Today we take a look at – and take a good listen to – a most unique set of speakers.
This is a signature model by our very own Russian craftsman Viktor Parkalov.
It was hand-crafted in his shop in the fair city of Verona, Italy.

The purpose of this video is not only showing the exterior of these speakers, but listening to their performance too. The sound will be recorded in hi-res, so that you can experience it in full right here on YouTube. As we do every time, naturally.
These are marked SV 400, one of the largest floorstanders built by Victor. Three-and-a half way, according to Victor’s specifications, they feature two 30-cm diffusors on the low end, 2 mid-range speakers and two twitters, allegedly a twitter and a super-twitter. My colleague and I even got into an argument whether this is three-and-a half way or four. Either way, this whole thing sounds very impressive.
The twitter is silk, the diffusors are paper, or as Victor himself says in his best Italian voice: “This is cardboard”. In fact, this is soaked paper pulp. Foam suspension. All speakers built by Victor personally. He orders diffusors, suspenders, and magnets separately. He winds coils by hand. This is how he ends up with a custom speaker built to his specs.
The big deal here is the crossover. Victor never tells a thing about it. He considers it a key secret to the speaker’s voice. The crossover is sealed by the sheathing compound so well, you can’t tell what’s inside. All we know is that there are Mundorf capacitors in there. The body. In spite of common preconceptions of hand-built speakers, this looks just splendid. No doubt, it is on par with every Euro or US standard, after all, it’s supposed to be made in Italy. This is Italian walnut, no varnish. Victor says that speakers may sound just as good in plywood. So why Italian walnut? Well, for starters, it simply looks good.
Very eye-catching connector sockets. Gold VBT, well-known to all hi-end enthusiasts. Victor likes to splash on accessories.
The speaker is almost as tall as I am. 92 db sensitivity. Weighs 85 kg, not too much, can be hauled. The interesting part is the acoustic principle, closed box for very precise and fast performance. The diffusors reach 20 Hz. The very same 20 Hz that we audio freaks love so much. Right in here.
What is a speaker supposed to sound like? The Master says that there must be total fidelity in the sound of acoustic instruments. These speakers play classical music impeccably. Can they play as part of a home theater? In this Gong Stereo room, the speakers play with Aura 3D. And I must say, I did not feel the need to add a subwoofer.
Naturally, it is hard to convey the fullness of the sound in this room on YouTube. You hear it a little distorted, and the picture is incomplete. Personally, I have to add that these speakers sound very detailed, very precise, and very fast. Unbelievable attack makes you feel the presence of musicians in the room, the live performance. I don’t think there are many speakers out there capable of this.