Since the Westphalian author is blessed with a certain stubbornness - some also call it pig-headedness, Johnnie Bergmann could not help but reveal a little about himself. He had his first hi-fi experience at a tender age when he visited his best friend , whose father was - as one would say today – an Audiophile. His stereo system fascinated Johnnie Bergmann so much that he spent as much time in the listening room as he did with his friend. Even as a kid, he could tell that this system brought the music to life, revealed a lot of details as well as suggesting an astonishing sound stage. He was especially fascinated with the STD 305. As a teenager, Johnnie Bergmann then studied Danish hi-fi and high-end magazines and invested the first money he earned himself in audio equipment. His first turntable was a Micro Seiki DDX 1500. At this time he also read about air bearing technology and was immediately convinced that this was the best approach for the design of a turntable. So he thought intensely about this type of bearing and possibilities of its further development. At the age of 22, he made a sketch of the bearing employed in the Sleipner today. But then, the great era of the CD began and turntables seemed to be a dying species, so for the time being, Johnnie Bergmann's design idea vanished into oblivion.

Twelve years ago, he remembered again about his plans and finally wanted to find out whether the idea of ​​an air-bearing and self-centering turntable would work. As a mechanical engineer, he was naturally able to produce a prototype by himself. The first sample worked well and thus Bergmann Audio was born. Meanwhile, the company produced all the mechanical parts itself and procured the other parts from a few Danish suppliers. Johnnie Bergmann shared in an e-mail that Bergmann Audio consists of 100% Danish handmade products.

In his e-mail, he didn’t expose any other technical aspects than in the specification section of the owners manual. The brief facts are given, as always, at the end of the review. Briefly, Johnnie Bergmann goes into his product’s basic philosophy: Simplicity is the key word when it comes to his self-centering,  belt-driven, air bearing turntable with a linear tracking air bearing carbon tonearm. He is looking for well thought-out, simple technical solutions that can be implemented with as few parts made of solid materials, so that no unwanted resonance can develop and optimal stability is guaranteed.