple. Three metal discs are held at a distance with three balls between each disc. A central screw ensures that the discs do not fall apart and the balls do not get lost for ever behind the sofa in the sitting room. But the screw does not fasten the three discs with pressure on the balls – everything remains flexible in itself. The pressure should be generated solely by the component that is placed on the Darkz. Børresen also recommends to put Darkz under the individual audio component of the music system and uses them under the Ansuz Titanium Rack as well. Ansuz is a Børresen brand (to which the Darkz also belong).

The Darkz are not about shock buffering effects, like it is intended by the use of soft materials or springs. The Darkz provide a ‘mechanical grounding’ or in other words, serve for a targeted dissipation and redirection of vibrations which are inevitably generated by all audio components and which diffuse parasitically. Resonances primarily emanate not only from loudspeakers but also from all electronic music components, power supply units, power strips, and cables (there are also Darkz cable holders available).

What makes the Darkz so special is their respective combination of materials, the surface quality of the various models and its ensuing impact on sound quality. For these Darkz, Børresen makes such an enormous effort, which under a financial point of view seems to be totally irrational. This eventually accounts for the enormous price of up to 920 euros each. A further reason for this enormous effort is that the Darkz technology is – so to say – not rooted in exact science. There is at least no research base that would allow with the help of mathematical formulas and a PC- program to determine which material combinations would deliver the best results for the respective sound environment. All of this has to be tried out in an endless series of experiments by listening and in a try-and-error procedure. And this takes time.

But I wish to state this: It really is amazing that each of the currently available Darkz versions create delicate but clearly audible sound differences. No matter if they are placed under the loudspeakers or the electronic components.

Of course, I could not listen to all potential combinations but for test purpose, I had the standard Darkz labelled C2t and the current top model T2Supreme available. The former consists of aluminum and a hardening that penetrates deep into the surface, as well as Titanium balls. The discs of the T2Supreme are made of Titanium. They are deep-coated with the help of a particle accelerator. The in-depth coating consists of various elements like zirconium and tungsten. Børresen gave me an elaborate description of all this by the responsible scientist in the University of Aarhus. It meticulously describes all of the above in great detail including a quality control. Børresen really goes to great length here.

This is a cross section of a Darkz showing the different layers of different materials that are bonded with the carrier material at the atomic level by means of a particle accelerator. (photo: Børresen/University Aarhus)

Of course, one may wonder if the high effort and the gain in sound quality actually justify the costs or if it isn’t possible to achieve similarly good results with less production-related efforts. What can I say? In the Darkz combination that I tested under the loudspeakers, the T2Supreme Darkz sound was clearly superior. But that was no reason to leave the C2t Darkz unemployed. They brought a further improvement in sound quality under both the Exogal Ion PowerDAC and Auralic Streamer. When I was visiting Børresen, we also made a series of tests and the results were always similar and very comprehensible.

This is how I conceive of an ultra high-end music system for the 2020s: Instead of loudspeakers the size of a telephone booth and monstrous amplifiers, smart space-saving digital technology and discreet passive loudspeakers that need no DSP corrections to sound phenomenal. (photo: F. Borowski)

After a few minor detours as a result of both the burn-in and setting-up process, the sound experience with the Børresen 01 turned into a revelation. To describe the basic character of the loudspeakers: Do you have some experience with absolute top class headphones? If so, then imagine the sound experience with one of the top class headphones like Focal Utopia or, even better, Sonoma One but without their headphone peculiarities such as the inevitable ‘in-head’ feeling. This gives you some idea of what a 01 is able to accomplish.

Of course, with loudspeakers a certain influence of the acoustic environment is unavoidable as long as one does not live in a sound-proof room or outdoors in a wide field. Nevertheless, the headphone comparison is not at all too far-fetched, so fantastically precise and clear is the sound of the Børresen 01 direct and three dimensional but, at the same time, consistent in musicality. And they are, by no means, anything like a One-Trick-Pony which can only master one thing well.

An absolute highlight in this context is the ribbon tweeter. Never before, have I heard loudspeakers with such natural, stress-free and, at the same time, delicately detailed and finely resolved high ranges. No matter if at very high or barely perceivable sound levels. Wherever virtually any dome in the world begins to prick the eardrums, or simply absorb some of the details, the advantage of the Børresen tweeter makes an enormous and noticeable difference here. May that be high female voices, trumpets, forceful strikes of percussion instruments, bagpipe music, piano … you name it.

When, for instance, Eva Cassidy who, sadly enough, died much too soon, is belting out at the top of her voice to the climax of the song ‘Oh, Had I A Golden Thread’ (album Live at Blues Alley), with most loudspeakers it almost shreds your eardrums at a high sound level. And even many top loudspeakers, some of which are even more expensive than the BØRRESEN, cannot reproduce the entire spectrum of this vocal staccato without a certain pressure on one’s ears. But the Børresen 01 can.

But this is only one aspect of this fantastic tweeter. Another one is its resolution capacity which unlocks details and finest transients which other tweeters (and even most of the headphones) simply iron out. A nice find, for instance, was the recently released album Djesse Vol. 2 by Jacob Collier (available on Qobuz in a 24bit/96kHz HiRes version), which offers some very intense vocal and sound elements. After listening to it, I could hardly get rid of the goosebumps on my skin. Surely, so refined, authentic and emotional can voices only be experienced with very, very few loudspeakers on this planet.

These breathtaking loudspeaker qualities, by far, do not restrict themselves only to the highest pitches. Eventually, the voice reproduction largely takes place in the mid-range frequencies. The low-/mid-range speaker with its driver, which can definitely be considered as revolutionary, is also a masterpiece. In its speed, the membranes act solid as a foil but, at the same time, with a rigidity and control of the best cone-membranes.

In line with the successful coupling to the tweeter, the Børresen 01 inspires enthusiasm with its phenomenal speed, accuracy and realistic sound stage performance for which the somewhat worn-out term holographic hardly suffices to describe it. Somehow, one conceives holographic images as something that is spooky and semi-transparent. That is definitely not the case here. The sound staging of the Børresen 01 rather has a spaceship Enterprise holodeck quality where scenes are being created with such a palpable presence that they are hardly distinguishable from reality. As a result, both amazement and astonishment are pre-programmed.

The amazement does not cease, the more the frequencies approach the infrasound. All right, in terms of measurement from approx. 50 Hz onwards, there is not too much happening anymore which for a loudspeaker of this size remains still very respectable. But you would be totally wrong to believe that the loudspeakers somehow lack bass or are dynamically limited. The Børresen 01 will bring the deepest sounds so effortlessly (and again) ultra-precisely to your sense of hearing that the uninitiated will spontaneously look out for a subwoofer that must be hidden somewhere. Only with the driving power in the very low bass segment, there is a point when it comes to an end. And sometimes the easygoing punch is simply missing a little, which, however, can only be generated by a lot of membrane area.