Borresen Acoustics Børresen 01
The Børresen 01 delivers expansive, holographic imaging, startlingly articulate bass and a silky, high-resolution ribbon treble from an elegant stand-mount form. Dawid Grzyb found its dynamic reserves exceptional, while Anthony Kershaw praised its natural timbre, transparency and precise soundstage. This is a seriously engineered monitor for large-scale, emotionally immediate music-making.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
94/100
Build Quality
95/100
Value for Money
81/100
Pros
Exceptionally deep, controlled and articulate bass for a compact stand-mount, with no boom or overhang reported.
Highly resolved, extended treble remains clear and refined without glare, excessive heat or harshness.
Wide, deep staging and exceptionally precise, vividly focused imaging.
Unusual dynamic headroom and composure on demanding orchestral and bass-heavy material.
Cons
A very high purchase price places it outside normal value-led stand-mount comparisons.
The terminals accept banana/BFA-style connectors only, which may inconvenience owners of spade-terminated speaker cables.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 94/100
Reviewers describe an unusually transparent, coherent and uncoloured presentation that combines lifelike timbre with formidable scale for a compact stand-mount. The 01 is praised for deep, controlled bass, exceptionally refined treble, expansive imaging and seemingly unflappable power handling.
Bass
91/100
For a speaker using a roughly 5-inch bass/mid driver, reviewers found the low end extraordinary: deep, accurate, substantial and free of boom or overhang. Audiophilia calls it a "stand mount bass king," while 6 Moons reports fierce yet articulate bass with exceptional torque and no sign of strain.
Mid
94/100
The midband is repeatedly associated with natural timbre, musical honesty and an uncanny sense of real instruments and performers. Audiophilia found musical details and intentions presented without affectation, while the broader reports praise smoothness, coherence and freedom from coloration.
Treble
96/100
The ribbon treble is praised for exceptional resolution, extension and clarity without itch, glare, shout or excessive heat. 6 Moons considered its top-end quality superior to nearly everything else auditioned, yet described it as substantial and finely differentiated rather than merely bright.
Soundstage Imaging
96/100
Reviews describe wide, deep and immersive soundstages with exceptionally precise image placement. 6 Moons heard immense, darkly quiet spatial landscapes populated by dense, vividly alive images, while Audiophilia likewise praised the wide-and-deep stage and precise imaging.
Dynamics
95/100
The 01 is reported to remain composed under extreme demands, with fast transient response and striking reserves of torque. 6 Moons found it did not slow down even on demanding bass material, and Audiophilia said the speakers accommodated more power than the listening room or listener could comfortably take.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
95/100
The cabinet, veneer and fit-and-finish receive emphatic praise, with Audiophilia calling the walnut finish exquisite and the execution artisanal. Reviewers also note the distinctive rigid HDF baffle, screwless construction details and a purpose-designed stand intended to control vibration.
Value for Money
81/100
At roughly €29,700 for the 01 before the dedicated stand, and substantially more for the reviewed Silver Supreme version, this is an exceptionally costly compact speaker. Reviewers regard its performance as world-beating and ask what could justify its staggering cost, but they also make clear that its price places it beyond normal value-led comparisons.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
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Specifications
- Speaker & Stand
- H x W x D: 110,3 x 25,8 x 45,0 cm H x W x D: 43.4 x 10.2 x 17.7 inches Weight: 18,0 kg 39.68 lbs
- Speaker
- H x W x D: 36,8 x 18,4 x 41,5 cm H x W x D: 14.5 x 7.2 x 16.3 inches Weight: 11,5 kg 25.35 lbs
- Stand
- H x W x D: 73,5 x 25,8 x 41,5 cm H x W x D: 28.9 x 10.2 x 16.3 inches Weight: 6,5 kg 14.33 lbs
- Frequency response
- 50Hz – 50KHz
- Sensitivity
- 86 dB / 1W
- Impedance
- > 6 ohms
- Recommended Amplifier
- > 50W
- 1 x Tweeter
- Børresen planar ribbon tweeter
- 1 x Driver
- Børresen iron free bass/midrange driver: 5 inches
- Finish
- Walnut veneer
- Finish
- Black high gloss
Manufacturer's Description — Borresen Acoustics
Incredible stand mount
The Børresen 01 Cryo Edition speaker, guarantees a transparent and authentic musical performance. The artistic design of the cabinet and the stand turn this loudspeaker into a perfect amalgamation of outstanding musicality shaped into a piece of art.
Technologies and Components
Cryogenic process
Extreme treatment, huge improvement. Cryogenic treatment of all metal components of the loudspeaker results in a further significant improvement in conductivity – unleashing the finest and most subtle musical details. When metal components undergo cryogenic processing, they are subjected to extreme cooling. In the wake of this process, the crystal structure of the metal contracts more and more. Alloying elements are pushed out of the grain structure of the metal, which now becomes very similar to a monocrystal. These structural changes in the metal have a profound effect on its audio properties, resulting in an increase of conductivity by 6-8%.All metal components in the M-series undergo cryogenic treatment. The cryogenic processing cycle requires a 3-day-time window. Within the first 24 hours, the metal undergoes a cooling process from room temperature to cryogenic temperatures. During the second 24 hours, the metal parts are held at temperatures around -196°C (-321°F) before the temperature, within the next 24 hours, returns gradually to room temperature. The gradual cooling and heating is critical to avoid any thermal stress. The process strengthens and compresses the grain structure of the metal components and reduces inherent residual stress that occurs when metal solidifies from its liquid phase to a solid phase.
The Børresen tweeter
Børresen RP94 Ribbon Planar TweeterElaborate finite element methods have been applied to linearize and optimize the magnetic flux field, to facilitate driver movement and to ensure high efficiency and outstanding linearity.The efficiency of this closed ribbon tweeter amounts to an exceptional 94dB and operates from approximately 2.5 kHz upwards. The moving mass is extremely low at 0.01 grams. The totally concealed tweeter has the capacity to operate at an incredible speed, which is an absolute prerequisite to unlocking the most subtle and refined sound details of any kind of music. The enormous robustness of this tweeter allows it to handle extremely high transient peaks without any ear fatiguing breakups. No transformers are being used.
Membrane – Bass/midrange
Impressing stiffness to weight ratio. The Børresen membrane consists of a composite of two layers of very thin carbon on both sides of a 4 mm Nomex honeycomb core. This composite structure – like the one used in formula 1 type of racing cars – provides the ultimate combination of stiffness to weight ratio. The exceptionally low weight of only 5.5 grams allows a very high acceleration factor in the driver, resulting in both outstanding resolution and higher efficiency.
Magnet system – Bass midrange
The iron-free revolution. The Børresen magnet system* is breaking new ground. Its unique, innovative, and unprecedented technological design makes it stand out from anything else on the loudspeaker market.Since the invention of the loudspeaker driver, the fundamental structure of magnet systems has not changed. Iron has been used to concentrate the magnetic flux in a narrow gap where the voice-coil is located. Iron is suited for the concentration of flux, but also poses some challenging issues when it comes to the voice-coil parameters. These parameters also change with the position of the voice-coil, creating considerable iron distortion.The Børresen magnet motor is breaking new ground here. It is uniquely designed without the use of any iron. In the Børresen magnet motor, 4 opposing neodymium ring-magnets are used to squeeze the flux lines together over two solid copper discs, which now act like pole pieces.The Børresen magnet system has a high flux of 1.1 Tesla. The solid copper pole rings act as very effective heat sinks. This endows the loudspeaker driver with a very high power handling capacity. The copper pole rings also reduce voice-coil inductance to an exceptionally low value of 0.04 MH (less than 10% of regular standard drivers).The extremely low induction provides the driver with some very desirable attributes that enormously elevate the quality of acoustic performance. A much lower induction means a much faster driver, with no lag. This impacts the overall loudspeaker performance which now becomes much more refined and very detailed. Lower induction also causes less resonance impedance variation, which means less phase angles and less impedance variation for the driving amplifier. Lower induction will also curb the impedance rise over system resonances. In terms of musicality, this will extremely foster a sound base that is less boomy but much more pristine. Bass performance becomes very tight, well focused, and more authentic.
*The Børresen magnet system is patented
Crossover O-series
Serial configuration, coherent system. Børresen loudspeakers are fitted with a serial crossover configuration. The reason for this is that the drivers share the very same flow of electric current in the crossover region. As a result, the electric current is phase-locked over the crossover region. Unlike standard parallel filtering, where each driver receives its own frequency and phase content, the new serial filters work by diverting out-of-band currents around the current flows, thus creating a much more coherent system. This unrivaled and innovative technological approach takes your music into a new echelon of acoustic delight.For the crossover filter, we went to great lengths to source the very best and most sophisticated state-of-the-art components. The coils are foil types wound with paper isolation and impregnated with resin under vacuum to make them mechanically extremely solid and stable.For crossover capacitors, we use arrays of small military spec stack-foil types. They have the best mechanical stability and lowest induction of any type of capacitor on the market (and they sound wonderful, too).For tweeter attenuation resistors, we use metal strip types since they have, by far, the lowest noise figures and additionally, a very low thermal variation.
Cabinets
Performance and design tradition.The cabinets are heavily braced, block milled, compressed wood structures, beautifully veneered in walnut and fitted with solid walnut inserts. They follow the best of Danish furniture design traditions paired with the stylish shapes that were initially created by the late Franco Serbelin from Sonos Faber.The tweeter section is vented to balance out the build-up of air pressure. The bass sections consist of tuned ports calibrated for musically relevant frequencies.
Ansuz Darkz – Børresen 01
Invisible resonance control.Ansuz Darkz decouplers have been designed to ensure a distinctly better mechanical grounding of the speaker cabinet to the stand, respectively to the floor. Ansuz Darkz consist of 3 discs separated by 3 titanium ball bearings. Ansuz Darkz are available in 4 alloys that allow for different sonic levels of grounding qualities.
There are three cavities in the surface of the upper plate of stand that accommodate built-in Darkz resonance control decouplers between the loudspeakers and the plate. The feet of the stand are designed to sit on Darkz decouplers of individual choice.
The Tesla coil principle
The principle is to have two coils that are wounded in each direction / a coil and a counter coil. In Ansuz words: “A double inverted coil” – the two coils are both carrying voltage – and when the Tesla coil encounters a voltage spike a counter spike is activated in order to eliminate the noise. As Noise spikes are pure voltage and carries virtually no charge, the cancelation is quite good, but not 100%. By adding more P-TC coils in parallel the performance increases. By implementing this the perceived blackness in the music improves significantly. Ansuz Tesla coils are available in various types as they complement each other in terms of strengths /weaknesses.
Anti aerial resonance coil technology
Prevents airborne noise. All cables and cable screens are acting like antennas for airborne RF noise which of course is a huge problem. The passive cable Tesla coil is wounded on the external part of the cable and protects the signal from absorbing the airborne RF noise. This noise is absorbed in the Tesla coil. As there is a voltage running in the conductor itself, and it is wounded in the counter direction – this is used as the counter coil and the RF noise is then eliminated.
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