Saturday morning Roald Mikkelsen had invited to an event at the Renaissance Audio in Støletorget Bergen. We were there.

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We are used to being well received when something happens in Roald Mikkelsen`s shop on Støletorget. Both in terms of hi-fi adventures and more social and light culinary touches. This time he was joined by Moiz Audio , with the two key people Mujtaba and Olav "Audiofixer» Sundøy .

Moiz Audio is an importer that specializes in a variety of exotic brands. The focus this time with Renaissance Audio were products from the Australian manufacturer Burson Audio , which has been in the market since the 90s.

Products from Burson Audio are characterized by compact design in an approximately square box with high production finish.

Of the two main products in focus, we start with a presentation of the preamplifier Burson Audio Conductor, costing around 14,000, - NOK. This is a preamplifier that also have built in a DAC. 3 digital inputs supply the onboard ESS SABRE32 Reference DAC chip - 32bits. Furthermore, we find a built-in headphone amplifier that is expected to be of high quality, since Burson is known for high quality stand alone headphone amplifiers. Reinassance Audio had two different models of these available in the shop (se bottom picture).

A special feature is also the volume control - a solid click stops steering wheel with fixed resistors. It is a 24-step attenuator in high quality. And high mechanical resistance, so high that the manufacturer has resisted to motorize the remote control. Burson emphasizes that signals the coming of the remote control is still weak, and therefore vulnerable to pollution and noise. Accordingly, the remote control is the most transparent.

The next link in the chain is the power amplifier Burson Audio Timekeeper , to approx. 19.000, - NOK. A flexible power amplifier in exactly the same compact design as the preamplifier. But here they have remedied cooling issues with cooling fins on both sides of the cabinet.

Power amplifier Timekeeper can be set in three different modes:

- Stereo power amplifier 2x80W into 8 ohms

- Monobloc in bridged mode on RCA 240W

- Monobloc in bridged mode balanced, also of 240 watts.

At the event, Roald Mikkelsen decided to set up two pieces configured as monoblocs. Timekeepers bridged to drive the store's pride - a pair of Von Schweikert VR-44 , connected by a set of - you guessed it - blue speaker cables from own production.

The sum of these components sounded quite as magnificent as they were playing Solveig Slettahjel`s  album Silver, spun in a Marantz player - alternately connected to both analog and digital. Von Schweikert speakers have a stunning finish in high gloss lacquer. They are equipped with two. 8.8-inches in the bass. In the optional active version, these are powered by a built-in 300-watt amp from Adcom.

The overall impression was one sound with very high definition and air in a crystal clear perspective. It is of course difficult to say anything very specific about each product's performance, but obviously the relatvely moderately priced Burson-components don`t in any way get lost handling with these speakers costing more than 200,000 NOK for the pair.

Credit to Roald Mikkelsen and Reinassance Audio for an enjoyable and rewarding lounge in an otherwise hectic Saturday trail. We are already looking forward to the next event.