Perhaps it has something to do with Vegas' surreal take on life, but every year we see more and more wild and crazy loudspeaker designs in the high performance audio exhibits. If you're one of those people who think Bose is about as good as it gets, these creations may come as a shock. Just how many of these actually get sold is something few manufacturers will fess up to, but it's sure fun checking them out at the show. Click through the gallery below for more info on each model.

Pic 1: The Scaena Model 3.2 ($45,000) uses a vertical stack of 12 midrange pods and 9 ribbon tweeters per side to create a line array. This is then coupled to two pairs of massive 18 inch subwoofers that extend the response down to earthquake rumbling frequencies. The pods can be painted in a wide range of colors, perhaps even one that your better half can tolerate.

Pic 2: Hewn from solid aluminum and steel, the Sonicweld Pulserod System ($110,000) sounds a bit like something Ron Jeremy might be promoting over at the Adult Video Expo across town, but it's actually a complete self-powered speaker package with two slim towers and a pair of 220 pound subwoofers. This is essentially a turnkey system, and all you need to provide is the source.

Pic 3: The Montagna Spark-03 ($110,000) continues the heavy metal speaker cabinet theme. Instead of convential internal wiring the Spark uses solid buss bars that run vertically behind the adjustable midrange and tweeter pods. The representative was very proud of the fact that each owner get his (or her...naah) initials etched into a gold plate on the front.

Pic 4: This guy looks as stunned as I was by the MBL 101X-treme Radialstrahler ($199,000). Each of those six watermelon like orbs, (2 big, 2 medium, and 2 small), actually pulsate to create a 360 degree sound wave. The whole array then hands over to the subwoofer towers lurking there in the back. Thankfully, you do get $1000 change from $200,000, allowing you to try and win it all back at the craps table.

Pic 5: While they weren't exhibiting at the show, the Ferguson Hill FH-001 ($20,000) see-through horn speakers were found in the NFS Audio room. NFS (not for sale) is a couple of guys who just like to set up a room for everyone else to chill out in. No sales pitch, just comfy chairs and plenty of adult beverages.