Borresen X3 measurements

congratulations on your X3's!! I get to hear the Raidho D1.1 at axpona and always come away floored by how impressive they are. I just don't have the courage to spend $27k on a pair of bookshelves.

Ultimately, I still preferred the Harbeth 40.2 because of better midrange, refinement and transparency. That seemed to offend a lot of folks though. Somehow, folks equate cool technology/drivers, buzzwords, etc. with better sound. That’s not always the case as most of us already know.

I wasn’t offended, only perplexed. Based on my auditions of 40.2s, it’s difficult for me to fathom how someone would come to the conclusion that they are the more refined and transparent speaker. That actually goes for any speaker I’ve heard that employs Textreme-based midwoofers—to my ears, all have performed at a higher level than any Harbeth I’ve encountered.

Still, it’s difficult to make definitive conclusions without hearing each speaker back-to-back in the same room, with the same ancillaries. Our auditory memories are not very reliable.

@helomech I wasn't referring to you when I made the comment. I think our conversation was civilized and on point. I understand and respect what you like about the X3. You made your points without getting personal or nasty. There were other folks involved in that discussion who apparently have a lot of growing up to do :)

Regarding which speaker is better, we can continue to go around in circles with no good outcome. We all have our preferences and have a different priority scale when judging speakers. However, I'm still amazed by how so many people (not you) get so worked up over something as trivial as this. I mean, for god's sake, we're not talking about our children. Folks should lighten up a little :)

I have no interest or specific loyalty to Borresen or Harbeth, or any other speaker company for that matter. I have owned many great speakers and I prefer Harbeth over many others. I have zero expectation that others have to agree with me, nor do I get all emotional and confrontational when someone disses the speakers that I own. Who gives a damn!

However, I would like to point out the apparent hypocrisy in some of the posts made in this thread. We're told that unless you have owned and heard a particular speaker for over 500 hours, you have no right to comment. But the same folks have no qualms trashing another speaker, e.g. Harbeth, that they have never owned. Talk about talking from both sides of your mouth!

If Harbeth or other BBC speakers were inferior they would have died a long time ago. The audio industry is a harsh mistress. You don't survive this long if your product doesn't offer the extra value to at least a segment of the audiophile population. So I heard the X3 and still preferred Harbeth 40.2 over it. What's the big deal? These are my opinions and I have a right to share as long as I'm not misrepresenting anything. Lastly, if we are making this a requirement that you can only opine about a speaker that you have owned, 99% of the reviews and opinions will be null and void. Just sayin :)

I can get the X3s to produce a 30Hz tone in my room.

It doesn’t matter...it is a 2.5way crossed into a ribbon.

For every lower bass octave you force a driver into, you force 4 times the driver motion, not the greatest thing when it also has to multitask with the upper octaves, You also create a lot of unnecessary cabinet chaos when you do such things..i.e why bass management and subwoofers are as important or more important than a tweeter itself.

If my X6 can have a huge benefit with the right subwoofer pairing+integration, I would wager that the X3 would benefit even more.

Everything should sound fine as is (good enough for govt work), but, above mentioned explorations are for dudes who like to watch the jaw dropping of other hifi enthusiasts.

It doesn’t matter...it is a 2.5way crossed into a ribbon.

For every lower bass octave you force a driver into, you force 4 times the driver motion, not the greatest thing when it also has to multitask with the upper octaves, You also create a lot of unnecessary cabinet chaos when you do such things..i.e why bass management and subwoofers are as important or more important than a tweeter itself.

If my X6 can have a huge benefit with the right subwoofer pairing+integration, I would wager that the X3 would benefit even more.

Everything should sound fine as is (good enough for govt work), but, above mentioned explorations are for dudes who like to watch the jaw dropping of other hifi enthusiasts.

 

I get what you’re saying. My point was merely that the X3s can dig deeper than many would assume based on the spec sheet and driver complement. Even despite being a 2.5-way, it’s my experience that the X3s suffer less compression at high output than do speakers like the Revel F208s. The X series drivers can handle a lot of power. What many fail to understand is that a small driver that can remain linear over a long excursion length is sometimes better than a large woofer with limited excursion and poor motor control. Audiophiles forget that it was once common for a 10” driver to have a maximum power handling of 20 watts and a very short X-max. 

As for subs, I am currently running an REL Carbon Special crossed over at about 35Hz. The two Rythmiks I had previously couldn’t keep pace with the X3’s woofers at all.