Whats your "best of CES 2008"

Joel, I heard both sets of speakers and actually liked the small ones a bit better. Maybe that was due to too wide of spacing.
At the show I wasn't really looking for imaging as much as the tonal quality of the product. Typically a few degrees off of placement can destroy a decent image and I'm sure the manuf. were trying to cater to larger audiences. I could be wrong too...
One thing I can't get out of my head is the Gallo Ref 5's. They were probably our faves.

MBL had incredible sound (even though the guy running the system on Wed. was a schmuck).

The MBL set-up was freakish and when brought to hi levels seemed to get grainny and not at all lifelike in the mid range. I thought the Totem room more pleasing to listen to. (And you could buy a nice condo in Vegas with the price dif)
Pass Labs SR1 was a very engaging speaker that made it hard to leave the room.

Davore Silverbacks were stunnng

Usher "Tiny Dancer" was disappointing, lacking depth and realism - could have been any number of things though but they didn't sound very good. Bad luck being next to Totem also, which always does a great job with settng up.

Escalante Freemonts powered by Electrocomaniet is magical

For HT i thought the Definetive Mythos STS was nice for the price.

Mac TT was unique

All things Wadia were leading edge tech. By far the most impressive product line. Those guys do things right.

Clarity Cables digital remastering does an incredible job.

The Tiny Dancer is an incredibly overhyped speaker IMO.

Comparably priced monitors such as the Harbeth 7ES-3 and SPL Timepiece Mini absolutely smoke the TD.

The $2500/pair LSA1-Statements were far superior to the Usher Tiny Dancers.