Are advances in technology making speakers better?

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

 

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

I am picturing “Young Frankenstein” say ion good, “It’s Alive”… at some point the resonance and distortions could be too much of a life of their own.

I like playing the “GoGo’s” “WEe got the beat” as much as the next guy or girl, but We can apply Anthropomorphism to actually believe that the speakers are alive.

A “Live Recording” is an “Alive Recording”

@cd318 , speakers that leave a colorful first impression are exactly that, colored. I fondly remember my father's Bozak B307As. Driven by a Dynakit Stereo 70 they were glorious, gloriously bass heavy. But, they beat the tar out of my Zenith portable. He didn't know it but I spent a lot more time listening to his system then mine. They were colored and did not image probably because they were too far apart. I did not know much about imaging back then. I was just impressed as all get out when Hendix's guitar went back and forth. Back then it was more important that speakers be efficient as 60 watts/ch was the best you could hope for until Crown and Bob Carver came along with some of the worst sounding amps ever although the Fuzz Linear was much better than the Crown. Back then we all wanted K Horns. The big theater systems were never intended for home use and in home environments they SHOUTED at you. Certainly, they grabbed your attention. It is the speaker that does not grab your attention that requires more listening. Interestingly, with modern digital signal processing it might be possible to make some of those old EVs and Altecs sound passible. Did he mention digital? Shoot the bastard!

Of course people can disagree on what is good sound.  But, I don't think one can categorically dismiss older systems, or modern systems built on such older components without offering some specifics of what one has heard.  From what you have listed so far, I would agree.  That stuff is highly colored and not my cup of tea.  But, a well implement system using WE 555 compression midrange, and a horn like a 15A, a WE 597 tweeter and M18 woofers would be a completely different thing.  I've primarily listened to modern systems using such drivers or modern clones and drivers inspired by the old WE drivers and these are NOT like common Altec or Klipsch horn systems.  Their are RCA drivers, International Projector Company, and other vintage manufacturers that are also quite rare (and expensive) that sound great.  Some modern stuff by G.I.P. laboratories, Cogent, ALE, and Goto sound quite good too. 

In the wide range cone driver camp there are surprisingly good drivers by the likes of Voxativ, Lowther, AER, Cube Audio, and a number of other drivers I've heard whose manufacturer I could not identify.  But, if I were building around a wide range driver, my choice would be an old Jensen/ERPI M10 fieldcoil driver (13" paper cone) and a WE 597 tweeter.  Such a system might not have deep bass, but, it would be so musical and enjoyable that I don't care (I've heard systems with the M10, but with lesser tweeters and those sounded terrific).