Audio Group Denmark
About us
Ansuz, Aavik, Børresen and Axxess is founded by Lars Kristensen and Michael Børresen. These four brands share a common DNA and audio philosophy that has evolved from many years of collaboration. At the end of 2020, Audio Group Denmark was established acting as the umbrella company for all four brands.
Our History
As his father was one of the first high-end audio dealers in Denmark, Lars Kristensen encountered Hi-Fi at an early age and has been passionately dedicated to the world of Hi-Fi for most of his life ever since, including 20 years of service as a worldwide sales manager at Nordost from 1992 to 2012.
In the late 80’s, when Lars was managing a high-end audio store in Aalborg, he met Michael Børresen who was a frequent guest there. At that time, Michael Børresen was studying to become an engineer. It was his love and passion for music that brought him to the store. Since his youth, Michael has had a strong desire to create and redesign things, and in that context, one of his favorites has always been to analyze individual audio components and seek ways to improve them significantly.
When Lars and Michael met by chance at a hotdog stand some years later, in 2003, a passionate conversation developed about Hi-Fi music and the completely untapped enormous acoustic potentials of audio components waiting to be unleashed. Michael also told Lars about his ideas of an innovative ribbon tweeter design, which Lars found highly interesting. Shortly after, Michael had manufactured a prototype and invited Lars for an auditioning. As a result, they jointly established Raidho, their own loudspeaker company. Lars and Michael’s determination to design and build audio equipment from scratch formed a strong foundation for future innovative and successful collaboration.
When the financial crisis hit the world in 2008, Lars and Michael decided it would be better to sell off the company to a financial partner. Three years later, in 2011, Michael presented his groundbreaking ideas for audio cables and, although Lars had actually sworn at the time never to enter the cable business again, he was absolutely thrilled with the audio cables Michael had developed. Lars immediately saw the potential of these innovative and groundbreaking audio cables, and with that, Ansuz Acoustics was born.
Michael’s extensive knowledge in the field of audio engineering combined with his pioneering spirit and passion for Hi-Fi equipment drove his innovative quest to create newly designed audio electronics. He soon began to immerse himself in the development of new amplifiers. Of course, it wasn’t long before the Aavik U-300 unity amplifier was launched in 2015 paving the way for the foundation of Aavik Acoustics.
With the desire to take on new challenges, Lars and Michael left Raidho in 2017. They decided to fully commit themselves to further advancing their own two brands, Ansuz-, and Aavik Acoustics. In 2018, they complemented their range of audio products by launching a new series of speakers and established another company by the name Børresen Acoustics for this new brand.
Since then, they have continued to further develop all three brands and have been expanding their range of audio products which now includes cables, resonance control devices, audio-electronics and loudspeakers. At the end of 2020, Audio Group Denmark was established as the umbrella company for all three brands, Ansuz-, Aavik- and Børresen Acoustics.
In May 2021, the founder, chief-designer and former owner of Gryphon, Flemming E. Rasmussen became the newest member of Audio Group Denmark’s design and development team. Flemming E. Rasmussen is a perfect fit for the company not only because of his constant drive and curiosity to delve into new areas of acoustics to create outstanding Hi-Fi equipment but also because of his untiring creative potential, and his 35 years of in-depth experience in the Hi-Fi industry. His mission is to pioneer into so far untapped areas of audio technology, design, and innovation for Audio Group Denmark.
The launch of Axxess
In April 2023 Audio Group Denmark launched the brand Axxess. Axxess is the fourth brand in the Audio Group Denmark family. The launch of Axxess embodies Audio Group Denmark founders Lars Kristensen and Michael Børresen’s quest for authentic and emotional musical moments and their vision to share these kinds of precious moments with even more people.
Axxess captures the essence of Ansuz, Aavik and Børresen, reflecting a world of high-end audio equipment, where technological excellence and the aesthetics of Danish design go hand in hand with authentic musical performance.
Axxess will consist of innovative, high-quality loudspeakers, amplifiers, and audio cables, that can be sold at a more modest price than the Ansuz, Aavik and Børresen equipment, and yet some that will attain the standard of musical performance and aesthetic design for which Ansuz, Aavik and Børresen is famous.
Philosophy and Purpose
At Audio Group Denmark, we bring people closer to the music by creating access to great, authentic, and emotional musical experiences. We believe that everybody deserves these kinds of moments.
We feel strongly committed to that wonderful and exciting passion for high-end music. This makes us persistently strive for the ultimate in pristine sound quality. It is this unadulterated musical experience that we want to share with the rest of the world.
Our overriding goal has therefore always been to develop sophisticated Hi-Fi equipment which offers an unrivalled musical authenticity. To achieve this, it is imperative to take a hands-off approach and let the music unfold itself absolutely freely, without any constraint. We firmly believe that, in our quest to unlock the full acoustic potential of music, we have so far only begun to scratch the surface. Beneath that surface, there still lies a vast, yet unchartered area, just waiting to be discovered for the benefit of outstanding musical authenticity. We are convinced that natural curiosity and an open-minded willingness to break new ground are the best way to accomplish this goal.
Handcrafting & Innovation
We design and handcraft everything by ourselves. Everything, from the loudspeakers’ driver units and the casting of the silver rings to the cables and the inside of our electronic devices is meticulously handcrafted and assembled in-house by our highly trained and skilled staff. The only thing we do not build ourselves are the cabinets for the electronic devices and the loudspeakers. We leave that to specialized cabinet manufacturers, with whom we work closely together to ensure that the quality is in line with our high manufacturing standards. To guarantee high quality and outstanding audio performance, we take great care to ensure that all our products undergo a thorough and meticulous testing before they are sold to our customers.
We have learned that the technological development and innovation that arises in the product development of each of our four brands Ansuz, Aavik, Børresen and Axxess, often can be used across the four brands. The technologies are adaptable to other products then what it was intended for. This means that our four brands exist in a symbiosis with each other. The knowledge- and technology sharing that takes place across the four brands is extremely generative and valuable. In this way, each brand benefits from the others and thereby makes each other better and stronger.
The Importance of our Dealers
One of the most important keys to our success is firmly rooted in a strong collaboration with our dealers. For Audio Group Denmark, the relationship with our dealers is built on trust which is based on our steadfast willingness to honor commitments and keep promises, and a readiness to interact swiftly, openly and absolute truthfully. We seek to support our dealer network by providing product training and education, both internally, at individual dealer locations around the world or online. For our dealers, we also provide various promotional and sales materials to support their individual sales and promotion efforts. We place great emphasis on active interaction with individual dealers. This includes getting feedback from our dealers to better understand their true needs and learn more about their individual challenges. It is most important to us to design dealer-specific responses and support. All this clearly shows that Audio Group Denmark knows that only together with our dealers we are strong.
The Home of Audio Group Denmark
As of 2019, Audio Group Denmark has its new headquarters in Aalborg, Denmark. This is also where we have located our production facilities, our research and development department, as well as our test laboratories and our business administration. The Aalborg location also allows us to tap into research and support facilities of university institutes located nearby.
We currently have almost 40 people on staff. As empowered individuals and self-directed teams, Audio Group Denmark encourages target-oriented teamwork and a drive for innovation. We build trust through integrity and open communication. Audio Group Denmark values diversity, respects competence and strongly supports the pioneering spirit among its staff to break new ground in both audio technology and audio production.
Audio Group Denmark has several audio showrooms on the company’s premises, where we are happy to present and demonstrate our products to customers, partners, and Hi-Fi enthusiasts from both the region and around the world.
Although Audio Group Denmark is based in Aalborg, we love to travel to meet with our customers and partners around the world, either by visiting them locally or meeting them at Hi-Fi fairs.