The Børresen C3 is the tallest of three models in the C-series by Børresen Acoustics, whose parent company is Audio Group Denmark in Aalborg, sitting above the C1 standmount and the C2 tower. It is a passive floorstanding design built around the ribbon planar tweeter and carbon fibre sandwich drivers that the company develops and assembles in-house, and it ships to the owner in two flight cases rather than cardboard boxes.
Key specs that matter
Five drivers go into every C3 cabinet. One Børresen RP94 ribbon planar tweeter handles the top, two Børresen DCC5 Neo units work as bass and midrange drivers, and two more DCC5 Neo units serve as dedicated bass drivers. Frequency response is rated at 25 Hz to 50 kHz, sensitivity at 88 dB for 1 W, and impedance above 6 ohm. The suggested amplifier rating is above 50 W. The cabinet measures 380 mm wide, 560 mm deep and 1415 mm tall, and each speaker weighs 68 kg. Black or white high gloss are the two finish options.
Engineering and use context
The DCC5 Neo cone is a three-layer laminate made in-house, whose honeycomb spacer core is sandwiched by spread-tow carbon fibre on both faces. Its magnet motor uses N52 neodymium, and double copper caps on the two pole rings lower inductance, which the maker says reduces peaks on the impedance curve and so the load on the amplifier. The RP94 ribbon has a moving mass of 0.01 grams, an efficiency of 94 dB and works from about 2.5 kHz upward, and finite element methods were used to shape its magnetic flux field. Instead of a parallel network, the C-series uses a serial crossover that diverts out-of-band current away from each driver. The enclosure is an internally reinforced wood composite, with 1 mm carbon fibre panels applied to the sides beneath gloss black or white stripes, and the cabinet uses bass reflex ports. Ansuz Darkz S2t resonance control devices with titanium balls come supplied for the adjustable feet, and the bass drivers have natural rubber surrounds that Børresen says need 50 to 100 hours of running in.
Pairing
Two pairs of binding posts divide the speaker at 150 Hz, separating the low bass section from the upper bass, midrange and tweeter group. That allows single wiring with the supplied jumpers, bi-wiring, or bi-amping from two stereo amplifiers, optionally with an active crossover in front, and Børresen names the Dual Slope Analog Active Crossover built into some Aavik amplifiers for that role. The company also recommends Ansuz speaker cables, which come from the same design team.
Alternatives
The Børresen C2 is the smaller C-series tower, with one DCC5 Neo bass and midrange driver, a 35 Hz lower limit and 43.8 kg per cabinet.