BORRESEN X6 LOUDSPEAKERS REVIEW

Børresen X6 Loudspeakers by Audio Group Denmark are a £20K large (but slim) floorstander. Stuart Smith, who loved the slightly smaller X3 takes a listen for HiFi PiG.

I had a good long listen to the Audio Group Denmark  Børresen X3 loudspeakers and wrote all about them back in July of 2023, where I had little option other than to award them with our highest award possible. Simply put, they were superb and well worth their 10 grand asking price when you put them into the context of other loudspeakers. When I reviewed them I commented that I wouldn’t be going out and buying a pair because I wanted to hear what the 20K X6s sounded like…and here is my chance. 

BUILD AND TECH OF THE BORRESEN X3 LOUDSPEAKERS

The X6s arrived at the start of December in two massive wheeled flight cases. And they do need flight cases given their weight and size. The speakers stand 164cm high by 37.8 cm wide and are 56 cm deep, though the cabinets are much wider at the front than the back. Weight-wise they are 79kg each and whilst this may seem a lot, they are fairly easy to get out of their flight cases and into position, though you will need a minimum of two people. Two of the drivers are 4.5 inch bass/mids and the other 4 drivers are given over to bass alone, though they look the same. Like the X3 we reviewed the drivers use a “spread-tow” carbon membrane and copper caps in the magnet motor system. 

Most of the following tech stuff about the drivers is lifted from the AGD website and my review of the X3s. 

The X series membrane is designed to have a high stiffness but minimum noise and they are assembled in-house, though the cabinets for the speakers are made in Asia. The X membrane is made up of three skins that have been laminated into one “membrane” – essentially an aramid honeycomb sandwiched between two layers of carbon fibre. The eagle-eyed amongst you will recognise that the X Membrane looks (on face of it) to be similar to the membrane used on the Perlisten S series of loudspeakers, though the whole drive unit on the X6 is assembled in the company’s factory and having had it demonstrated in detail in Denmark, a lot is going on in the motor assembly to set these drivers apart, I believe.  

The motor system on the bass/mid drivers used in the X series of speakers uses double copper caps on the pole rings that achieve “high flux and low inductance”.

The similarity between the X3 and the X6 will not go unnoticed, even by those less eagle-eyed readers. The X6s look a lot like the X3s but with three drivers above and below the (slightly) horn-loaded planar ribbon tweeter. This all leads to a frequency response that goes down to a claimed 30Hz and up to 50kHz in a 88db sensitive, 6 Ohm package. Sensitivity isn’t the most sensitive out there and low powered tubes may well struggle, but anything with a bit of grunt (we used our Electrocompaniet amp) will push thee speakers to volumes that you don’t want to be listening to for long periods – AGD recommend an amp of at least 50 W.

Fit and finish are as per the X3 and it is very good. There’s no wooden finish which may disappoint some households, but the black is well done and you can get white piano lacquer too should that suit your environment better. The cabinets’ surfaces are reinforced with carbon fibre inserts, whereas the actual cabinet body is made of heavily braced “wood composite”. Stiffness is the goal here! Bass is dealt with by a bass reflex system and the tweeter is also vented. 

The speakers are big but don’t feel overly domineering in our main listening room, though you wouldn’t want to shoehorn these into a tiny space! For this review, we had the speakers at least a metre from the back and side walls and about 3 meters apart with a slight toe-in to the listening position. For the duration of the review, the speakers stood on the Carbide Audio Isolation feet, of which there will be a review shortly and which will most likely be staying in the system permanently given how well they perform. 

SOUND 

When I first put an image of these speakers in situ up on social media someone commented that it had been mentioned that these speakers were so bright as to be unlistenable, and I do get where this may come from – just in the same way that I had issues with the X3s for a period of run-in. I think the drivers do take a little while to loosen up and start sounding less “brittle” (for want of a better word), but in no way would I describe their sound (even fresh out of the box) as so bright as to be unlistenable. Indeed, I played house and techno through them for a good week and at relatively high volumes before I sat down to critically listen to them, though I’d suggest that this loosening up process takes a lot less time than that in the real world, but then it was December, we were in a party frame-of-mind, and I was enjoying banging out the tunes and pretending it was 1992 all over again. Initial thoughts were that the X6s were excellent to mix on, with great detail and prodigious bass. Yep, from the off it was clear I would be enjoying my time with these speakers and I must confess that they have had a lot of the wholly non-audiophile kind of music we listen to a lot blasted through them. Long story short is that they are a great party speaker. I have this crazy concept to put together a high-end sound system for parties that is made up of 6 speakers firing into the dance floor, and whilst the current favourite seems to be big Klipsch for this kind of setup, the X6s would certainly be on my very short list – let’s do this ADG! 

So, real-world listening is what you guys are here to read about and we (I) did spend an awfully long time in front of these speakers with various conversations about them being “better” than our reference Audiovector R6 Arrete´. I’m not convinced about the latter, though it is a close-run thing, but overall I prefer the isobaric bass of the R6s, though the price difference (around 8000 euros) certainly does make one sit up and take notice. Perhaps different rather than better is the more correct terminology. I’ll go into more detail later, but I did prefer the way the soundstage is thrown with the X6 over the Audiovectors and this is because, I believe, with the X6 by Borresen you have the whole speaker firing ever so slightly upwards and, likewise, this seems to cast the soundstage upwards a little – that makes it sound as if the listener is sat looking up from the stalls at the stage, but it’s much less pronounced than that and the effect is quite natural. Whatever, the soundstage has width, height, and depth which helps create a three-dimensional image. The soundstage also comes out into the room, but not in the same three-dimensional way I recall the likes of the early Audio Physics loudspeakers – but it’s a long time since they left the house. This soundstage is (I suppose) slightly exaggerated by the speakers, or perhaps they are more accurately portraying what the mix is supposed to be conveying – tough one to call as I wasn’t there at the mix down of any of the tunes I played through them and all I can do is second guess. Playing Jay Warrior’s Dub From the Heart on vinyl (a current favourite), it certainly seems that the X6s allow for the effects to fly about the soundstage rather splendidly and in the manner I expect they were meant to. In comparison to the R6 speakers from Audiovector there is a fairly similar kind of presentation with regard to the soundstage that comes from the style of tweeter used in the two speakers (AMT in the Audiovector and horn-loaded planar ribbon tweeter in the Børresen) – fast, airy, and open are the main takeaways, though I would suggest the Børresens have a more focused stage, probably down to the horn loading that also pushes the stage into the room slightly more. You need to listen to the two side by side to decide which you prefer and I can only describe the effects I’m hearing! 

Putting sound-staging aside for a moment, it would be easy to write this review of the Børresen X6 by saying “Pop on over to the X3 review I did and just add a bit more of everything” but that would probably not make that great a read as a standalone review. It is, however, pretty accurate and if you can’t afford or accommodate the X6 then the X3 offer 90% (or more) of what you are getting with these speakers in a smaller and even more affordable package. For me, I enjoy the extra scale and extension top to bottom that you get with the X6s. They dig a bit deeper in the bottom end, and have a bigger “feel”, but maintain a similar overall presentation to the X3s – much as you would expect, I guess.

So, like the X3, I played a whole load of bass-heavy music through the X6s and found them to be tight and not overblown in any way in our well-treated room, but the bigger speakers naturally go a smidge deeper (a claimed 30Hz as opposed to 35Hz). These 5Hz may not seem a big deal on paper, but you do notice it and it does allow for a more hard-hitting bass performance. Now, the Audiovectors are the current reference speakers at HiFi PiG Towers, and I fell in love with their isobaric-bass. It’s hard to define and put your finger on what sets it apart from reflex-loaded bass, but there is something about it that I just love. Now here’s the thing; put the isobaric-bass of the R6 in the X6 and I think I’d have my perfect loudspeakers, because in every other way (and in my opinion) the Børresen X6s outperform the Audiovectors, though it’s a fairly close run race. Very close run! 

NIGGLES

These are a big loudspeaker so you do need to ensure you have the space for them to breathe, but then if that is the case you can look at the X3s which offer a good deal of the X6 performance in a more manageable package and for less money.

Finishes of the cabinets are limited to two colours (black and white) and this may not suite your room – personally, I loved the black finish.

Backloading of bass may cause some positioning problems in some rooms, but this is speculative as I had no issues at all.

They need a run-in period to get rid of the slight brittleness in the drivers when box-fresh.

CONCLUSION

If you are int he market for a £20K speaker (and you have the space) then the X6 from Børresen need to be right up there in your short shortlist as i believe they offer excellent value for money when compared to the competition. With that said, they are not an inexpensive loudspeaker and I do recognise that this is a considerable financial outlay for the vast majority of poeple.

In terms of performance they offer a level of scale that draws the listener into the performance space and sits them front and centre whilst being enveloped by music.

Throughout the frequency range, they offer insight and detail that is exceptional for the money with the tops being airy and fast, with mid-range likewise. In the bass department they really do kick and for pretty much any genre of music they are going to go as low as you like. Interestingly, I did prefer the bass of our reference speakers (isobaric-loading) as they appeared a little faster, but if you haven’t heard that you wouldn’t be aware and would be well satisfied with the X6s. In every other way, the X6s outperformed our reference speakers.

They are not a difficult loudspeaker to drive, but I would suggest you partner them with amps that have grunt and clarity as the X6s will show up faults in the supply chain.

Giving these speakers our top award is a no-brainer: They are cheaper than our reference (though they do not have the wood veneer options some might prefer) and exceed their performance in every way other than the bass… which is a personal preference thing, I think.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality and Features:

Overall excellent

Some may want more colour options

Relatively easy to drive but I’d suggest an amplifier with a bit of grunt to get the best from them

They are a large speaker and do need room to breathe

Sound Quality:

Open and airy top-end

Fast and clean through the mids

Bass is solid and goes low (30Hz)

Soundstaging puts you centre stalls and slightly looking up at the stage but you are surrounded by sound when the recording allows this

Value For Money:

They are not cheap loudspeakers, but we must judge the X6 in comparison to their competitors and in that respect, they offer very good value for money

We Loved:

I really enjoyed my time with these loudspeakers and I will be sad to see them packed up in their flightcases and shipped back to Denmark. The price-to-performance ratio is excellent and (after the official review period) I spent many an hour sitting in front of them just simply listening to music for the sheer love of it

We Didn’t Love So Much:

The X6s do need a run-in period before they loosen up

Limited colourways

Elevator Pitch Review: The Børresen X6 from Audio Group Denmark is a large but slim floorstanding loudspeaker with a claimed frequency response down to 30Hz (which I do not dispute) and cost £20K. Their 3 way design puts the listener in the best seats of the house with the right music and creates a sense of scale uncommon in speakers at this price. If you can live with black or white speakers (the only colours they are available in) and you have both the space and solid amplification, then I would suggest these speakers offer a very attractive proposition. I’d have them in a heartbeat!

Price: 22K Euros. £20K. $22K

Stuart Smith

SUPPLIED BY AUDIO GROUP DENMARK

SUPPLIED SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions: H x W x D:164,1 x 37,8 x 56 cm H x W x D:64,6 x 14,8 x 22 Inches

Weight: 79 kg, 174 lbs

Frequency response: 30Hz – 50KHz

Sensitivity: 88 dB /1W

Impedance: >6 Ohm

Recommended Amplifier: >50W

1 x TweeterBørresen planar ribbon tweeter

2 x DriverBørresen bass/midrange driver: 4.5 inches

4 x DriverBørresen bass driver: 4,5 inches

Finish:Black or white piano lacquer