Hi Club Neon,
Actually, no, the Pioneer plasmas were always exhibited at CES in a dark room when I viewed them, and while the color, detail, contrast, and blacks were very good, the overall image wasn't as outstanding as I'd been led to believe by some of my colleagues.
Plus they were dramatically more expensive than plasmas from Panasonic or Samsung, and, in my opinion, not worth the difference in price. Several of my reviewer friends have always had difficulty separating performance from price (especially with loudspeakers) and I'm convinced that the $5,000 price of the Kuros at the time was a bias they were unable to shed.
Regards,
Alan
