The energy created by millions around the world watching and the audience in the stadium was palpable. Standing on stage left I put my arm out to pass a mic to Bob Geldoff and I could actually feel the warmth and power of that energy coming from the audience. It almost burnt my arm! Somewhere I have a picture taken on the day where Elton John can be seen leaning into the photo. Well, that was over 20 years ago. I don't have the moustache anymore but I've still go Elton's phone number! Only kidding, I've lost that as well.

Recently I have had the opportunity of meeting such a designer who has nobly risen to the challenge - Leif Olofsson of Mårten Design Loudspeakers. Mårten are based in Sweden in the sea port of Gothenburg. Flying into the tiny airport was almost a religious experience. The storm clouds over the North Sea that had surrounded us all the way from London suddenly parted, revealing a multitude of tiny islands glistening like green jewels in a silver sea. Tiny red roofed houses dotted the landscape. What a great start to the day!

A short ride into town brought us to the headquarters of Mårten loudspeakers where I met the two brothers who had created this company - Jurgen and Leif Olofsson. Jurgen looks after the business side and Leif is the designer. After coffee it was time to look around the premises. As you enter there is a bright sunny shop, which is open for a few days a week. This is where the public can come and enjoy not only the range of Mårten loudspeaker but also the variety of equipment which they import. I noticed a variety of valve amps made by Einstein, Emillé Labs and Tim de Paravicini. There were turntables by Nordic Concept as well as CD players and transistor amps made by local company Bladius.

Leif was one of three naughty sons born into quite a religious family. Singing in the local church choir at an early age exposed him to the live acoustic music of voices and the church organ. From the age of 12 he remembers playing with electronics and hifi. It was therefore natural for him to study electronics at college and university. This work however was not enough to satisfy Leif's ambitions. Loudspeakers were his first love. He started off as many have done before - with a simple 2-way design. Unlike most people at the time using conventional cone materials however, Leif wanted to push the boundaries. Instead of paper and plastics, he had discovered ceramics.

Manufactured by Thiele & Partners aka Accuton in Germany, he ordered some units and fitted them into his design. The results to him were jaw dropping. A huge fan of jazz, Leif called the first speaker the Mingus. He soon called a journalist from the Swedish magazine Hi Fi and Music for his opinion and the result was a very positive review. With the support of some local hifi dealers, Leif's dream of becoming a loudspeaker manufacturer had come true.

It wasn't long before his brother Jurgen joined the company and Mårten was born. It was at this point that Leif caused his brother the first heart attack! The cry of "how much?" could be heard right across the city for Leif had discovered a new material for a tweeter - diamond. Ordering a pair at great expense and dropping them into one of his designs proved to be a revelation. As school kids we have all been told that diamond is the hardest material known to man. It has had many industrial applications over the years as well as appearing on the hands of millions of engaged girls. But the idea of using it as a tweeter?

It seems an obvious choice now but at the time it really was at the cutting edge of technology. As usual not content, Leif decided to move forward to a statement product. He went back to the drawing board to try something different for the body of the loudspeaker. Most people use MDF for their cabinets but Leif was looking for something different. He remembered working as a kitchen designer where he was exposed to a variety of materials including glass and Corian. Actually it was a friend who had designed a sink out of carbon fibre that took Leif on a new and exciting design journey.

Carbon fibre has some very interesting sound characteristics especially when combined with Kevlar. It has a very light weight and a very low sonic signature. These facts got the wheels once again turning. But hang on, how to mold it into shape? Gothenburg is a sea-faring city so Leif contacted a boat builder. With their experience of molding ship hulls out of fiberglass, could they help? After lots of experiments, another cutting-edge idea had been turned into reality. It was at this point that Leif was ready to give Jurgen his second heart attack!

All of his designs start with a simple 2-way loudspeaker. When he gets this right, he then adds more units for bass and treble. It was at this point that I spied a prototype pair of Leif's new loudspeakers which will become the Coltrane Momentos. They stand about my height from the ground and contain 6 forward firing units and 4 rear auxiliary bass radiators. A total of 10 drivers per channel! That's a lot of drivers to join together into one cohesive whole. "Would you like to listen to them?" taunted Leif.

Accuton had not actually heard those themselves because as soon as they were ready, these midranges were sent to Leif. "Do you realize that on that day, you were the first person in the world to hear music reproduced by such a device? What was that like?" Leif smiled his elfish smile and punned, "Yeah, it was really cool!" And that I think sums up the man, the company and the sounds of Mårten loudspeakers. They really are cool!