I’ve been talking for some time about the genius of Axxess, and it’s probably time I explained what I mean. For the last couple of years I’ve been championing the products of Audio Group Denmark. That journey was launched when I heard a $100,000/pair of two-way stand-mounted monitors named the Børresen M1s and I immediately started looking around the exhibit room as if I’d been punked. First of all, $100,000 for a pair of small monitors? Secondly, where is the subwoofer? The M1s were mind-boggling in every way.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
From there, Audio Group Denmark started aiming for the galaxies. They released the Børresen M3 floorstanders for $280,000/pair, and then the Børresen M6s for $550,000/pair. At the 2024 Florida International Audio Expo, I even heard early rumors of a Børresen M8. At the same time, the company introduced the 880 series of Aavik components, from the I-880 integrated to the C-880 preamp to the P-880 power amp to the SD-880 network streamer/DAC, each component available for around $70K. Look at the first few photos above. This cost of this big system at FLAX 2024 was estimated at between $1.3 million and $2 million, maybe more.
That’s not what I mean by the “genius of Axxess,” however.
Now look at the two systems below. After I reviewed an Audio Group Denmark system last year with Aavik electronics, Børresen speakers and Ansuz cables and accessories, I started hearing about a fourth brand called Axxess. I made a few guesses–maybe equipment racks? Home theater? Headphones? Nope, it was entry level gear design so that everyone can hear and perhaps even buy these innovative products at a reasonable price. They contain many of the same extraordinary innovations of the big gear, innovations that other companies are just starting to figure out and copy. That, in a nutshell, is the “genius of Axxess.”
Axxess started off with a trio of one-box integrated amplifiers/DACs/streamers called Forte that started at just $5,500 complete. Then Børresen released the X line of loudspeakers, which spread the genius of Axxess into the company’s speaker line. First they released the large floorstanding X3 for just $11K/pair. In the last few months, they’ve come out with the smaller X2 for $8,800 and a brand new bookshelf called the X1. It’s around the same size as the $100,000/pair M1s for just $5,500/pair.
You won’t mistake the sound of that big system above for the sound of these two Axxess systems unless you have significant hearing damage, but you will hear the strong family resemblance. We’re talking about clarity, dynamics, low noise floors and every other reason why I admire this equipment so much. It’s crazy to listen to the system with the Børresen X1s and the Axxess Forte 1 and the necessary cables and power conditioning, around $30K for everything, and realize that while a pair of Børresen M3s or M6s are magnificent achievements this will keep you happy for the rest of your life. That’s the genius of Axxess.
If you’re one of the naysayers who thought I was nuts–or that I received a big check in krones somewhere along the way–it’s reckoning day. And that’s the genius of Axxess as well.
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