Are advances in technology making speakers better?

Hi jumia 

Thanks for the question.  In a word, yes.  Through my personal journey, maybe the greatest advance to loudspeaker technology is general knowledge of room/speaker interaction, placement and room tuning.  Later, came the pro-world of electronics, lossless sources and modern design and technology DIY loudspeakers.  Add to that, highly skilled DSP to 1/100th of a decibel, tailored to the room.  

Today's computer aided designed materials...drivers, crossovers, open & box designs, interior dampening, suspension and isolation solutions forge modern speakers unmistakably towards a progressive, ever analog future.  

More Peace          Pin               (the bold print is for old eyes)

The Ferguson Hill FH001 and FH002 and FH003 Horn speaker System with Horn Acrylic Baffles and Acrylic bass subs !

Based on the Lowther Hegeman but much improved !

Maybe the World’s Best Sounding Speakers Ever Made !

They have Dealers here in the USA now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvYEiSE8g8w 

https://www.fergusonhill.co.uk/fh001/

@phusis ​​@larryi , magnificent? Hardly. They were awful and they still are awful. If you want to wax poetic over an antique speaker try the KLH Model 3. Not great either, but a lot more listenable. 

Thank you, @larryi.

@mijostyn wrote:

magnificent? Hardly. They were awful and they still are awful.

I guess the following says it all:

If you want to wax poetic over an antique speaker try the KLH Model 3. Not great either, but a lot more listenable. 

I rest my case. 

@phusis

Yes, that was a great explanation between some of the differences between then and now.

If anything modern speakers by comparison sound overly processed/filtered, dull, malnourished and quenched of life

I had the fortune (or is it misfortune?) to hear the Lowther Hegeman speaker recently, and despite it looking like a large
cocktail cabinet, and not having the most precise imaging, the bass was as effortless as you could imagine.

This early 1950s design left a greater impression on my memory than anything else in years.

Can there be any other speaker that is easier to listen to than this?

So why can’t all loudspeakers have this kind of ’organic’ natural sounding bass?

This spatial bass issue (as opposed to coming from a rectangular box) is where I think much of the difference between the very best and the rest lies when it comes to loudspeaker performance.

As you explained earlier, my experience here (and with Avantgarde Trio’s years before) does seem to confirm that horn designs do need to be bigger.

Much bigger.

http://www.lowthervoigtmuseum.org.uk/lowtherHegeman.html