Borresen Acoustics Børresen Z1
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.
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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.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
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.
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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
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.
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- 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)
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- Audio Gallery — online and in-store — Las Rozas de Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (website)
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- 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)
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