Even if I am repeating myself: As a young hi-fi fan, it was important for me to get to know the people behind the products. For I am totally convinced that one recognizes one or another character trait of its developer and often even its distributor in each piece of equipment. I claim sometimes, for example, that fun-loving, music-loving loudspeaker designers create speakers that are especially fun to listen to without worrying at all about having a totally flat frequency response. As the longtime owner of a Roksan Darius, my assumption was confirmed when I met its creator years after making my purchase. Even though I prefer a more neutral loudspeaker today, it does not change the fact that the Darius provided me with many years of musical enjoyment.

But back to the Sleipner and Johnnie Bergmann, who quite simply used his family name for the company name.  He used trips into Nordic mythology for the names of his models: Sleipner was thus the first horse, in fact an eight-legged one. But the term also means weightless gliding. And that's precisely what the platter of the drive should do: While the two smaller models have air bearings in the more classic design with air flowing around its axis, the lower edge of the Sleipner’s platter sits on a fixed block with air flowing from its surface lifting up the 9.2 kg platter. Laterally in the bearing block side air vents ensure a counterforce to the tension of the drive belt and a centering of the platter. This delicate setting -     we are talking about an area in the double-digit μ range - can be adjusted on the back of the chassis. Fortunately, the customer does not need to worry about these fine adjustments - even the amount of air for the arm and the horizontal bearing can be set here. The turntable is perfectly setup at the factory. Fortunately, I did  not even have to concern myself with mounting the cartridge, a Lyra Titan i, because the developer set up the Sleipner in my listening room himself. While the Danes shared their ancestry with the Germans - who would have believed that with the name? – there was not even the hint of any marketing talk. Even regarding technical details, he only divulged that after repeated requests. It was not because he was afraid of anyone copying his designs, but because he made neither a big deal about himself nor his products.