Who hear the Hyperion at the CEs this year ?

From the looks of things at this year's CES, the Hyperion speaker shown by Albert Wu is VASTLY different in looks and drivers than the one I listened to and spoke so highly of in an earlier thread here.

The bass drivers shown at CES are different (different looking anyway) than the drivers in the piano black 938 that were playing in NY in May.

Joe, no, they look EXACTLY the same to me. I think the fact that they are in veneer as opposed to black lacquer really changes the look.

One of my big concerns with the speaker has always been the driver. This is probably why I know the drivers are the same as we saw last year - I REALLY focused on them. While the idea is certainly novel, I worry about buying this sort of technology from a company with their track record in terms of customer/dealer service. When the drivers need to be rebuilt down the road (and they ALL need this at some point), who will we turn to? Hopefully, Hyperion will be successful, and be around then.

Nobody seems to be mentioning the electronics they were being driven with? If I am not mistaken it was Hyperions own line. I'm sure this had a little to do with their lean sound and slightly accentuated treble.

Dlwask, you brought up a good point. The electronics could be the cause. Who knows?

I stopped by and listened for a while

They appear to use all new equipment for the demo - new tube preamp, new monoblocks and new speakers, I tried to check these out on their website but no details are available yet.

I also remember the demo guy saying that the bass drivers of the 938W are aluminium as opposed to the graphite ones on the piano black 938s, supposedly to give a better lower freqeuncy response.

I think the sound is still very raw but the traits of great speakers are there - soundstaging, depth and amazingly fast response. I'll definitely pop by a dealer to take a serious listen. If the piano black version can perform as well, I think $4500 is a great bargain.