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Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Laiv Audio Harmony and Sonnet Pasithea; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos & Gold Note monos on subwoofer; Headamp: Kinki Studio THR-1, Enleum AMP-23R, aune S17Pro Evo; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Kinki Studio Fire, Furutech; Power delivery: Kinki/Vinshine Tai Hang on amps, Furutech GTO 2D NCF on low-level gear; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, LessLoss Firewall for loudspeakers, Furutech NCF Signal Boosters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to COS Engineering D1 DAC/pre; Filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-M7; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Loudspeakers: Modalakustik MusikBoxx + Dynaudio S18 sub, sound|kaos Vox 3awf; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra, Akiko Audio Corelli; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Audioquest Fog Lifters; Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
Desktop system: Source: HP Z2 work station Win10/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; DAC: iFi Pro iDSD Signature; Speakers: DMAX P61; Headphones: Final D-8000 & aune SR7000 Audeze LCD-XC
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3, Raal 1995 Magna, HiFiMan Susvara
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: €18'995/pr

Some could feel that the split baffle would look better as a single piece with one continuous sun-ray pattern not two tacked onto each other? In my sample the top port had moved down to join the two lower ports.

588.3km². Population 38'966. Hello Bornholm, the sun island off the south-eastern coast of Denmark. Depending on weather conditions and your direction, standing on its tallest spot of 162 metres you'd see Sweden, Poland, Germany or mainland Denmark. It's home not just to the clifftop ruins of Hammershus castle but speaker house SV-Audio¹ by Storgaard & Vestskov. They manufacture in a 14'000m² facility out of the island's capital of Rønne. Bornholm is a 318km crow's flight from Germany's Flensburg where I was born. Then I had no notion of eventually working as an audio reviewer. For reasons I still don't comprehend, my paternal grandmother always insisted that I'd become a writer when at the time I was headed for the music conservatory of Hannover. How could she have seen that without living long enough to actually do? Incidentally, the German word for grandma is Großmutter. We'll come across those three letters in all manner of unexpected words throughout today's review. So brace yourself. I'm serious.
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¹ Apparently foreigners found the name's long form difficult, hence the minor rebranding. But when Häagen-Dazs managed, Storgaard & Vestskov would as well and like Astell&Kern be far more interesting than AK or SV-Audio. "As for the meaning of Häagen-Dazs, founder Reuben Mattus made it up. The intention was to seem foreign and lend the product an air of upscale European elegance. Mattus created a name which he felt sounded Danish and even included a map of Scandinavia on his packaging though the brand started in Brooklyn." Polish US immigrants wanting to be more exotic to seem Danish, real Danes going bland – in global business, everything matters. And there's still the matter of SV-Audio's slogan: Sound that matters.

Hammershus Castle ruins from Bornholm's website.

The brand's Frida monitor shown below in three different lacquers claims 32Hz to 38kHz bandwidth from a rear-ported 5" mid/woofer of custom woven mineral cone and 38mm SB Acoustics Satori dimpled ring-radiator tweeter on 2nd-order slopes at 2'750Hz. This attractive 87dB 2-way is meant for rooms up to 30m². Plus its own 8kg stand, each speaker weighs 12.5kg and measures a svelte 22 x 35 x 34cm WxHxD. Today's floorstander adds another 5-inch driver, another 5 cycles of bass reach, 3dB of sensitivity and 10.5kg to the scale. It measures 21 x 100 x 32cm WxHxD. That's nicely compact for a floorstander and only €3.5K more than the monitor with stand without really taking up any extra space.

Skipping across a few fields gets one from SV-Audio straight to the regional golf club.

What do Danes know about speaker design? Probably more than any other country. Lumping driver and speaker design/manufacture together, for some names we have Audiovector, Audio Technology, Bang & Olufsen, Børresen, Buchardt, Dali, Dynaudio, Gato, Gryphon, Hiquphon, Jamo, Jern, OePhi Acoustics, Peak Consult, Peerless, Purifi, Radiant, Raidho, SB Acoustics, Scansonic, Scan-Speak, Treble Clef and Vifa. Now attempt similar name drops for Ireland where I currently live. After racking your brain, you might come up with Sennheiser manufacturing some of their upscale headphones in Tullamore. Beyond that? Today of course many Danish speaker houses outsource their cabinetry to China. The family business of Storgaard & Vestskov  does not. For them 'made in Denmark' is more inclusive than final assembly and design. Fine industrial design and finishing are part of the recipe replete with groovy sun rays on the back-sloping front baffle which can be custom anodized or automotive lacquer.

WBT terminals,  no bi-wire fuss. Anthracite-grey anodizing.