Qobuz ad banner
Qobuz ad banner
Products
Used Deals
Brands
Dealers
Record Stores
News
Spotlight
Articles

Authorized dealers for Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1

  • 110Hz — online and in-store — Kielce, Województwo świętokrzyskie, Poland (website)
  • A Tube High Fidelity — online and in-store — Almere, Flevoland, Netherlands (website)
  • Alta Fedelta — online and in-store — Lombardia, Italy (website)
  • ARK Audio — online and in-store — Borensberg, Östergötlands län, Sweden (website)
  • Audio Absolute — in-store — Tambon Bang Khun Kong, Chang Wat Nonthaburi, Thailand (website)
  • Audio Gallery — online and in-store — Las Rozas de Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (website)
  • Audio Maestro — in-store — Singapore, Singapore (website)
  • Audio Magic - EU — online and in-store — Wola, Województwo mazowieckie, Poland (website)
  • Audio Salon — in-store — Boca Raton, Florida, United States (website)
  • AudioMagic.pl — online and in-store — Warszawa, Województwo mazowieckie, Poland (website)

and 40 more verified dealers

Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1 #1
Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1 variant 1
Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1 variant 2
Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1 variant 3
Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1 variant 4
Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1 variant 5
Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1 variant 6

Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1

Denmark flag

Compact yet startlingly expansive, the Børresen Z1 pairs a planar ribbon with a carbon/Nomex mid-bass driver for airy treble, lightning-fast dynamics and finely layered imaging. Fidelity Magazine heard exceptional resolution and natural ambient detail, while 6 Moons admired its lucid, transparent character. This is a lavishly built monitor for listeners who prize speed, space and musical precision.

View at Borresen Acoustics
Specifications5 reviews & sources

WATT RECOMMENDS

Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.

Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.

88/100
Rating for Børresen Z1

Nicely Roasted

Sound Quality

90/100

Build Quality

91/100

Value for Money

78/100

Pros

Exceptionally fast, transparent and dynamically incisive presentation with high resolution.

Planar ribbon treble delivers abundant air, brilliance and finely resolved decay detail.

Large, deeply layered soundstage with naturally integrated ambient information.

Premium HDF cabinet workmanship and finish quality.

Cons

Limited true low-bass weight; a subwoofer may be desirable for first-octave bass and larger rooms.

The light, lucid balance can sound comparatively lean or top-heavy beside fuller-range competitors.

High purchase price, with dedicated stands adding substantial extra cost.

WATT RECOMMENDS

Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.

Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.

What Reviewers Are Saying

"The Z1 performs as clearly as a mountain stream, is extremely high-resolution, makes quick dynamic headway and provides a highly satisfying listening experience."

— Fidelity Magazine

SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 90/100

Reviewers describe an unusually transparent, quick and highly resolved compact speaker, with particularly vivid dynamics and an expansive, layered presentation. Its tonal balance is light rather than weighty, however, and the lowest octave is limited as expected from a 5-inch two-way.

Bass

86/100

For its compact 5-inch format, the Z1 delivers clean, controlled low frequencies, and its port design is said to allow relatively close rear-wall placement without dominant or resonant bass. It reaches only to around 50Hz, though, and 6 Moons heard an upper-bass emphasis related to the absence of true first-octave weight.

Mid

89/100

6 Moons found close-miked vocals notably intimate and deep-throated, while Fidelity praised the speaker's clear, expressive handling of instrumental tone. Fidelity also heard less of the cello's resinous, gut-string texture than through more conventional transducers, suggesting a very clean rather than overtly earthy presentation.

Treble

93/100

The ribbon tweeter earns repeated praise for air, brilliance and resolution; Fidelity describes birdsong as exceptionally airy, while 6 Moons found its sheen potentially superior to competing ribbons. The presentation is explicitly bright or "white light" in character, so listeners seeking a softer, warmer top end should take note.

Soundstage Imaging

92/100

Fidelity heard ambient information integrate naturally into a large, convincing whole through finely resolved transient and decay detail. 6 Moons likewise reported greater distance, layering and depth of field, though the speaker's stage perspective is more set back than immediate.

Dynamics

94/100

Speed and dynamic contrast are central strengths in the listening reports. Fidelity calls the Z1's dynamics awesome and praises its quick dynamic headway, while 6 Moons characterizes its sound with "speed, transparency, dynamic contrast."

Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.

Build Quality

91/100

Fidelity calls the HDF cabinet workmanship fantastic and says its appearance and feel can be mistaken for machined, sandblasted and anodized aluminum. The cabinet uses dense HDF construction, although the supplied reviews provide limited commentary on long-term durability or terminal quality.

Value for Money

78/100

At roughly €10,000 per pair plus about €2,400-€2,500 for the effectively necessary stands, this is an unapologetically expensive compact speaker. Fidelity felt the engineering helps explain the asking price, but 6 Moons ranked the Z1 clearly last on value against its comparison set.

Reviews & Sources

Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.

Online Reviews & Mentions

YouTube Reviews

Forum Mentions

No forum mentions found yet

store
store
store
store
store
store

Specifications

Speaker & Stand
H x W x D: 101,5 x 28,0 x 36,0 cm H x W x D: 39.8 x 11.0 x 14.2 inches Weight: 14,9 kg 39.68 lbs
Speaker
H x W x D: 37,0 x 18,5 x 33,8 cm H x W x D: 14.6 x 7.1 x 14.6 inches Weight: 11,6 kg 25.35 lbs
Stand
H x W x D: 64,5 x 28,0 x 34,0 cm H x W x D: 25.2 x 11.0 x 13.4 inches Weight: 3,3 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 bass/midrange driver: 5 inches
Finish
Black or white satin painted
Bi-Wire Capable

Manufacturer's Description — Borresen Acoustics

Lively standmount

The Børresen Z1 speaker amazes – despite its compact size – with its ability to create a three dimensional soundstage that makes even most subtle musical details become transparent. With its uncompromising musicality and its high-resolution capacity, the Z1 provides an excellent authentic listening experience.

Technologies and Components

Uncompromising performance The principle that guided the development of the Z-series loudspeakers was to provide an uncompromising high-end audio performance with more conventional components than the 0- Series. The technology behind the Z-series consists of electronic components that are either adopted from the 0-series, completely redesigned, or are innovative spin offs resulting from Børresen Acoustics’ extensive audio research activities.

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

Conventional principle, unconventional performance. With the invention of the patented iron-free driver system in the 0-series, Børresen Acoustics came to realize that it is possible to reduce induction to an amazing 0.04 mH, which is approximately 10 times lower than that of common driver systems. The challenge for manufacturing the Z-series was to design a new, but less costly driver system with significantly reduced induction. As a result, Børresen Acoustics developed a driver with an 8 mm voice coil and an induction of only 0.06 mH. By linearizing the magnetic field, the driver is less affected by the actual movement and is more easily controlled by the amplifier.


Crossover Z-series

Exclusive components and stability. The Z-series is fitted with a parallel crossover configuration using the same exclusive components from the 0-series. This ensures a very mechanically stable crossover, which minimizes its own resonance.


Ansuz feet

Resonance control option.The adjustable feet of the ground cross plate are designed to be placed on Darkz resonance control separated by 3 titanium balls. Ansuz Darkz have been designed to ensure a distinctly better mechanical grounding to the floor.


Borresen Acoustics logo

Verified Dealers

Online Dealers

All Dealers

Zoom out the map to see more dealers

Authorized dealers for Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1

  • 110Hz — online and in-store — Kielce, Województwo świętokrzyskie, Poland (website)
  • A Tube High Fidelity — online and in-store — Almere, Flevoland, Netherlands (website)
  • Alta Fedelta — online and in-store — Lombardia, Italy (website)
  • ARK Audio — online and in-store — Borensberg, Östergötlands län, Sweden (website)
  • Audio Absolute — in-store — Tambon Bang Khun Kong, Chang Wat Nonthaburi, Thailand (website)
  • Audio Gallery — online and in-store — Las Rozas de Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (website)
  • Audio Maestro — in-store — Singapore, Singapore (website)
  • Audio Magic - EU — online and in-store — Wola, Województwo mazowieckie, Poland (website)
  • Audio Salon — in-store — Boca Raton, Florida, United States (website)
  • AudioMagic.pl — online and in-store — Warszawa, Województwo mazowieckie, Poland (website)

and 40 more verified dealers

110Hz logo
A Tube High Fidelity logo
Alta Fedelta logo
ARK Audio logo
Audio Absolute logo
Audio Gallery logo
Audio Maestro logo
Audio Magic - EU logo
Audio Salon logo
AudioMagic.pl logo