Dirty little secret of Pedigreed, decades old Speaker line - no one will address

Why it might matter to someone who values progress in the audio industry as much as audio journalists who write about just that on our behalf - is not I suggest, a question that should even be asked. All who engage in these forums, ipso facto care in just the way you question.

There have been plenty that have asked that very same question on this thread, so what you just said is not true.  New technology guarantees nothing with respect to improvement. The overall design and end result is what tells the tale. When I have heard YG at shows, what they do well is even tonal balance and good imaging. Would I ever buy them, probably not. On the other hand, there are manufacturers utilizing new technology drivers that have the voicing completely screwed up. B&W comes to mind. Changing because everyone else is using new technology because you want to keep up with the trends and having the product be worse is what is truly foolish. 

It sounds like you have a love hate relationship with YG. Get a divorce.

@john1 , one last chance to answer the question lest you be labeled a lame internet troll.

Well, at least they don’t use staples to hold the speaker together...LOL. If they are getting the frequency response and transient response from aluminum that they want, then why bother ever changing it? They have invested heavily in the process. Once engineers get "buy-in" from marketing and from the head honchos to invest in say an expensive CNC machine to implement designs, they aren’t going to stop using it willy-nilly unless there is some huge payoff in sonic benefits and increased sales to justify it.

Companies must make a profit. That’s job one.

And note that materials science is forever coming up with "newer, faster, better, cheaper" materials. But at the end of the day, are they really demonstrably better?

Many people actually prefer the sound of paper cones, especially for bass. To each their own. If you don’t like the sound of YG, don’t buy one. That’s your prerogative. Move on.

I may not like the grille design on Fords these days, but I don’t go out of my way to criticize them for it. I simply don’t buy one.

csmgolf,

I agree with your assessment of the sound of YG and B&W speakers.  YG does get voicing right, it is just that there is something I don't really love about the sound--a kind of "dryness."   Still I respect their speakers.  B&W, as you and I agree, get basic voicing wrong and do a whole lot of other things I don't like.  But, different speakers appeal to different tastes and priorities so I don't dismiss them outright, much less accuse them of betraying the industry by their choice of technological approach.  

The end result is what matters, not what technology is employed, or for that matter, how the speaker measures.  There are so many elements to the design of a speaker that it really matters what choices one makes for a combination of elements, not so much how each element performs individually.  It is often the case that something old, and technically inferior is actually the better choice is a particular system design.  I know a builder of amps who gets back some of his amps which were "improved" with newer and much more costly parts.  He chose parts based on how they sound in the particular circuit and there were certain cheaper parts that sounded better.  This is a common thing.  About 20 years ago, another builder was in a bit of a panic because a cheap potentiometer was no longer being made and he could not find a replacement he likes.  The stuff he builds is ultra premium, so price was not an issue, it was the particular way this cheap pot functioned in his gear.