Finally, the Pioneer EX series speakers mentioned in my Day 1 report (below) were producing some of the best sounds at the show—at the Alexis or anywhere else. Thew demo here was 2-channel only, using the big S-7EX floor-stander. I found very little to criticize in what I heard, but hope to get the chance to review these speakers very soon in a full mulichannel array. I'm not convinced that Pioneer's decision to market these speakers under their own name is a wise one. US audiophiles have never made a beeline for Japanese speakers (though many of them are now listening to Chinese ones!!). But the speakers are actually a hybrid of Japanese manufacturing, British design (from speaker designer Andrew Jones, who also designed the up market TAD speakers that use similar but not identical drivers) and French (cabinet) styling. If you're in the market for a $9000 pair of speakers, or a surround package built around them, they definitely deserve a listen. I'll have more to say in an upcoming review. .—TJN