Borresen X3 at Axpona

@fynnegan can you elaborate? :)

You never ever pay the full price for anything designed by Michael B. 

I have Raidho X3, designed by MB . 4 mid bass drivers plus a woofer. They give a laid back scene. The bass is helped by a Devialet amp with the SAM technology. They go really low and dense. But their biggest quality is the absence of distortion, crossover distortion. I have come to beleive that crossovers generate phase differences . At around the crossover frequencies, the sound comes from two completely different devices. The ear picks that up and it is disturbing. MB knows that very well. In my X3s, the two pairs cross over at different frequencies. At that point, the other drivers are tuned to play louder than the two crossing over, thus hiding the inherent distortion of the crossover. There is an interview of MB somewhere explaining all that.  I bought those X3 because they sounded cleaner than the Wilsons, Magico and Audiovector they were up against at Filtronique in Montreal. They sound like an electrostatic in that respect. After a year, I went to Montreal Audio fest and boy, only a few setups were as clean as what I now am accustomed to. 

@blisshifi, Thanks for the explanation!

You are saying that the Borresen X3 speakers have two crossover points, but are two and half way not three way. Got it. To me a two and half speaker seemed a little bogus.

FWIW,I own a pair of two way speakers with one crossover point, @ 1000Hz with three drivers in each speaker the manufacturer says they are two way because they only have one crossover point, regardless of driver quantity.😎

Mike

@ditusa A 2.5-way is when the woofer crosses off above a certain frequency to prevent it from going into the mids, but the midrange driver is not crossed over in the lower frequencies and instead plays the full range, at least from the bottom end. 

@blisshifi Wrote:

@ditusa While there are two crossover points, the low crossover in the Borresen just denotes where the bass driver(s) starts to roll off into the mids. The midrange tends to perform at the full range until the high frequency crossover point, so that makes it a 2.5-way.

To my knowledge, if a speaker has one crossover point, it's a two way speaker; two crossover points, it's a three way speaker; three crossover points, it's a four way speaker; four crossover points, it's a five way speaker. Could you please explain how a speaker with two crossover points, becomes a 2.5 way speaker? 😎

Mike

@ditusa While there are two crossover points, the low crossover in the Borresen just denotes where the bass driver(s) starts to roll off into the mids. The midrange tends to perform at the full range until the high frequency crossover point, so that makes it a 2.5-way.

The Borresen X3 speaker is three way crossover points are 125Hz and 2.5KHz.

Mike

@daveyf Wrote:

@audiotroy while you may believe that Michael Borrenson is a genius in creating advanced drivers, even he cannot ignore basic physics laws.

Very true!

Mike

@audiotroy while you may believe that Michael Borrenson is a genius in creating advanced drivers, even he cannot ignore basic physics laws.

We are a borrenson dealer

the quality of the x series cabinets is first rate, the x3 offers remarkable performance for the money so if the only compromise was making the cabinets in china so be it

the same remarkable borrenson tweeters that are in their 100k loudspeakers are in this 11k pair of loudspeakers.

remember micheal borrenson is a genius in creating advanced drivers and scansonic/rehido represents the past, borrensons newest designs  are the future

 Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect NJ

borrenson dealers

@daveyf +1

Mike

One of the things that is common in speaker design, or so it would appear, is that designers seem to like adding a few small diameter woofers, versus a few larger diameter drivers. Yet, it is a pretty well known fact that the ability to push air has a major factor on low end slam. Is it solely the cost of the larger diameter driver that makes the design decision here, because in the Borresen's this would seem to be not a factor. The argument that a small driver is quicker acting than a large driver is apropos, BUT all else being equal, the large woofer driver will always push more air. 

@ozzy You’ll be surprised given both Borresen’s and Scansonic’s cabinet innovations. The smaller Scansonic MB-2.5B can fill a medium to large room with no sub, and it only has two 4.5” woofers. My Borresen 02, with similar drivers, do the same but of course with much improved speed, control and definition. Of course room placement is key to getting the most out of them.

With only 4 1/2" woofer it can't make much bass.

ozzy

I’m surprised a company with the reputation Borresen has would have any cabinets made in China. What a shame. 

Myself being a modded I looked at the Xover it is average at best 

judt by changing the 2 - $1 resistors with Path audio resistors 

and the 2 capacitors with  possibly VH Audio Odam 

you are speaking at bare minimum 10%+ increase in fidelity across the board.

I may do this , I just wish the Zbass would have gone down to 30 hz  35 hz is ok 

but considering their depth a bit bigger bass driver would have checked all the boxes. 

The essence is the Borresen line uses a patented material in the drivers.

Lars Christensen gave a 6 minute explanation at RMAF one year that I videoed.

Read up on line for a more accurate explanation.

@dayglow yes, most Borresen speakers are 2.5 way speakers. I suppose they are able to deliver better performance having the midrange play the full set of low-end frequencies instead of crossing them over. The same applied to my Z3 and 02. 

I am a Scansonic dealer and cannot comment on whether the MB-B series or the Borresen X are better. What I will say is that the X has the same tweeter as the more expensive Borresen models, and that means something. That said, I also know Benno Meldgaard, who took over the design of Scansonic after Borresen moved off, made a number of adjustments to the cabinet to make the Scansonic line more musical and play nicer given proximity to walls. If anything, Borresen can sound great, but does sound quite “hifi” and require a lot of space. It takes a lot to get them to shine, but when they do, they are very, very good. That said, so are the Scansonic MB-B series. A few years back I replaced a pair of $25K Wilson Yvette with the Scansonic MB-6B. It is because of this that I became a dealer for them. I wasn’t a dealer when I got my first pair. The amount of performance you can get based on the amount you need to spend is incredible. Even the Scansonic MB-2.5B, which is much smaller, can play mid to large rooms without breaking a sweat. 

Agree they are a top contender at $11k. I’m curious if the Scansonic MB-B model 5 or 6 are superior? I talked to the Borresen sales rep. and asked why are these not a 3 way speaker? He said "I hate 3 way speakers due to discontinuity". Also mentioned the checkerboard print(I dislike) and mentioned Gryphon and Perlisten are using similar drivers and he claimed there different drivers, From a brief 15 minute listen they grab attention(in a positive way) but I wonder if they are to HI-FI/ish with extended listening?

For the X and Z series, I believe the cabinets are made in China, shipped to Denmark, and then the speaker is assembled in Denmark. I’m not sure if the same applies to the 0 and M series. 

Do you know where the cabinets are made? 

I agree they sound wonderful for the price. I just wish they looked as good as the higher end lines. I’m not fond of the cabinet and baffle design as well as the checkered print on the speakers. 

The X3 is basically their response to Scansonic MB-B speakers (which Michael Borresen designed the initial series for) since Borresen’s departure from the Dantax/Raidho group. The most appealing thing about the X3 is that it uses the same tweeter as those found in the higher models. 

I used to own the Borresen Z3 Cryo, which I thought would be my endgame until I sold them to fund a different floor model for my business (I am not a Borresen dealer). I later found a pair of Borresen 02, and I can tell you there is audible improvement even from the Z3 Cryo to the 02.