Sorry about your "bad news," geoffkait. I don't like how loud MBL tends to do their demos; I don't think this helps the sound.
I can't be sure it was CES 2000, or the year before or after (or THE SHOW) as I attended a couple around those years.
I understand everyone has different reactions to sound systems and the MBLs seem to be fairly polarizing. (And part of this I think can be from MBL's tendency to blare such loud levels, and perhaps the trickier interaction of the omnis with different rooms).
The more holistic picture of the MBL sound came, for me, through successive encounters in better controlled conditions.