"What are these speakers?" "Uh..." "English?" "Uh..." "Ferrari?" "Ah! Ferrari!" "Lamborghini?" "Lamborghini!" And so began my dialogue with the designer of the wild Montagna Spark 03 speakers from Italy. Mr. Giorgio Montagna exhibited his creations without the help of a translator, leaving only the universal language of popular Italian exports as the single mode of communication.

Thankfully, there was also a brochure in English describing the Spark 03 speakers and their unusual traits. Starting with the drivers -- all custom, all with wildly expensive heavy-weight Alnico V magnets (popular in exotic speaker designs). The metal dome tweeter mates to the 4" metal dome midrange around 5kHz. The 4" dome midrange magnet alone is a massive 5lbs (you can see it sitting on the floor in the pic above). The 15" woofer kicks in at 430Hz and takes it down below 35Hz.

Sensitivity is a wildly high 102.5db which, if memory serves, is higher than any other non-horn 3-way loudspeaker on the market. Mated with the NuForce gear, the sound was unbelievably revealing, fast and powerful, handling my most tortuous tracks as if they were elevator music. That said, I don't think NuForce was the best match for these speakers. Mr. Montagna has a tube amp in the works that is, undoubtedly, made to fit the qualities of Alnico magnets and metal domes. While the sound was fantastic, I would love to hear these speakers again with purpose-built components.

Other tricks include "floating" feet that allows the speaker to sway back and forth if bumped. Also, the high and mid drivers can be rotated and positioned in any way whatsoever. There's an integrated leveler on the top of the speaker for precise placement. The entire speaker is machined aluminum and steel and finished with Italian automotive paint (hence the Ferrari and Lamborgini references). Overall, the construction and finish is absolutely outstanding and worthy of the best Italy has to offer.

Of course, Italian craftsmanship is never cheap. If the speakers are picked up for US sales, the price will be roughly $120k. That makes, oh, a half dozen speakers in Vegas over the $100k mark. I hope Montagna finds some way into the US market, for no other reason than to satisfy my need to hear these hyper-exotic creations again.

More pictures in our gallery.