Danish audio: the speakers and headphones to know
Denmark is known for loudspeakers out of all proportion to its size. Bang & Olufsen has made radios and speakers in Struer since 1925, Dynaudio builds speakers with its own drivers in Skanderborg, and DALI has designed and built them at Nørager since 1986. Ortofon, founded in Copenhagen in 1918, is the largest maker of phono cartridges in the world.
Speakers
Loudspeakers designed and built in Denmark.
Bang & Olufsen A Danish maker of loudspeakers, headphones and televisions, founded in Struer in 1925 and still based there.
UNIT-4 A portable, battery-powered studio monitor from AIAIAI that plays as a single speaker, a stereo pair or a wireless studio set.
Ushindi Purifi's line of low-distortion loudspeaker drivers, midrange units and woofers sold to speaker makers and licensed as technology.
Dynaudio A Danish loudspeaker maker in Skanderborg, founded in 1977, that builds its speakers around drivers of its own.
DALI Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries, a loudspeaker maker founded in 1983 that designs and builds its speakers at Nørager in northern Denmark.
Steinway Lyngdorf Model D A full-range dipole loudspeaker system made with Steinway & Sons, launched in 2007, the first Steinway & Sons loudspeaker.
Audiovector A family-owned loudspeaker maker founded in Copenhagen in 1979 that designs and builds its speakers in Denmark.Works: Trapeze Reimagined, Trapez, R 10 Arreté, R 8 Arreté
Scan-Speak A Danish maker of loudspeaker drive units, founded in 1970, that develops and hand-builds its tweeters, midranges and woofers in Herning.Works: D2008
Raidho Acoustics Loudspeakers made in Pandrup in northern Denmark, known for a ribbon tweeter built by hand in-house and for ceramic, tantalum and diamond-coated drivers.Works: D1.1, TD4.2, X2t 25th Anniversary, TD1.2, TD3.10
Børresen Loudspeakers designed and hand-assembled in Aalborg, built around an iron-free motor system and a planar ribbon tweeter.
SV-Audio Loudspeakers with machined aluminium baffles, designed and made on Bornholm.
Buchardt Audio Compact passive and active loudspeakers designed and assembled in Silkeborg and sold direct to listeners worldwide.
System Audio Wired and wireless loudspeakers designed in Roskilde since 1984.Works: Silverback 1, Legend 40.2 Silverback DS, Legend 5.2 Silverback DS
Headphones
Headphones and earphones from Danish makers.
Hi-fi
Turntables, amplifiers and players made in Denmark.
Ortofon A Danish maker of phono cartridges for turntables, founded in Copenhagen in 1918.
Gryphon Audio Designs A Danish maker of high-end amplifiers and loudspeakers, founded by Flemming E. Rasmussen in 1985 and based in Ry.Works: Antileon, Apex, Diablo 333, Head Amp
Lyngdorf Audio Amplifiers and loudspeakers from Skive, founded by Peter Lyngdorf in 2005, built around fully digital amplification and RoomPerfect room correction, and maker of the Steinway Lyngdorf systems.
Eliminator A device of 1925 that let a radio run from the mains instead of a battery, invented by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen; no longer made.
Vitus Audio Amplifiers, DACs and phono stages made in Herning by the company Hans-Ole Vitus founded in 1995, known for integrated amplifiers that switch between Class A and Class AB.
Copland Valve and hybrid amplifiers designed in Copenhagen since 1984, known for their symmetrical front panels with rotary knobs.
Aavik Amplifiers, DACs, phono stages and streamers designed and built in Aalborg, with noise-reduction circuits shared with its sister brand Ansuz.
Purifi A Roskilde audio engineering company whose Eigentakt Class D amplifier modules and Ushindi drivers are built into other makers' amplifiers and speakers.
Ansuz Audio cables, power distributors, network switches and resonance-control devices made in Aalborg by Audio Group Denmark.Works: PowerSwitch D-TC Gold Signature, Darkz Z3W, Mainz8 D3
Beogram 4000 A record player with a tangential tonearm, designed by Jacob Jensen for Bang & Olufsen in 1972.
Bergmann Audio Air-bearing turntables and linear-tracking tonearms, designed and made in its own workshop in Denmark.
Microphones
Microphones for recording, stage and broadcast made in Denmark.
Telephones
Telephones designed in Denmark, from the desk set to the cordless handset.
