My new Borresen X3's

Are raidho and borrensen the same company? Both dub their ‘affordable’ line with an X. And they kinda look like they come off the same line. Regardless, as Mr Hursh used to  say, if you like this sound you’ll like this speaker. I got to listen to the 02 when they were coming out, in an unfamiliar room with ears ringing from riding a motorcycle I left unimpressed.  I always leave the D 1.2 demo stunned at how good they are. Enjoy your new speakers. I hope they play well in your room with your components.

No they are not...Borresen are produced by Audio Group Denmark

@Steve59,

Michael Børresen was the chief designer for both Raidho and its sister company, Scansonic, until a few years back when he left to do his own thing under his own name. It’s surprising you would ask such a question, considering this post you made in another thread:

I don’t find any value in the brand, they sound ok, but not special and looks are a personal choice. Borrensen brand will push Aavic electronics and their own cables and tbh are just a market to separate the wealthy from their money.

I would’ve figured you had already known that based on the above assertion you made over a year ago.

I actually shared some of your suspicions though, prior to auditioning their entry level models and seeing the exceptional build quality they entail. Normally I don’t consider any five-figure HiFi product to be a good “value” per se, considering the BOM and performance of most products I encounter. The Børresen X series has proven to be one of those rare exceptions. It’s especially surprising because I don’t buy into many of the marketing claims and “technologies” touted by Audio Group Denmark (Cryo treatment for example).

Initially, I visited the Børresen dealer to demo some of their Perlisten towers, since I typically gravitate toward speakers that measure well. I was quite taken aback by how the Børresen X series performed relative to the similarly priced Perlistens. The X speakers were clearly a class above. I would like to get my eyes on some measurements of Børresen’s X speakers because in my current setup they do everything well and are the most balanced sounding speakers I’ve had in this room among dozens. If they don’t produce anything near textbook linearity when measured, that would support a hypothesis I’ve had at times that perhaps driver distortion (or lack thereof) and quality matter more than absolute linearity, dispersion, and time alignment.

Anyhow, I highly encourage you seek out an audition of the X series. You might be pleasantly surprised as I was.

BTW, I repeatedly see posters criticizing Børresen for employing “4.5 inch” woofers in many of their models. It’s perhaps unfortunate that Børresen describes these as “4.5.s” because in reality, the measured cone diameters are more in line with other brands’ 6 or 6.5” woofers. In fact, the actual cone diameter of these “4.5s” (a full 4.5 inches) is very close to that of the “7 inch” Seas Excel woofers I have in some other speakers. The combined surface area of the three woofers in the X3s is nearly as much as that of true 9” woofer cone.

The X3's have two woofers, the two drivers under the tweeter.

The one above the tweeter is a mid-range driver..

 

The X3’s have two woofers, the two drivers under the tweeter.

 

The one above the tweeter is a mid-range driver.

You probably read in the PTA review that the X3s are a 3-way speaker. That is incorrect however, they are 2.5-way, so the top most woofer does play the bass freqs. This is visible if you view the cone excursion from the side when playing a bass heavy track. My dealer also confirmed they are 2.5-ways. To the best of my knowledge, none of Børresen’s models are 3-ways, as he apparently takes issue with the phase challenges posed by such designs. Regardless, the 2.5-way X3s manage a midrange clarity that’s superior to that of most 3-ways I’ve heard and definitely better than any other speaker I’ve owned, so the fact it’s a midwoofer as opposed to a dedicated midrange makes them all the more impressive.